Web developers and designers must consider user experience. The only way to make sure your website is successful is to make it easy for customers or end-users to use.
Your client’s chances for conversions and audience engagement are increased if they have a strong user experience.
You might not know, however, that search engines can respond to websites based on the UX you create as a web designer or developer.
Although many designers believe that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), is the job of a content producer or copywriter, there are other design elements you should consider.
Optimisation is, in essence, “the act of optimising a resource.”
How are UX/SEO connected?
SEO was easy in the past. You just had to include as many keywords as you could on your page. It’s a bit more difficult now.
Search engine developers like Google and Bing know they must offer excellent customer experiences in order to retain their customers. SEO and UX are both essential components of this experience-oriented landscape.
Search engines aren’t only interested in answering customers’ questions. Google and its rivals are using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to make sure that search results are relevant, accurate, and engaging.
User experience, in the same manner, is about making it easy for users to find the information and resources that they need.
SEO is multi-disciplined, so UX is one of many tools that developers can use to optimize their websites.
How UX developers influence SEO
There are many connections between UX and site indexability.
We all know that site speed is a key ranking factor for companies looking to rank higher in search results. It is your responsibility as a developer to ensure that a website delivers fast results.
Another key factor in search engine ranking algorithms is the bounce rate. Google wants customers to click on the website that provides them with the information they need. End-users won’t click the back button if they find the navigation confusing or difficult to read.
Let’s look closer at how developers can influence SEO through their UX strategies.
1. SITE NAVIGATION and EASE OF USE
It is no secret that today’s digital consumers want easy-to-use websites.
SEO might be a wise idea if a website is complex and pages rank for different terms. From a UX perspective however, the simpler your website is to navigate, the broader the benefit for your end-users.
Ahrefs has found that pages optimized for multiple keywords are more effective than pages ranking for the same terms on dozens of other pages. If search engines have trouble crawling your pages because of poor site navigation strategies, some pages may not be indexed.
How can you increase SEO and navigation? Make sure you follow the correct structure of your website. Categories and subcategories on the retailer page will help customers find what they are looking for. Crawlers can easily crawl your site and index every page by creating solid internal links.
For both UX and SEO purposes, keep navigation simple.
2. SITE LAYOUTS FOR USER-FRIENDLY PAGES
Poor layout design and formatting can have a huge impact on SEO. A page that is too full of information can make it difficult to index and read. Customers are also more likely to click the back button if pages aren’t appealing and easy to navigate.
Search engines will not allow customers to leave a website if they don’t find what they are looking for. This means Google will move you down the SERPs.
How can you make your layouts more SEO- and UX-friendly?
Create your category pages correctly: Let’s say you are creating a blog page to represent your client. They would like to have all their blogs listed on one page, with links to each article at separate locations. UX and SEO can have problems if you put too much content from each blog onto the main page. This means that your customers will have to scroll even further to find the information they are looking for. Search engines don’t know what words to rank the main page for. However, it is easier to sort through content by listing blogs on smaller cards like Fabrik did in this example.
Use headers and tags Your customers and search engines “scan” your pages regularly. You must make it easy for users to quickly find key information when trying to improve UX or SEO simultaneously. Your website’s most significant sections can be shown to your audience using H1 tags or header 1. Search engines also have more information about the term you wish to rank for with title tags. Your customers will be more inclined to spend longer on your site if you organize your content in a way that draws their attention down the page. This shows search engines that your website has quality and relevant content.
Use images and videos to your advantage Visual media is more than just a convenient way to engage your audience. You can communicate more information quickly and easily with pictures and videos. From a UX perspective, this results in increased satisfaction for your audience. SEO is not only helpful for visual content. Every image can be optimized with meta descriptions and alt text. This means that you will have a better chance of being ranked in both the main search results as well as the image searches on Google.
3. USE SEARCH DATA FOR SITE ARCHITECTURE
SEO today is about creating landing pages that answer specific queries and less about building hundreds. It’s imperative to keep your website simple and uncluttered. SEO will help you decide what type of architecture is appropriate for your website.
Let’s say, for example, you want to rank in eCommerce SEO. There are many related keywords that can be used to match the primary search term. Instead of creating dozens of pages trying to rank for different phrases, you can cover many other ideas with one larger piece of content.
You might create “pillar” content from your main terms if a topic is too large to be covered on one page. You will need one page to discuss all the topics that you are going to cover. Next, you create several sub-pages linking back to the central pillar.
This helps search engines navigate your site and index the pages, while also helping customers find the right information. You can also combine more pages and remove any that may be affecting your site’s authority, or not providing enough value.
4. SITE SERP LISTINGS IMPROVEMENT
As a web developer, it’s easy for customers to forget that their first encounter with a website will not always be on the homepage. Your website will often be found in search engine results when customers are searching for solutions to a problem.
You need to make a positive impression.
Developers can make sure that the search engine listings they create are accurate in a few different ways. A page’s title tag should include the appropriate keywords. This is a very effective way to improve SEO and UX. Your customers will be able to find the information they are looking for by having a title tag.
Remember that around 8 out of 10 users who use search engines to find information say they will click on a title if it is compelling.
As a designer or developer, you also have control over the rich snippet. These are the informational chunks that Google adds to search listings to make them stand out. Rich snippet plugins can be used on a website to let Google know what additional information you would like to add to a page.
You might, for example, want ratings from a company to appear in your search results so that customers can see how trustworthy they really are.
5. LOCAL BUSINESS RANKINGS
It’s easy for people to forget about local rankings when creating websites for companies. The digital world is a way to reach many people around the globe. When you have global reach, local orders are easy to overlook.
As a developer, however, you can increase a company’s chances of being found by the right audience and boost its credibility. You can help your client by making sure that their website and social media profiles contain the correct information.
You can also create pages dedicated to each location that your company serves. Clients will find it much easier to locate the right contact information for their particular location.
Pages that rank well for particular locations will also be more popular with search engines. Your client will have more opportunities to attract customers and leads if they cover more of the search engine landscape.
Combining SEO with UX
It’s not surprising that UX and SEO are becoming more closely integrated in a world where business experience is so critical. If you’re looking for them, there are many areas where SEO and UX can work together. UX is more than just optimizing your client’s SEO ranking. Additionally, the pages will load faster.
Simple strategies such as making sure that a call to action button on a mobile site is clickable can boost both a website’s UX and SEO performance. Search engines will also appreciate images and alt text added to websites. This provides context for your content, as well as more information.
Understanding how SEO and UX interact is key to success. It is easier to achieve the desired design goals if you consider SEO and UX as part of a comprehensive strategy that gives end-users an improved online experience.
It’s imperative to monitor the results of all your UX and SEO campaigns, as with any other strategy. Analyze which systems are most helpful to you and compare customers with regard to design and development strategies.
