We’re not just those who grew up. Search engines have also been mature since we grow up. Spammers always looked for the easiest way to reach rankings, and the brute force attacked the hell. It pushed search engines to raise the bar, forcing SEO experts to raise the bar. This cycle has been repeated regularly to where we are today.
Those who still wanted the easy way to get rankings have been hit frequently by search engines. Yet a small handful of SEO practitioners throughout the years have mastered every algorithm as planned.
Is the user experience really important in SEO?
There is a whole UX optimization field that demands its own expertise. The typical SEO expert must not be a full UX expert. Nevertheless, the basic fundamental principles of the UX website should be understood. UX optimization is simply a focus on the visitor. In the field of web marketing, we must remember our visitors’ needs.
Yes, we’re doing this stuff for search engines, but search engines need them because they know it’s what their customers want. Search engines are the most advanced in the world in data mining. They not only help people figure out what they want, but they also collect data to help them understand the behavior of the user. From this data, the algorithms are altered to give searchers more what they want.
This means that websites that better meet searchers ‘ needs have a better opportunity to land on the first page of the result page of search engines. In this sense, we do everything we do for the users that are searching on search engines. The user experience should not only be an SEO by-product. We don’t do UX because we are told by the search engines. Wise SEO experts go beyond Google and Bing’s requirements to look for ways to boost their overall user experience.
And one reason is that search engines cannot evaluate all aspects of the search behavior of users. When they see a user came back to the search results after visiting your website, they simply don’t know why the user came back to results. This switch might result from single or multiple mistakes with your website. The duty as SEO is to find out what triggers this behavior and to then find ways to improve the overall outcome for visitors.
Best UX Practices for SEO
You do not need to be a UX specialist to take robust steps to deliver a better user experience that rewards the efforts you made for SEO. Indeed, conventional wisdom is the best place to begin. Anything that works wonderfully for a website might be disastrous for you. Your approach should be constructive for SEO purposes. Here are the best UX practices for SEO that you should start doing today.
1. Keyword Research
Keyword research is the basis of nearly every online marketing. This has an impact on all aspects, from web design to website content to site messaging. Although researching keywords is not necessarily best practice that you can apply to your website, most of the best practice listed here is important. It is just a point to begin.
Keywords give us a precious glimpse into how visitors feel in our products or services. Too often, companies use the language that comes from the industry. Keyword research and analysis not only indicates what they want but also the issues and answers they are looking to meet their needs. This is useful information which can later inform you about your content.
Not every phrase or sentence means what we think it means. The purpose often becomes simpler as you reach longer phrases, so take care to make predictions. Searchers should always be sent to pages that suit their needs.
2. Attract visitors to click on your site
Optimization does not only include rankings but also to make searchers click on your link. The higher you are on the list, the more often you can get clicks on your site. But there is no reason to be equal in results if your search results are superior to your competitors.
You can get more clicks on your site than a rival who is above your ranking. This can be done by ensuring that your listing captures the attention of the visitor while you use language, which encourages them to click their result. Bland language leads to a low clicking rate in the search results. Give them the motive to pick you from ten other links in results.
3. Title Tags
The title tag is the search result’s clickable link. You have a room of about 70 characters, so use it smartly. Make sure you use the vocabulary that suits the quest and provides more relevant information to the searcher while searching the results.
4. URLs
The page’s URL follows the heading title tag of your website. This gives the users an additional signal on the relevance of the results. If you do not add value to or match the URL or breadcrumb trail seen, users can choose to skip your site as a viable option.
5. Meta Description Tags
When a user searches something, the Meta description of your site is visible below the URL. You have 30 to 300 characters, and 150 are ideal for the important and more relevant detail, at least. Write what searchers might find worthwhile and encourage them to click on your website.
6. Content Optimization
Here you satisfy all the needs of the searchers. The contents must provide whatever they are looking for. Use links to direct the visitor to more information when necessary and maintain the content for a single need.
Each content page should have one main objective, and everything on this page should guide visitors towards this primary objective. Use necessary keywords, but make the content on one subject that responds to visitor needs and aims. You can use a grammar checker to produce the best fit content for your users.
Conclusion
Improvements can always be made. It doesn’t mean that it can’t do well because of an improvement you made. Each UX change you make should be tested to see whether the result improved performance before moving to the next change. You should also focus on the speed of your site, image compression, and mobile experience of your website.
Some websites are so bad that it takes far too long to get measurable results by taking one best practice at one time. If so, it is possible that you can take the best practices from here and then can make further improvements later.
