For years, Search Engine Optimisation has been the king of digital marketing.
SEO strategies have been designed to rank websites higher in search engine results, with the ultimate goal of driving more traffic and increasing conversions.
However, as technology evolves, user behaviour changes and more and more articles get published, the role of SEO has shifted.
User experience in SEO has become increasingly important, with search engines like Google prioritising websites that provide valuable and relevant content to their users.
So, is content still king in the world of SEO? Or has user experience taken the crown?
Join us on a deep dive into SEO and user experience to find out.
But before we jump into the meat and potatoes, let’s first address why some marketers claim that content is king.
Why Do Marketers Say Content is King?
Simply put, without content, there would be nothing to optimise for search engines. Content is the backbone of SEO and plays a crucial role in ranking websites.
Search engines like Google have complex algorithms that value high-quality and relevant content, rewarding it with higher rankings.
But this is a trend Bill Gates predicted long before even Google existed.
In his 1996 essay titled “Content is King”, Gates predicted that most of the money and revenue generated from the internet would come from content.
And with the rise of social media and blogging platforms, content has become more accessible than ever before. This means that competition for ranking highly on search engines has become more intense, making the quality of content even more important.
While it is true, without content there would be nothing to optimise, many digital marketers argue that there is just too much content out there now. So, what can set a website apart and truly make it stand out in the competitive digital landscape?
What is SEO and UX?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising a website or web page to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This involves incorporating relevant keywords, building quality backlinks, and ensuring the site is technically sound – but I’m sure you already knew that.
On the other hand, user experience (UX) refers to how visitors interact with a website. It takes into account factors such as ease of navigation, page loading speed, and overall functionality.
While SEO focuses on getting more traffic to a site through search engines, UX focuses on providing an enjoyable experience for users once they land on the site.
The difference between UX design and SEO may seem vast, but they both work towards the same goal of increasing website visibility and conversions.
Both SEO and UX are essential for a successful online presence. A high-ranking website with poor user experience will likely have a high bounce rate and low conversions. Similarly, a well-designed and user-friendly website with no SEO effort may struggle to attract traffic.
So, it’s not a matter of choosing one over the other; both are necessary for a website to thrive in the digital space.
What are the Benefits of SEO?
We’ve already spoken a lot about SEO here, but let’s go over some of the key benefits of implementing SEO strategies for your website – just so we’re all on the same page.
- Higher website traffic: As mentioned, the ultimate goal of SEO is to increase targeted, organic traffic to a website. By ranking higher in search engine results pages, websites can expect more clicks and visitors.
- Better brand awareness: Websites that consistently rank high on search engine results pages are seen as more credible and trustworthy by users.
- Cost-effective marketing strategy: Compared to traditional forms of advertising, SEO is relatively inexpensive. With the right strategies in place, businesses can see long-term results without breaking the bank.
- Long-term growth: Unlike paid advertising, the effects of SEO are long-lasting. With continued effort and maintenance, a website can maintain its high rankings for years to come.
What are the Benefits of UX?
Now that we know the benefits of SEO let’s take a look at how user experience plays into overall website success.
- Higher conversion rates: By providing a positive and seamless user experience, websites can increase their chances of converting visitors into customers or leads. This is particularly important for e-commerce sites where the ultimate goal is to make a sale.
- Better engagement and retention: A well-designed website that prioritises user experience will likely have lower bounce rates and longer session durations. This means visitors are more engaged with the site’s content, leading to increased brand loyalty and repeat visits.
- Improved search engine rankings: As mentioned earlier, search engines like Google value high-quality, long-form content and reward it with higher rankings. By prioritising user experience, websites can indirectly improve their SEO efforts as well.
Is UX Design the Same as Coding?
No, UX design is not the same as coding – even though it may be a common misconception.
While both are critical components of the web development process, they serve distinct purposes.
UX design focuses on the overall experience users have when interacting with a website, prioritising elements such as usability, accessibility, and emotional response. It involves researching user needs, creating wireframes, and ensuring a seamless flow from one task to another.
