How Page Experience & Content Quality Impact Google Search Rankings

Less than a second.

That’s how long it takes Google to analyze the billions of web pages online before displaying what it deems the most relevant results for a user’s search query. Google’s goal is to seamlessly answer users’ questions and point them to the most helpful resources. Unfortunately, the search engine giant doesn’t give up information quite as easily for marketers trying to navigate the algorithm assessing content behind the scenes.

Google’s never going to reveal all of its secrets, but one thing it’s made clear time and time again is the importance of people-first content. A positive page experience and expertly written content go a long way for businesses trying to claim top real estate in Google’s search rankings. Here’s everything we know about creating people-first quality content with search engine optimization (SEO) best practices to get on Google’s good side.

What Is People-First Content & Why Does It Matter?

People-first content is exactly what it sounds like: content written for people to provide value. Notably, what it’s not is keyword-stuffed content written to trick Google into a top spot on search engine results pages. Yes, Google cares about relevant keywords that fit a user’s search query, but it also knows excessive keyword usage isn’t going to provide value to the reader. Google’s search ranking algorithm evolves based on human behavior, so writing content solely to appeal to search engines is counterintuitive to your business’ best interests. Instead, Google looks for signals of quality content, which it defines as original reporting and detailed insights free from factual or grammatical errors and clickbait.

So why does Google care if content is written for real people by real people—and why should you? Google updates its algorithm daily without much impact to marketers, but it also releases several core updates each year that could skew web page performance in search. Some of the largest shifts have followed Google’s algorithm updates in pursuit of “people-first” content, when the search engine began favoring factors like experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (known as Google’s E-E-A-T). While Google has always strived to serve valuable content to users, a series of updates over the past 15 years or so have made the importance of quality content more explicit in their search ranking guidelines, starting with the “Panda Update” in 2011.

• 2011 - Google made its stance on SEO and quality content clear with its “Panda Update” when the search engine introduced a variety of self-assessment questions and guidelines we continue to see iterated in algorithm updates even today. Aimed at helping marketers and content creators evaluate the quality of their own content, the guidance emphasized the importance of people-first content created to answer questions and educate, versus content tailored to rank in search results.
• 2018 - Another core update in 2018 brought the beginning of Google’s E-E-A-T to the forefront, at this time prioritizing content that displayed high levels of expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-A-T). Known as the “Medic Update,” this is the first time Google directly stated its algorithm favored content high in E-A-T, influencing Google’s search rankings. 
• 2022 - In 2022, a significant core update—aptly named the “Helpful Content Update”—expanded upon some of the initial people-first guidance outlined in the Panda Update. This is also the year Google’s E-A-T became the E-E-A-T we know it as today when it officially added another “E” for “experience” as a key consideration for content marketers. Google doubled down on prioritizing quality content over SEO gimmicks like keyword stuffing, citing a goal to show more original, helpful content for users to satisfy their query.
• 2024 - The “Helpful Content” system introduced as part of the update in 2022 was added to Google’s core ranking systems, solidifying E-E-A-T and people-first content as key components of organic search success going forward. 

Hopefully this look back in time helped reassure you that while Google’s algorithm changes constantly, the nitty gritty details don’t matter as much as the bigger picture: prioritizing SEO-friendly, quality content. In the era of AI, knowing the need for quality content written by humans isn’t going anywhere in Google’s eyes tells us that marketers should continue elevating their business’ expertise and authority with original, fresh content.

What Is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T represents what Google looks for in quality SEO content: experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. While these components aren’t part of the algorithm directly, Google has stressed their importance for ranking potential.

Rather than a specific metric Google looks for to determine if a web page was written with expertise or authority, it bases E-E-A-T credibility off of the value and usefulness to the reader. When you focus on providing a clear solution for what your audience is interested in, asking about or searching for, Google’s search rankings will reward you for your SEO and content quality efforts.

