Please note: This alert includes two alerts bundled into one. The first, Optimizing Page Experience to Improve Search Results, is one that we've had planned and is particularly important.

We've added a second, Updates to Safari in iOS 14, to account for Apple's recent (and surprising) announcement at WWDC20 that it was implementing changes effective immediately. Rather than adding clutter to your inbox, we've condensed and emailed you only once.

PART 1: Optimizing Page Experience to Improve Search Results 

Attention: In 2021, Google will incorporate Page Experience into search ranking results. 

Background: In recent years, Google Search has incorporated user experience criteria into ranking results. Prior examples include page load time and mobile-friendliness, as well as web vitals—guidance that webmasters can follow to optimize for user experience. Recently, Google announced an upcoming Search ranking change that combines the above criteria with a new signal to place greater emphasis on the quality of your digital experience. Google regularly evolves its search ranking algorithms, and this latest change has the potential to disrupt client rankings while helping to improve visitor experience across the web.

Why this is important: With more activity being conducted online than ever before, ensuring an optimal user experience can deliver more frequent, deeper, and meaningful engagement with important content, e.g., lawyer bios and thought leadership. With Google rolling out Page Experience as a new Search signal in 2021, it’s even more important that speed to surfacing relevant content is considered—and not just because lagging page loads lead to higher bounce rates.

Once implemented next year, this development has the potential to shake up current page rankings. While we can’t say how much of a difference to expect, we can be assured that not following Google’s guidelines will have a negative impact on page rankings. A failure to comply will eventually lead to appearing lower in search results, leading to a decrease in organic search traffic and website visitors. With 75% of users staying on the first page of results, it’s as important as ever to do whatever you can to stay toward the top of the results list—particularly  if the competition is heeding this advice.

What I can do to be prepared: Conduct a web performance audit of key pages on your website using tools like Lighthouse, PageSpeed Insights, and the Google Web Vitals Chrome Extension. Measure your website’s performance against these experience metrics and ask:
—Can we do better?
—Will our Search ranking likely rise or sink in 2021 based on these findings?

Many of these concerns can actually be resolved simply by making content changes in RubyLaw. For example, there may be large images that can be optimized, duplicate content present that can be eliminated, Open Graph information missing that can be added, absent Alt. Text content from images that may be inserted, and more!

If you’re overwhelmed, confused, or otherwise, please contact your RubyLaw representative. We have a comprehensive offering during which we’ll perform a complete audit (for a fixed fee), and provide you with a set of recommendations and estimates based on:
—Running your website through each of the tools Google has available (mentioned above), and assessing the results to determine what’s relevant and not relevant
—Crawling the whole website to find any outliers missed by Google’s tools, and to verify any findings the tools yielded

While it’s fantastic that Google provides these tools, please remember that they are automated. So, beware of “false positives” and please reach out to our team for assistance (if we can be of help)!

Together, we can tailor your firm's Page Experience Optimization (PEO) plan, including content and web page template code review, to improve for Page Experience signals. The outcome? Improve your audience’s experience with your web content and your firm’s search engine ranking.

For more information on this matter, please visit the following:
—Have you ever been Page Experienced?
—Understanding page experience in Google Search results
—Site Speed Tips for Performance Nerds
—Find out how you stack up to new industry benchmarks for mobile page speed
—We Surveyed 1,400 Searchers About Google - Here's What We Learned

PART 2: Updates to Safari in iOS 14

Attention: Apple has released iOS 14, which includes updates to Safari.

Background: Based on what Apple shared at WWDC20, the new version of Safari features a Privacy Report function, which provides users with a list of the ad trackers attempting to trace their web activity. Safari for iOS 14 will also store and monitor users’ passwords to ensure they have not been compromised in a breach.

Why this is important: As with all new releases, iOS 14 is only recently available and any potential issues for clients have yet to be uncovered.

What I can do to be prepared: To identify and address any potential issues, we recommend connecting with a RubensteinTech team member to conduct an audit. This process typically takes between 2-4 hours, and includes reviewing all website templates in the new iOS and checking against the older, supported version of iOS. From there, we can provide a list of identified issues in iOS 14, along with estimates to resolve them—should you wish to proceed.

For more information on this matter, please visit the following:
—Safari for iOS 14 will spotlight the ad trackers following your every move