On the other hand, coding is the technical implementation of these designs, involving programming languages that bring the envisioned user experience to life.
Coders transform UX designs into functional websites, ensuring that the site operates smoothly and efficiently.
Therefore, while UX design and coding are interrelated, they require different skill sets and approaches to achieve a successful digital product.
Why is User Experience Important for SEO?
Right, enough beating around the bush; let’s get to the main point. Why is user experience important for SEO?
A website with great user experience actively encourages users to stay and engage with the site’s content, exploring pages and absorbing information.
An intuitive user experience sparks genuine interest from the user, leading to low bounce rates and longer session durations across the website, otherwise known as dwell time.
As a result, search engines like Google deem these sites as valuable and relevant to users, rewarding them with higher rankings.
As users actively explore your website, they will start to resonate with your brand, your ideals, and what your business has to offer.
We believe that seamless UX design subconsciously suggests to users that your services or products are of high quality, leading to a boost in lead conversion and consumer trust.
If your website is engaging, intuitive and easy to use, search engines will be more likely to rank your site higher in search results, bringing in more organic traffic.
But it’s not just search engines that value this – it’s the users too!
After all, it’s the user you’re writing for, not search engines.
All of the reasons above are exactly why user experience has transformed into a key Google ranking factor – but more on that in the next section.
Is User Experience a Ranking Factor?
Although not recognised as a traditional ranking factor, user experience has become increasingly important in Google’s algorithm.
In fact, the impact of UX and SEO is so prevalent in today’s digital marketing landscape that it has coined its own unique term: SXO (Search Experience Optimisation).
While not a revolutionary idea, Search Experience Optimisation refers to the process of creating content that resonates with a specific audience while prioritising user experience simultaneously. It’s all about delivering content that engages users and satisfies their search intent, ultimately increasing website traffic and conversions.
The term SXO started to appear in digital marketing spaces not too long after Google’s Page Experience Update in June 2021, which saw the search engine giant shift its focus towards user intent and satisfaction when ranking websites.
What’s more, this update aimed to prioritise websites with better user experiences and penalise those with poor user experiences. This means that not prioritising UX design on your website could result in lower rankings and decreased visibility on search engine results pages.
Therefore, if you want your website to rank well on Google – and let’s face it, who doesn’t – prioritising user experience is crucial.
Not only does it improve website traffic and conversions, but it also satisfies the search engine giant’s algorithmic requirements for higher rankings in search results pages.
How to Track UX for SEO?
Using tools such as Ahrefs, Google Analytics and Google Search Console, website owners can track various metrics to measure the impact of UX on their SEO efforts.
These key performance indicators (KPIs) allow businesses to analyse user behaviour, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to improve their website’s overall user experience.
Some of these key metrics include:
- Bounce rate: This measures the percentage of visitors who leave a site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate may indicate a poor user experience.
- Page load time: Slow page load times can lead to high bounce rates and lower rankings, making it crucial to track for a positive UX.
- Dwell time: As previously mentioned, dwell time refers to the length of time a user spends on your site before returning back to search results pages. Longer dwell times signal that users are actively engaging with your content and finding it valuable.
- Engagement time: Similar to dwell time, engagement time measures the amount of time a user spends on your site interacting with various elements such as videos, forms or clickable buttons. High engagement times indicate that users are completing actions and finding your content engaging and valuable.
- Conversion rate: While not directly related to UX, tracking conversion rates can give an insight into whether users are finding the site’s design intuitive and easy to use.
In addition to these KPIs, heatmap statistics can further enhance your understanding of user behaviour. Heatmaps visually represent where users click, scroll, and hover, allowing you to identify areas of interest or frustration on your site.
Using this data, businesses can make informed decisions on how to optimise their website’s design for a better user experience.
By regularly monitoring these metrics and making changes based on their performance, websites can improve overall user experience and ultimately boost SEO efforts.
