How does UX impact SEO?

Linkbuilding, keywords, and anchor texts make up the foundational elements of SEO. However, the world of SEO is constantly developing. In recent years, the increased attention on UX (User Experience) has begun to have a transformational effect on the scene. In this article we will take a closer look at how UX impact SEO and how you can make sure to take advantage of the relation between UX and SEO.

If SEO centers on optimizing the inflow of visitors to your site, UX focuses on the experience of users when they actually make it to your site.

You can have the most sophisticated and efficient SEO strategy, but if users can’t quickly locate what they are looking for and aren’t motivated to interact with your page, you are at risk of users bouncing to the next result on the search engine results page.

For instance, an SEO-optimized site which is stuffed with keywords can lead to an unpleasant experience for the users. Conversely, a page with the slickest and most beautifully designed UX can still result in low conversion rates if it doesn’t guide your users to the services they are looking for.

That’s why UX is a crucial component of any successful and holistic SEO strategy. The aim is to not just drive users to your site, but ultimately convert them into a customer. So, SEO and UX are increasingly inseparable, which makes it important to know how to balance the two elements. Based on this reasoning, the concept of SXO (Search Experience Optimization) has emerged, which is the industry term for the intersection between SEO and UX.

Content is still king in UX SEO

Some businesses make the mistake of writing the content on their site based on the story they want to tell about themselves and their brand. On the other side, an SXO-based approach accounts for the needs of the user. This ensures that the information and the service that the user is likely to be looking for, is easily accessible.

A UX-driven SEO perspective privileges the user’s intention on the basis of the search terms they have made when they accessed a website. Design and content which centers the user’s intention would focus on satisfying the queries of the user, rather than stuffing the page with keywords to boost search engine rankings. Ultimately, success in SXO measured by the degree one can provide relevant and useful content for the user.

The design, layout, and reliability of a site is obviously a key factor in the user experience. Responsive design, which adapts the site according to the device accessing the page, is a crucial for SEO-optimized UX – just like it is for mobile SEO. Additionally, loading times move the needle for Google’s evaluation of your site’s quality as well the user experience itself.

Test and feedback – the key to UX SEO

Analytics and data-driven work is unavoidable if one seeks to deliver a user experience which resonates with visitors. This entails the continuous measurement, testing, and incorporation of feedback regarding how the user interacts with your site. Analysis and feedback allows you to gain a greater understanding of which elements engage the user properly – and which don’t. Tools like heat maps help you visualize the parts of your which users engage the most with in order for you to gain insight into how to improve your UX. Other techniques, such as A/B testing of different layouts and design, can help you understand how your page can engage the user most effectively.

Below we outline some of the most important parameters to gauge whether your site is UX-optimized:

• Dwell time: Dwell time measures the amount of time a user stays on a site before returning to the search engine page. A strong structure, CTAs (call-to-action), and engaging visual elements are key to draw users towards staying on the site.
• Click-through rate (CTR) : CTR indicates the number of clicks a user makes after visiting your site. A site that is able to effectively convey the information and service the user is looking for, is likely to achieve a higher CTR. On the other hand, a low CTR score can be indicative of that the is hard to navigate and lacks user-friendliness.
• Bounce rate: Bounce rate indicates the share of users who leave your site immediately after seeing the front page. High bounce rates can be particularly telling of bad UX, such as slow loading times, confusing web design and uninformative content.

These indicators are not only essential to ensure your site drives conversions, but are also crucial towards your page’s performance in the search engine rankings. As Google’s algorithms are designed to penalize pages with poor UX properties, it becomes increasingly important to include UX work within your SEO palette.