Many internet marketers and website builders mistakenly believe that search engine optimization (also called SEO for short) is nothing but keywords, and link building. What many of these folks don’t realize is that SEO accounts a great deal more than making sure your keywords and links are on point.
Yes, keywords and building links are two proven ways to make sure your SEO game is where it should be, but you also have to consider that there are several other things Google and other search engines take into account when ranking your website. Did you know that your user experience is one of those factors?
Let’s explore how your user experience (UX) and SEO are connected. This will give you a better understanding of how your UX can affect your search engine ranking, and what you can do to make it better, improving both your ranking and your UX at the same time!
Google Wants Everyone to Have a Great User Experience
Google is a big fan of sites that people love to visit. Most of these sites all have great user experiences, enabling users of the site to take advantage of all their site or platform has to offer. Google takes several things into account when factoring in UX of a website for ranking purposes.
Google’s “RankBrain” algorithm analyzes many aspects and metrics of a website when deciding the site’s ranking. Some of these factors include the site’s bounce rate, organic traffic, and dwell times (how long people stay on your page). Google takes into account the amount of time people spend on your site and how easily they can go from page to page. Users spending more amounts of time on your site most likely means you have a good user experience, and that makes Google happy.
On the flipside, if your users come to your site and leave right away to find a better source, this tells Google your user experience may not be up to par with their standards. This can negatively impact your ranking, telling Google that your site isn’t optimized in the right way or that your content is irrelevant to the searches being performed to find your site.
UX and SEO Go Hand in Hand to Make Users Happy
Google’s algorithms are just one thing that illustrate the link between UX and SEO. Remember when finding targeted keywords and utilizing them in the right way as just about all you needed to ensure you ranked highly? Those days are long past, as more and more websites spring up in different niches, all trying to nab one of those top spots in the first page of Google search results for their niche.
These days, if you want your content to be front and center for the people searching for content in your niche, you need to think differently. You need to understand the folks searching for you. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who would be searching for your content. What would their buying intent be? What keywords would they use to find what they’re looking for? Analyzing and understanding these questions can be a good way to set yourself on the right path to getting your content in front of the people already searching for it.
With the advent of artificial intelligence voice assistants on millions of smartphones all over the world, one such strategy you can implement is to make sure your content is optimized to appear in voice search results. Many people use their voice to search for things on the go using Google, so keep this in mind and make sure your content is conversational and based on questions, helping you to pop up in those results.
What about the overall design of your website? The aesthetic appeal of your UX can be a big first impression the first time someone lands on your site. You want to make sure they are comfortable on your site so they will spend more time there and find all the content they are looking for. Your website is your digital business card, so make sure it is well designed, non-obtrusive, and easily navigable. Giving a boost to your site’s UX could be one of the biggest factors needed to, in turn, give a boost to your SEO ranking!