Why SEO Needs UX – The Key to Success

If you think good SEO practice is all about rankings and that simply stuffing in as many keywords as possible is the recipe for success, then you may need to rethink your whole SEO strategy.  

The world of search engine optimization has evolved in recent years, with SEO experts now understanding the importance of reaching, engaging, and converting a target audience, rather than just rising in the ranks of Google. 

To put it simply, if you want your business to grow, you need to put the focus back on your customers.  

Not sure where to start? 

Within the below blog, you will find out: 

• How does UX affect SEO? 
• Why user experience is important for SEO? 
• Best SEO/UX practices for your business  

How does UX affect SEO? 

UX, user experience, has become a major ranking factor for Google and other popular search engines in the past few years.  

Why? Think about it. Google’s main purpose is to provide the best possible results for every search query. It looks for sites that are easy to use, navigate, and understand. It wants to provide high–quality information relevant to each query, which is professionally designed and easily accessible.  

In a nutshell, a site that provides a great user experience.  

Therefore, trying to force your way onto the first page of Google using tactics that don’t benefit the user is not very effective. In fact, it simply won’t work anymore. Although you may temporarily experience a rise in your ranking, this will be short–lived, and both the users and search engines will eventually see through your outdated techniques and punish you for them.  

Not what you want as a business trying to stand out from the highly saturated and competitive crowd.  

Why is UX important for SEO? 

As briefly mentioned above, user experience is one of the key ranking factors for Google, with poor UX leading to poor SEO and vice versa. Or, to put it even more simply, you can’t practice good SEO in 2021 and beyond without focusing on giving a great user experience.  

UX is all about converting site visitors into actual customers through the process of providing an enjoyable and stress-free experience.  

With the right user experience, your website will be more: 

• Accessible  
• Crawlable  
• Useful  
• Usable  
• Findable
• Credible  
• Valuable  

What are the best UX/SEO practices? 

Now that you understand the importance of a great user experience for your overall SEO strategy, it is time to look into what aspects of your website impact both user experience and SEO and how you can improve them. 

Headings 

In terms of ease of use, your headings are crucial for your site visitors and for search engine crawlers alike. Each one of your headings should tell the users and the search engines what the paragraphs are about and show a logical hierarchy of the content.  

Top tips for headings include: 

• Only use one H1 tag per page  
• Add relevant keywords to your headings 
• Use headings to organize your content and make it more “skimmable” 

Site structure  

Site structure is another element that affects both the user and Google, with your sitemap being an essential tool to help search engines determine what your site is about.  

Top tips for site structure include: 

• Keep your site structure simple and consistent  
• Categorize and link your posts and products so that they are easy to find  
• Show Google which pages are the most important  

Site speed 

Site speed has never been more vital, with mobile page speed in particular needing to be as fast as possible. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to discover any issues that are negatively impacting your site’s speed.  

Top tips for site speed include: 

• Remove any unneeded plug-ins or themes 
• Partner with a fast web host 
• Optimize your images  
• Avoid and minimize page redirects  

Mobile experience  

As well as the speed of your site on mobile devices, you also need to think about the user experience as a whole. Are the images clear? Can you navigate from one page to another with ease? Is the text readable? 

Top tips for improving mobile experience include: 

• Keep content concise and simple 
• Use bold fonts  
• Make primary action buttons easy to find 
• Avoid too many pop–ups and redirectsA redirect is a web page that loads in place of another web page.  

Conclusion  

If you are feeling a little overwhelmed after reading the above and are not exactly thrilled at the prospect of having to overhaul your SEO practices, then you needn’t be.  

Focus on taking small steps and making minor adjustments to your content and your site that will result in an enhanced user experience. You will be surprised at just how effective they can be.  

Alternatively, get in touch with our team of SEO experts and let us help you transform your SEO strategy into a winning combination of best SEO and UX practices.  

You won’t regret it!