Google’s Danny Sullivan said on Friday, “We don’t confirm any of the things [page experience or core web vitals] as a direct ranking factor.” He added, “But to reiterate we look at many things not one thing and even the one thing might not be a direct ranking factor.” “It doesn’t say it is a ranking factor,” Sullivan added.
This goes back to the confusion (which is still there despite Google not wanting to believe it) around how the changes to get helpful content guidance and page experience documentation from a year or so ago. Google shortly after that confusion told us page experience is a ranking signal but not a ranking system. Danny Sullivan, Google’s Search Liaison, said back then, “It just meant these weren’t ranking *systems* but instead signals used by other systems.”
On Friday, Sullivan wrote on X, “We don’t confirm any of the things as a direct ranking factor and I’m pretty sure we explained last year when you asked about this. And as the page says “While not all aspects may be directly used to inform ranking, they do generally align with success in search ranking and are worth attention.” “It doesn’t say it is a ranking factor,” Sullivan added.
Here are some of those posts on X:
This explains that page experience isn’t one single thing, so you might want to review it: https://t.co/My7bdcBhwS
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 2, 2024
I’ll pass along the feedback, and I do appreciate it. I do. But to reiterate we look at many things not one thing and even the one thing might not be a direct ranking factor (the page gets into that).
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) February 2, 2024
It doesn’t say it’s a ranking factor. Just like the CWV page doesn’t say that “This, along with other. It talks about these things aligning with what we do measure “page experience aspects, aligns with what our core ranking systems seek to reward.” https://t.co/79GlV00Gbp