How Do I Optimise User Experience on my Website?
Now we have outlined what UX is, the crucial KPIs to track and why it’s important for SEO, let’s delve into the ways you can improve user experience on your website.
1) Optimise Load Speed
Arguably one of the most important aspect of a website’s user experience is page load speed.
With everything seemingly available at our fingertips, users have become increasingly impatient.
Some studies show that 40% of users will abandon a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load, highlighting the importance of optimising load speed.
To improve your website’s page load speed, consider compressing images, minifying code and using a content delivery network (CDN) to distribute website data across various servers for faster loading times.
There are plenty of tools you can use to monitor website’s load speed and overall user experience, but we’d argue there is none more important than Google’s Core Web Vitals.
The Role of Core Web Vitals for SEO and UX
Core Web Vitals are a set of specific metrics that Google uses to measure the user experience of a website. This tool measures performance on mobile ad desktop devices, providing website owners with a comprehensive view of their site’s speed, responsiveness and visual stability.
These metrics are:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures how long it takes for the largest content element on your site to load, ideally within 2.5 seconds.
- Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Replacing First Input Delay (FID) to offer a more complete view of a user’s interaction with your web page, INP measures the time it takes for a user to interact with an element on your site, such as clicking a button or entering text into a form. The ideal time for this is less than 200 milliseconds.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures unexpected layout shifts on a page, such as images or text moving unexpectedly while loading. Ideally, CLS should be less than 0.1.
2) Mobile-First Indexing
Ask any web developer or digital marketer what they think the single most important part of any modern website is, and we’re sure the majority will give you the same answer.
Mobile usability.
Most people surf the internet from their mobile devices (58% of all searches, to be exact) so it only makes sense that Google would prioritise mobile-friendly sites.
In fact, since 2016, Google has used mobile-first indexing for all new websites, meaning the search engine primarily uses the mobile version of your site’s content to rank and index pages.
To ensure your website is optimised for mobile devices, consider responsive design techniques such as using appropriate font sizes and implementing touch-friendly elements like buttons and forms.
3) Clear Site Architecture and Navigation
If a user can’t navigate your website with ease, you’ve already lost them as a potential lead.
It may seem like a big statement, but put yourselves in their shoes.
Imagine the frustration you must feel when you can’t find what you’re looking for on a website.
Your site’s architecture and navigation should be clear, intuitive and allow users to easily find what they need.
The user shouldn’t need to know the ins and outs of your company in order to find basic information or products/services.
By implementing a clear menu, breadcrumbs (links that show the user’s location on your website) or even a search function (depending on your niche), you can ensure your website’s navigation is easy and intuitive.
4) Consistent and Responsive Design
Following on from the last point, your website design is a vitally important part of the user experience.
Inconsistencies in design, such as varying font sizes and colours, can be jarring for users and make your website appear unprofessional.
Additionally, with more people accessing websites from a range of devices (phones, tablets, desktops etc.), it’s important that your website has a responsive design.
In other words, it should adapt and display well on all devices, regardless of screen size or resolution. This will not only improve user experience but also positively impact SEO efforts, as Google favours mobile-friendly sites for search results.
5) Incorporating Visual Design Elements
Humans are visual creatures, and incorporating visual design elements into your website can greatly enhance user experience.
Images, videos and graphics can help break up text-heavy pages and make your content more engaging.
However, it’s important to choose appropriate visuals that align with your brand and message. Too many irrelevant visuals may clutter the website and distract users from the main purpose of their visit.
By strategically placing visual elements throughout your site, you can create an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly experience for visitors.
6) Smart Use of White Space
As important as imagery is to your website’s design, that doesn’t mean you should flood every page with visuals.
White space, or negative space, is the empty area on a page that helps balance out design elements and creates a clean and organised layout.
When used effectively, white space can make your website appear more visually appealing and easier to navigate.
It also helps prevent information overload for users, making it easier for them to focus on the most important aspects of your site.