How To Integrate Google’s E-E-A-T & SEO Best Practices Into Your Content

When creating quality content, SEO best practices like incorporating relevant keywords should be top of mind, yes, but it also requires careful balance. Since Google favors people-first content, the goal is to create strong SEO content without making it obvious to Google that you’re pandering to its algorithm. Google’s E-E-A-T guidance helps marketers center their content around what the user needs to know so you’re fulfilling a need and proving valuable to web users. As much as Google cares about serving the top quality page content for a user’s search query, Google sees individual content as part of the greater site as a whole. What this means for businesses: the more SEO-friendly, quality content you have related to a subject matter, the more likely Google is to see your business as the expert. Achieving E-E-A-T requires an ongoing commitment to fresh, quality content across your site.

Google’s E-E-A-T Best Practices: Experience

One of the best ways to capture the first “E” in “E-E-A-T” is to showcase real users getting benefit from your products or services. First-hand experience in the form of testimonials or reviews is a pillar of people-first content. Google’s search ranking algorithm is advanced enough to pick up on patterns that help it identify testimonials or reviews in your content. People value social proof before moving forward with a product or service, so Google does, too.

In the past couple years, you may have noticed more results from forums like Reddit or Quora in your Google search results. This is Google putting its money where its mouth is by displaying real perspectives from real people. Any chance you get to include words or videos directly from your customers throughout the pages of your website helps Google see the value you provide them.

Google’s E-E-A-T Best Practices: Expertise

Expertise is an essential component of what makes any business trustworthy, but Google places special emphasis on content related to “your money or your life” subjects. This means businesses dealing in influential disciplines like government, medicine, law or safety should take special care to back up their claims with concrete evidence and reliable sources. If you’re a medical institution, for example, be sure to establish the credentials of your team members by building author bios or referencing their background in relevant copy. Google is much more likely to serve content written by an accredited institution or qualified doctor in response to a user’s health-related search query than an unverified health blog online.

For example, if we were writing an article about naps, we would get our good boy Mac and Cheese on the job and link to his author bio to lend credibility to his shut-eye expertise.

Another best practice for SEO content creation is to utilize supporting content whenever you can to show your business’ expertise in action. Videos of your team explaining a tricky concept, detailed case studies, transformative before-and-after project examples—all are prime opportunities to point to your unique expertise so Google goes to you for the answers first.

Google’s E-E-A-T Best Practices: Authoritativeness

Your business’ authoritativeness is the Google E-E-A-T factor you seemingly have the least control over. To assess a site’s credibility, Google doesn’t just look at the content on the site—it also pays attention to external websites and resources linking back to your site. These links, known as backlinks, signal to Google that your business is an authority trusted by other reputable entities online. If you have trusted partners in your industry, consider linking out to them when it makes sense in your content and ask for them to do the same. Internally link to pages throughout your own site to establish clear relationships between the content on your site, further highlighting to Google your extensive subject expertise. Take control of your business’ perceived authority by creating consistent, quality people-first content with SEO best practices in mind.

Google’s E-E-A-T Best Practices: Trustworthiness

Google has outright admitted that amongst its E-E-A-T principles for people-first content, trustworthiness carries the most weight. Experience, expertise and authoritativeness all work together to build trust, so if you can’t earn your users’ trust, don’t expect to be climbing the ranks of Google’s search results anytime soon. Consider trustworthiness as a couple different elements contributing to the overall page experience your business provides:

1. Does your website display accurate information? Are key details like your business address and contact information easy to find and correctly written? Are your claims backed by evidence or a reputable source? In Google’s quest to connect users with information that will satisfy their search query, it’s going to favor clear facts from an established business over a questionable source.
2. Is your site’s security up-to-date with an SSL certificate and HTTPS encryption? The other core component of trustworthiness is providing a secure environment where user data is protected. If Google finds your site doesn’t have these basic security measures in place, it’s not going to mislead users by pointing them to a risky, poor page experience on your site. 

Why Page Experience Should Be A Priority

Google’s search ranking algorithm prioritizes efficient web pages able to quickly load content. In line with Google’s people-first content commitment, the search engine looks to provide a positive page experience free of barriers interfering with the user journey. As a result, fast-loading pages have the best ranking potential in search.

