# Google PageSpeed Insights Desktop Page Experience Ranking

_Last updated: 2024-03-24_

Google's PageSpeed Insights platform now provides a separate page-experience audit score for desktop browsing, rolling out in February. Previously, the platform prioritized mobile performance following mobile-first indexing in 2019. Desktop page-experience scoring is particularly important for sites serving different URLs to different devices, as previous versions did not address desktop URLs separately.

## Page Experience ranking factors and benchmarks

Google uses five factors to compute Page Experience ranking on PageSpeed Insights:

| Factor | Benchmark | Measurement |
|--------|-----------|-------------|
| Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) | Under 2.5 seconds | Time for main content to be visible in browser |
| First Input Delay (FID) | Under 0.1 second | Time for page to become responsive to user actions |
| Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) | Under 0.1 | Stability of page components during rendering |
| HTTPS | Yes/No | Use of SSL certificate |
| No intrusive interstitials | Yes/No | Absence of pop-ups hiding page content |

The Mobile Friendliness test has been removed from the desktop ranking.

## Practices to improve Page Experience ranking

- Run the PageSpeed test for all page types on your site, including the homepage, and fix failed audits common to multiple page types.
- PageSpeed Insights uses caching from previous sessions; it does not provide real-time feedback immediately after a page change.
- Implement a 301 redirect rule from HTTP to HTTPS for all URLs, including subdomains.
- For pages failing the Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) audit: add more dedicated view-sizes to your design and ensure ads do not hide other elements at any dimension.
- If using entry pop-ups, consider switching to exit pop-ups, which perform similarly but are less intrusive.
- Test mobile friendliness for all page types, even if desktop traffic dominates; failing the mobile audit will likely negatively affect desktop Google Search rankings.
- Create pages for users rather than crawlers to maintain enjoyable text, design, layout, and functionality for human visitors.