The effectiveness of a website hinges on the use of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and User Experience Design (UX).
Until recently, designers, marketers, and company owners have seen SEO and User Experience as two distinct disciplines that are in constant conflict with each other. The truth is, UX and SEO are very closely intertwined. A website’s goal is to inform or sell – it needs both these disciplines to be effective.
What are the differences between SEO and User Experience?
User Experience (UX)
- UX is the process by which users interact with a product, service, or company while on the site.
- UX involves web design and content development to not only create an aesthetically pleasing site but one that drives engagement, increased time on site, and improved conversion.
- UX is also the process of maximising user satisfaction with a site by improving usability while creating a great experience for users and helping to achieve business goals.
- UX needs to be considered when creating content, defining page layout, and choosing which elements to highlight.
- UX has a direct relationship with how a search engine will rank your website in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
- UX will also make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site, making it more likely to reach high SERP rankings.
- UX best practices will help ensure the web page meets and exceeds the user’s expectations of your site.
- UX also has a direct impact on bounce rate, time on site, and repeat visits.
- UX practices such as speed optimisation and having a clutter-free design are key to having a UX that satisfies the user.
Search Engine Optimisation
- Search engine optimisation is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on improving a website’s online visibility through organic search engine results. The major objective behind SEO is to make it easy and understandable for users to find a particular website.
- SEO aims to improve the visibility of a website or page in search engine results through the “optimisation” of various aspects. SEO generally targets four primary areas (on-page optimisation, link building, technical optimisation, and content marketing).
- Content and keywords are important elements of SEO. Content should be written keeping the target users in mind and should be written based on what the users are searching for.
- If you’re a seasoned SEO specialist, you could be familiar with Google’s 300-400 PageRank factors that are used to identify problems in relevance and content. Not every design is SEO-friendly, and not all searches are created equal. Content isn’t as valuable for some search queries as it is for others, so a website could conceivably rank rather poorly for an extremely popular term.
How can SEO and UX work together?
Search Engine Optimisation and User Experience work together in a symbiotic relationship. UX is all about creating the best experience possible for users, while SEO tells us how to best structure/present content to make it easily found by search engines.
SEO and UX are two key elements when it comes to fostering a better connection with your consumers, increasing conversion, enhancing customer experience, and enticing more people to complete your call-to-action.
It will be possible to discover methods to improve the website and drive more sales through a profitable SEO marketing technique that retains online visitors by having a good UX. The more visitors a website has, the better SEO rankings it will have, and in return, this gets more traffic to your website.
When done correctly, this relationship can be beneficial to both your business and your customers.