7) User-Friendly Forms and Calls-to-Action
The seventh way to improve user experience on your website may seem simple, but it’s often overlooked – user-friendly forms and calls-to-action (CTAs).
If you’re trying to gain a lead from your contact page, make sure it’s not too cluttered with unnecessary fields and that the form is user-friendly.
If the content on your forums is too long or complicated, users may abandon them.
Additionally, CTAs should be clear, concise and strategically placed throughout your site to guide users towards taking the desired action.
By simplifying these elements, you can create a smoother and more efficient user experience that encourages conversions.
How Do I Combine SEO and UX to Improve My Website?
You may be wondering which SEO techniques are used to improve user experience ethically and genuinely.
The truth is, there are many overlapping strategies that can benefit both SEO and UX when implemented effectively.
Research is always important, but in this section, we’re primarily going to focus on the content creation.
More specifically, we’re going to look at our four-step process for creating content that is both search engine-optimised and user-friendly.
1) High-Quality and Relevant Content
The first step in providing a great user experience is to create high-quality content, relevant to the user.
Regardless of whether it’s optimised for search engines or not (we’ll come to that later), your content should always be written with the user in mind.
This means providing valuable and informative information that answers their questions or solves their problems. By doing so, you not only improve user experience but also increase the chances of your content being shared and linked to by others.
2) UX Writing and User Intent
Following on from the next point, you now need to consider the user’s intent and the reasons why they are visiting your website.
In other words, what is your user looking for? Why are they looking for it? And how can you cater to those needs?
By understanding user intent, you can tailor your content and website design to provide a better user experience. This includes using UX writing techniques to improve the clarity and effectiveness of your messaging.
UX writing is the practice of crafting content that guides users towards taking a specific action or achieving a particular goal.
This can involve using concise and clear language, incorporating strong CTAs, and anticipating the user’s needs and expectations.
3) On-Page Optimisation
The final step is to optimise your content for a specific keyword or topic while still keeping the user in mind.
This involves incorporating relevant keywords throughout your content, using meta tags and descriptions, and ensuring proper formatting and structure for easy readability.
The difference between UX writing and SEO writing is that UX focuses on the user’s journey and experience, while SEO often prioritises keywords and search engine rankings.
By combining these two approaches, you can create content that is both user-friendly and optimised for search engines.
However, it’s important to note that over-optimisation can negatively impact user experience. Keyword stuffing and other unethical SEO practices can make your content seem spammy and untrustworthy to users.
That’s why it’s crucial to strike a balance and prioritise user experience over search engine rankings.
4) Optimised Link Structure
Linking is an important aspect of both SEO and user experience. When done correctly, it can improve the credibility and relevance of your website.
For SEO purposes, linking helps search engines understand the context and importance of your content. For users, links can provide further information or resources related to their needs.
To optimise link structure for both SEO and UX, make sure to:
- Use descriptive anchor text that accurately reflects the page being linked to – but don’t always use the same exact-match anchor text over and over again.
- Avoid broken links and regularly check for any updates or changes in your linked pages.
- Prioritise internal linking, which can improve website navigation and keep users on your site longer.
By following these steps and constantly monitoring and adapting to user behaviour, you can create a website that is both search engine-friendly and user-friendly.
Conclusion: Is Content Still King?
So, at the end of all this, is content still king?
Well, kind of.
Sure, without the content there would be nothing to rank on SERPs, thus making it an essential element for SEO success.
But without a focus on user experience, that content won’t be seen by the right people and will spend all its days stuck in page 12 prison.
The ability to understand user intent and create content that resonates with your audience is a crucial part of any modern SEO strategy.
By combining SEO and UX, you can create a website that is not only highly visible on search engines but also provides a valuable and enjoyable experience for your users.
So while content may still be king, user experience is the kingdom in which it reigns supreme.
Prioritise both, and you’ll see the results in improved rankings, increased traffic, and higher conversions. Happy optimising!