UX has become an increasingly important topic in the world of SEO, and many of Google’s more recent updates follow the same pattern of favouring content that ultimately improves the user’s experience. The Panda update, originally rolled out in 2011, rewarded high-quality content, while the E-A-T update of 2014 focused on content from knowledgeable, authoritative and/or trustworthy sources. But improving user experience doesn’t end there. To enhance your users’ experience and give your website the best chance of increasing rankings, you must address the individual areas of UX, such as:
- Navigation
- Design
- Accessibility
- Speed
- Mobile optimisation
- CTAs
- Feedback
20 years ago, SEO strategies were largely based around keyword stuffing and building links, whether authentic or not. But today, Google and its highly complex algorithm are too wise for such tactics. While keywords and links should still be considered, much of the focus is now on offering the optimal user experience. We’ve had countless clients come to us and ask, is UX important for SEO? The short answer is yes. In fact, it’s one of the most important considerations in terms of SEO. But if you’re wondering why UX is important for SEO, here’s the long answer.
What Is UX?
First of all, it’s important to understand what UX actually entails (feel free to skip this section if you already know this). UX stands for user experience, and every product in the world can be evaluated in terms of the experience it offers for users. This can apply to physical products and digital products.
In the digital world, and more specifically web design, UX refers to the usability of a website. Have you ever struggled to find a product on an e-commerce site or given up on a website that’s taking too long to load? Both are examples of poor UX.
But to understand what this has all got to do with SEO, we’re going to break down the individual areas of UX.
Navigation
A website’s navigation refers to how easy it is to find what you are looking for. On fashion websites, you’ll notice that you can browse by categories such as jackets, hats and trainers, which directs the user based on the item they’re looking for.
How Is Navigation Important For SEO?
First of all, a well-structured site is easier to crawl. This allows search engine crawlers to index pages quicker; internal links can also help create a more crawlable website. From a user experience perspective, a website that is easy to navigate is more likely to hold a user’s attention for longer, increasing the chances of them converting. While Google doesn’t clearly state that conversion rates and bounce rates directly impact SEO, their commitment to UX means that getting users to spend more time on a website is likely to be seen as a positive signal.
Design
The design of a website concerns the way it looks. You may have heard the design of a website referred to as the UI, or user interface. From a user’s perspective, is the website visually appealing? Is it consistent? And most importantly, is it clear?
How Is Design Important For SEO?
Similar to navigation, good design keeps users engaged and reduces the chances of them leaving a website. An aesthetically pleasing website can also signify trust, which can again increase conversion rates.
Accessibility
To measure a website’s accessibility, you need to analyse whether it can be accessed by people with impairments and disabilities. Ways to do this include having alt text for images, using semantic HTML, and even using clear, simple language.
How Is Accessibility Important For SEO?
Many accessibility strategies go hand in hand with SEO. Using clear language to aid people with learning difficulties is also likely to appeal more to search engines and include relevant keywords. Alt text, which is primarily used to explain images to visually impaired users, also helps explain images to search engine bots, which can help images appear in image searches. In terms of traffic, a more accessible website gives certain users a reason to come to your website over competitors.
Speed
The speed of a website is exactly what it sounds like, and we’ve all been left frustrated by websites that take too long to load—a perfect example of bad UX. We can get an accurate measure of a website’s speed by using Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
How Is Speed Important For SEO?
This is one of those UX considerations that is a direct ranking factor. Google’s PageSpeed Insights gives us a measure of a website’s initial loading speed, its visual stability and the time it takes for a website to become fully interactive—all of which are related to speed.
A website’s speed can also indirectly affect SEO by leading to higher bounce rates and fewer conversions.
Mobile Optimisation
Optimising a website for mobile browsing became a consideration with the creation of smartphones. But today, it’s gone from consideration to priority as 62.45% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. This includes ensuring content is still readable on smaller screens and creating a navigation system that works without a mouse.
How Is Mobile Optimisation Important For SEO?
This is an area of UX that Google has clearly stated impacts SEO. In fact, we know that Google primarily uses the mobile version of a website when indexing and determining rankings. Just like desktop sites, bounce rate, conversion rates, and site speed on mobile sites are all important for SEO as a result.
CTA
A CTA, or call to action, is a prompt that guides users to perform a certain, desired action. This could be making a purchase, signing up to a mailing list or a similar conversion metric. Having strong and clear CTAs means users don’t have to go searching for actions and reduces thinking time for users.
How Are CTAs Important For SEO?
The main advantage of having clear CTAs on your website is that you should see higher conversion rates as the user is being prompted to take a certain action. As discussed, persuading users to convert and subsequently spend more time on a website can be seen as a positive signal in terms of SEO.
Feedback
Feedback relates to the message and instructions that a user receives when something goes wrong. An example would be when a user lands on a 404 page or when a form submission is rejected. It’s particularly important to offer feedback if a website or app is linked to new technology that is alien to most users.
How Is Feedback Important For SEO?
The main benefit of feedback for SEO is that it keeps users on a website. If a user takes a wrong turn, explaining what went wrong and how it can be fixed means the issue can be corrected and the user can continue their visit. If there is a clear drop-off when users reach a certain point on your website, Google will clearly see that it is not offering an optimal user experience, which could impact SEO rankings.
Final Thoughts
We know that factors like links, keywords and site speed are considered by Google’s algorithm, but understanding how Google rates sites based on user experience is a little more unclear. However, it’s fair to assume that high bounce rates and low numbers of engaged sessions won’t give Google the best impression. Whether directly or indirectly, UX is a very important part of SEO. If you want to discuss how your own website can be improved from a user experience perspective, contact us today to learn more about our digital marketing services.