If you ask every business what they think is important for ranking on search engines, a large percentage will know about SEO (even if they’ve never invested in it!). The problem? Many businesses invest in SEO but forget about UX (user experience). In fact, UX optimization can significantly impact your SEO rankings and overall online success. Let’s explore what UX means, the difference between mobile and desktop experiences, and the intricate relationship between UX and SEO (both on a global scale and for local SEO in Chandler, for instance).
User Experience – A Definition
What does this phrase mean? Generally, it covers any interaction that somebody has with an application, website, or any other digital product. With this in mind, it encompasses everything that contributes to the overall experience including the relevance of content, appearance, navigation, loading speed, and more. The better your UX components, the more likely people are to stick around and choose your brand.
Mobile vs Desktop
One critical aspect of UX optimization is ensuring that your website offers an exceptional experience on both mobile and desktop devices. Let’s face it, mobile devices are everywhere these days. People surf while in waiting rooms, in bed, and even on the toilet. If you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, the blunt truth is that you’ll get left behind. Not only will people tap away almost instantly, but Google won’t even suggest your website. When ranking websites, mobile friendliness is something that Google and all search engines now consider.
To optimize the UX for mobile devices, consider responsive web design. Essentially, this means that your website will always look amazing – regardless of the device people use to access it. A responsive design ensures that your content remains accessible, readable, and visually appealing on mobile devices, positively impacting the overall user experience. Nobody wants to tap onto a website only to find tiny text and impossible-to-click links.
On the other hand, the desktop experience remains relevant, especially for industries or tasks that require more comprehensive displays or specific functionalities. Just because the mobile world is continuously growing, this doesn’t mean you can forget computer users. Therefore, it’s crucial to provide an excellent user experience on both platforms to cater to a diverse range of users and improve your SEO rankings.
The Relationship Between UX and SEO
The relationship between UX and SEO is intertwined and symbiotic. As we all know, search engines like Google aim to deliver the best possible results to their users; they consider various signals to determine the quality and relevance of websites. UX optimization plays a vital role in enhancing these signals and ultimately influencing your SEO rankings.
All in all, you’re likely to see a significant improvement in user engagement metrics after investing in UX. For example, metrics to keep an eye on include session duration, bounce rate, and page views. Imagine your own web experiences – if you’re like most people, you spend more time on websites that look nice and have simple navigation. On the other hand, you click away from complex websites. Therefore, your users will do the same. The more positive interactions you have, the more your rankings will improve.
Secondly, UX optimization contributes to better website performance. For instance, it’s always worth paying attention to page loading speeds. Above all else, you’re likely to frustrate people when pages load slowly and it won’t be long before they click away to another website. Moreover, search engines consider page speed as a ranking factor itself. By optimizing your website’s performance, reducing load times, and enhancing overall responsiveness, you not only provide a better experience to your users but also improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).
What can you take from this article? Above all else, you can no longer ignore user experience if you want to enjoy strong rankings on search engines!