When you think about it, even the most SEO-friendly, quality content can’t help a user if the page limits their ability to access it. Google has over 200 ranking factors it evaluates content based on, so the quality of your content can’t guarantee a spot in Google’s good graces. Since the 2022 Helpful Content Update, Google has more explicitly linked people-first content and page experience as two often-overlapping factors that impact ranking potential. After all, the uniting goal is to provide value to users through helpful, accessible content. To create a helpful user journey, Google recommends implementing page experience best practices to set your content up for success. Here are a few goals to aim for when enhancing your site:

• Website is secure
• Content is mobile-friendly and responsive across devices
• Page isn’t crowded with advertisements
  Content isn’t overshadowed by a pop-up or interstitial layer
• Content is distinct and legible from the rest of the page

While Google doesn’t directly list these factors as part of its algorithm, these qualities are often rewarded in Google’s search rankings, so it’s worth following the best practices to ensure a useful experience. If you want to prioritize user experience considerations Google has linked to its algorithm, Google currently has several Core Web Vitals you can measure and track to assess page performance.

What Are Core Web Vitals?

Google’s Core Web Vitals are metrics measured for all individual web pages online, focusing on page load speed, responsiveness and visual stability. Marketers have the ability to monitor their site’s core vitals in Google Search Console for an overview of page performance. Google has previously stated its Core Web Vitals are evolving and are subject to change over time, but currently, there are three main page experience metrics you should know:

1. Largest contentful paint - Measures page load speed by tracking how long it takes for the page to display the largest element on the page, whether it’s an image, copy or another visual. Anything below 2.5 seconds is considered a good page experience.
2. Interaction to next paint - Evaluates how long it takes for interactive elements like buttons, form submissions and links to visually shift in response to a click on the item. For example, when a user submits a form on your website, interaction to next paint would measure the response time for the thank you or a related message to load on-screen, indicating to the user that their form was successfully submitted. When users click on an element, they expert near instantaneous feedback. A good interaction to next paint to aim for is 200 milliseconds or below.
3. Cumulative layout shift - Analyzes unexpected movement that occurs on a page as it loads, interrupting the user experience. When an image, text or another element starts out at the top of the page but suddenly shifts to a lower point of the page due to a pop-up or interference from another item, users get distracted and may often be led astray if they accidentally click on the wrong thing. Shifts are measured based on fractions related to how much space the element takes up on the page and how far the element shifts on the page. A score of .1 or below is ideal.

The Benefit Of SEO-Friendly Web Design & Development For Google Search Rankings

While Google’s E-E-A-T guidance emphasizes the importance of people-first content, its Core Web Vitals reveal the necessity of an SEO-friendly website design to deliver a satisfying page experience. Ranking factors like load speeds and layout shifts are largely up to website development teams to implement since issues in these areas emerge from coding errors. This means that while marketers can do everything in their power to create valuable content for users, quality content is just the tip of the SEO iceberg. A talented web design and development team specializing in SEO-friendly design principles can make or break your content’s ability to rank in Google, not to mention enhance each page’s overall experience.

Blue Compass’ web developers specialize in building SEO-friendly websites designed with clean code and ranking factors like Google’s Core Web Vitals in mind. If you’re able to deliver a positive user experience and top-quality people-first content to your users, Google will recognize your efforts with prominent positions in search results.

Contact Blue Compass For Next-Level SEO, Quality Content & Page Experience Expertise

Geeking out over Google’s search ranking algorithm aside, what all of this boils down to is simple: Google has only strengthened its commitment to people-first content over time, so your business should, too. Google has a knack for keeping us marketers guessing, so taking the time to understand the content and SEO best practices it consistently prioritizes is just one way marketers can stay ahead of the curve. Blue Compass gets Google, but we also get what makes web users tick. If you need help crafting quality SEO content or streamlining the page experience across your site, get in touch with our team today to get started!

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