UX and SEO are both unarguably two of the most valuable tools when building a website. There is also no question that these two go hand in hand when improving website’s performance. Therefor attempting to use SEO without keeping UX in mind, would be a big mistake.
The main focus of UX (User Experience) is the experience of the user. It focuses on target groups and bases both the website’s design and marketing tactics on the preferences of the users. Whereas SEO (Search Engine Optimization) focuses more on the website’s design and its data, with the main goal to improve the website’s ranking and visibility in search engines.
Google’s Webmaster Guidelines made it very clear that users should be the center of attention in SEO:
“Make pages primarily for users, not search engines.”
UX and SEO cannot and will not work without each other. Here are five points that shows us how UX can incorporate with SEO in order to optimize a website’s performance:
Creating content for the user
Both UX and SEO should always focus on the users. In the past, it was believed that the effectiveness of SEO was dependent on page optimization and keywords.
However now we know to focus on the users. It is that human element that both the users and ultimately the search engines will appreciate. By paying attention to the users, you show that satisfying them is your main focus.
Whether it is optimization or design, by placing emphasis on the needs of the user, you will improve the website’s performance and your visitors will reward this by spending more time on your site.
Readability
In order to make your website appealing and convince users to spend more time on your site, you should create quality content that aims at relevance and engagement.
UX and SEO go well together as UX can make your site more appealing and improve the readability of a page and this could boost SEO since the quality of the content is improving a website’s crawlability from search engines.
In SEO, readability is the optimization of content in order to be relevant, clear, and informative, covering a topic as thoroughly as possible, in attempt to increase the authority of the page for search engines.
On-page optimization and keywords (even with simple steps) improves the readability of a post, provided they are properly applied to improve the browsing and crawling experience.
There is no longer a need to focus on target keywords in order to increase the page’s ranking on search engine results pages, especially if it affects the quality and readability of the content, as neither users, nor search engines will appreciate it.
Readability for UX and SEO is all about the users that access a page and ensuring that their first impressions and online experiences are positive.
Ensure that your website is suitable for all devices.
A functional page with a clear structure, which works on all browsers and devices, contribute to an improved user experience and therefor increases the chances of creating a captive audience.
It is the legible, concise, functional and well formatted content that defines readability for both UX and SEO. If you can combine these two, you will create not only successful page for search engines, but a user experience.
Visual Appeal
Good visual content could contribute to the appeal of a website and both UX and SEO focus on its optimization.
It is a known fact that human beings process visual information faster than written information. This is why more and more websites are making use of visual content such as images and videos in order to increase the experiences of their users.
And, in terms of SEO, any optimized visual content on your website could help search engines discover it and provide an alternative way of leading traffic to your website through the rise of visual search engines.
Clearly visual content is a vital addition to any website. However it is important to make sure that a website maintains the right balance, as visual content shouldn’t replace the actual written content.
Both UX and SEO advocates believe that large images could affect the browsing experience of a user, as it could disrupt the page layout and increase loading time.
This is why you should keep various devices in mind when optimizing you visual content, and make it suitable for both desktop and mobile users.
Usability
It is both design and functionality that effects the user experience on a website.
Easy navigation will allow users to easily explore a page whereas good menu functionality, clear navigation labels and internal link structure contribute to the amount of time users spend on a webpage, and it will affect whether they find what they were searching for or not – which was the reason they visited your website in the first place.
Furthermore, sitemaps are useful for both search engines and users since they help the indexing, the navigation and the crawling of a site, which both UX and SEO want.
Accessibility is also important for both UX and SEO. It can be improved by ensuring that all users will find your pages useful – this includes users with visual impairments, for example, people who use screen readers in order to navigate a webpage.
Retain Users
UX aims to provide users with a website that they can browse through and find informative and relevant content through easy and uncomplicated steps.
User and Navigation paths could ensure that you retain users on your website, when this is achieved, it is time to think about conversion.
Both UX and SEO should keep the idea of conversion in mind, either by turning visitors into loyal users or clients, or by convincing them to subscribe to an email newsletter.
It is important that you understand why UX and SEO need to be used as a combination and why they cannot work independently anymore. SEO could be responsible for the traffic on your website, but it is UX that will determine whether or not the traffic will result in clients.
Every website that attempts to improve its performance through UX and SEO should offer the following:
- Quality content that is both relevant and informative.
- Simple and effective navigation with an easy-to-use structure.
- Optimized images and text that will please both search engines and users.
- Appealing website design that focuses on accessibility.
- Content and a site experience that will result in conversion.