The Importance of User Experience (UX) for SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays a critical role in how your website ranks in search results. According to a recent MarketDive
report, 82% of marketing professionals see SEO effectiveness on the
rise.
But how does the user experience (UX) help, or hurt, your
rankings?
Both
SEO and UX deal with what a user sees and experiences online. SEO
determines how a site ranks in the relevant results after a query. UX
refers to whether users click on and find quality in the search results.
How User Experience Affects Search Engine Rankings
Only
humans can understand text, view images, and watch a video. So, search
engines rely on meta information to evaluate page quality. They consider
direct influences such as keywords, links, and site structure. But they
also intuitively assess a site through linking patterns and user
engagement. User experience provides an indirect measure of a site’s
external popularity.
Google, which accounts for over 79% of all global desktop search traffic and over 93% of all mobile/tablet search traffic globally,
develops its algorithms to provide users with the best search
experience. The company’s software engineers strive to design algorithms
that think like users.
The Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO
outlines how search engines evaluate sites. They focus on the type of
pages that will satisfy users and provide the best results. Typical
evaluation criteria include navigation, content, design, and access.
How to Create a Successful User Experience
You
want visitors to perceive your site positively. When you incorporate
certain tactics to do this, search engines will take notice and rank
your site higher. Some recommendations you might consider:
- Optimize your website for Google and your users. If you only chase Google algorithms, you risk becoming part of the spam environment. As Google algorithms evolve, they will pay greater attention to the user experience. Although links building affects search traffic, you must not sacrifice the user experience.
- Make your site easy to navigate. Your rankings will improve if you streamline your navigation. Integrating a sitemap helps search engines properly index your site and allows their bots to crawl it effortlessly. Users can also click through and read your site better. When you design a sitemap, you can minimize the number of clicks to any page.
- Create relevant, actionable, and compelling content. According to a Google strategist, high-quality content and link building represent the two most important variables the search engine uses to rank websites. To rate engagement, Google analyzes when a user clicks on a search result and how long the user stays on the page.
- Place your content to benefit both SEO and UX. When users first interact with your website, they typically do not want excessive text overwhelming them. You want to grab their interest with something brief. However, search engine bots find it easier to index long text articles. So, you may want to include graphic elements at the top of your web pages and long text content at the bottom.
- Design a robust network of links. High-quality sites organically earn more links. To show Google your site serves as a relevant user resource, you should build links to and from authoritative sites in your field.
- Develop a responsive design. You want your site accessible to all browsers and device screens. Increasingly, users rely on their smartphones to conduct searches. In addition to streamlining access, mobile responsive designs convey a quality UX to Google bots.
Content Credit : Bizjournals
