SEO, social media, and paid advertising are the three most effective ways you can promote a brand online. If someone were to summarise the role of SEO for website owners, marketers, bloggers or businesses, they might tend to focus on traditional SEO, like how to write a good meta description or be efficient at link building.
But user experience, together with web design and technical maintenance of a website also plays a crucial role in how well you rank on Google, Bing, and other search engines.
Is the UX you offer relevant to search engine optimisation? Well, it has been influencing your website’s performance quite a lot in the last years, and in 2021 it’s going to weigh even more. So, it may be time to review your site’s UX and make sure it’s in line with Google’s requirements.
You might also be interested in UX AND SEO: HOW ARE THEY CONNECTED?
What Exactly Counts as User Experience?
User experience (UX) tends to be perceived as a vague concept, but the search engines actually quantify it by using dozens of parameters. It comprises the aspects that make a site navigable, visually engaging, responsive, and so on. To measure UX, you have to look into the parameters that show the visitor’s behavior. Fortunately, there are plenty of SEO tools that do just that.
One of the latest news about the importance of UX for SEO came earlier this year when Google announced that its algorithm changes and will take a new ranking factor into account: Page Experience.
Page Experience is actually not a new factor for Google’s ranking, but in 2021 it will become a crucial part of it. Let’s start by looking into that.
UX Metrics You’ll Be Using for SEO
In order to quantify and improve your UX, you have to look at some of the metrics that tell what your users are doing on your website. By following them, you can tell if the UX improvements you implemented actually work.
- User signals: They include indicators like Pages per session, Bounce rate, Average time on site, Dwell time, and Organic CTR. In short, Google knows how your visitors behaved. If they spent enough time on your website, navigated through pages easily and conversion was made, it means that your visitors can easily find the thing that answers their questions. If, on the contrary, you have a high bounce rate and dwell rate, Google might not give you a high place in the search results.
- Page speed: To measure the speed of a web page on your site, use tools like PageSpeed Insights from Google, which will show you how fast your page loads and responds, and what you can improve in order to make your page faster.
- Page structure: The structure of your website gives Google an idea of how easy it is for visitors to navigate through it. Your site structure should follow a logical hierarchy, should be organised into categories and subcategories, and have clear paths.
If you follow these good practices, Google might start showing site links underneath your entry on result pages, which increases CTR and conversions.
How to Optimise UX for SEO?
In the world of digital marketing, you have to constantly adapt to algorithm updates, tech advancements, and changing user behaviors. The importance of UX has been on the rise as customers are increasingly using mobile devices, have certain expectations from successful brands, and need high-quality websites to fit their needs.
Here is how to make UX and SEO work together for bringing you more conversions:
1. Increase Your Website’s Speed
Loading speed is one of the main ranking factors in a page’s UX, and Google frowns upon pages that load slower than 2.5 seconds. If you want to increase your page speed, you have to make sure that all images on the page are compressed, that you’re not using too many widgets, apps, and other extra elements, and that your domain offers you enough bandwidth for the size of your site.
2. Make Your Website Mobile-friendly
Mobile devices are now used as a standard, and fewer people will search for brands from their desktops, especially when it comes to local searches on the spot. Make sure your website is optimised for mobile and constantly test the mobile version.
3. Ensure an Easy Navigation
Using a logical site structure, visible and simple menus, and easy to find buttons for calls to action are some of the web design elements that you can use for improving SEO.
4. Optimise the Headings of Each Web Page
For every web page on your website, you should have a short, concise, and relevant heading that will show up in your browser’s tab tag. This helps both users and crawlers navigate to your content easily, which helps both UX and SEO.
5. Get Rid of Unwanted Elements
If your page contains errors, lags, delays, intrusive pop-ups or ads covering the main text, this is going to make for a poor UX. Get rid of anything disturbing the efficiency of your web page.
As you can see, there are many variables that make what we call user experience, and Google is changing the way it views it. SEO strategies should definitely start investing more time and effort into efficient, fast and intuitive web design.
Can We Help?
Do you want your website to offer your visitors an attractive, user-friendly, lightning-fast experience? We at Australian Internet Advertising can show you how well that works by reporting the increases in your revenue.
We design websites that offer pristine UX, are regularly maintained, contain valuable information for your audience, and truly represent your brand and target customers. Contact us to find out more about our services and how we can help you set your business for success.
