What’s more crucial for your digital marketing strategy, focusing on SEO or user experience? Yes, it’s a trick question. The entire purpose of creating a digital marketing strategy is to give users what they want, but if they can’t find you, you lose business. That’s where SEO kicks in.
SEO improves a website’s visibility in search engines, making it more visible to potential visitors. Its sole goal is to drive more traffic to a website by making it easier for Google and other search engines to find and index its content.
Google has been through a lot of updates since its inception. Every change is made to improve the user experience. While things like on-page and off-page tactics are still used for ranking, user engagement metrics are increasingly prioritized to improve user experience.
Google wants to make people happy. When they click and find what they want, they’ll explore the website, stick to the site, and click through to other pages. They might bookmark it and come back repeatedly. This tells Google it’s a valuable resource, and Google will reward it accordingly.
The update to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is a fresh approach to user engagement. Instead of counting pages and views, Google looks at the engagement time per active user. In other words, how long a user remains active on your site.
What Creates User Experience?
User experience is vital for website success. To improve user experience, Google looks for several key factors that contribute to overall satisfaction:
- Availability: Can viewers access a website when they want and need it? This includes being discoverable in search engines and being accessible on any device.
- Accessibility: Is the site available to all, regardless of their abilities or disabilities? Sites that provide assistive technologies will be rewarded.
- Reliability: Does the site offer consistent performance? This looks at quick load times, functionality, and dependability every time a user shows up.
- Responsiveness: Website design should adapt seamlessly to whatever device a user chooses to use.
- Usability: Is the site easy to use and navigate? Users should never have to stop and think about how to use a site. Clear navigation, intuitive interfaces, and functional design mean people find a site simple to use and aesthetically appealing at the same time.
This is your starting point. The more you learn, the deeper you can go into creating a website that’s functional, engaging, and enjoyable to use. It’s about what the user sees and doesn’t see, on site and in the coding. Structure matters to give users what they want most.
User Experience and SEO Working Together
Are you starting to see how user experience and SEO work together? With this in mind, it’s time to start making changes to your site to improve both. Don’t worry; you can do this continually to improve performance.
Start With Your Viewer’s Needs
Everything about marketing starts with your end user in mind. User engagement is no different. Your first steps should be to consider what your viewers want, then set your site up to give them what they need.
Are they looking for information? Are they ready to buy? Do they need one-on-one contact? Yes, in some cases, they want all this and more. Start with one question, one actionable step, and build from there. Tailor each experience to guide viewers to the information they want and need.
Create User-Friendly Navigation
We’ve all been to sites where they attempt to create unique pathways for you to follow. It’s confusing at best. Don’t confuse your viewers; give them logical steps to follow. Then you can get creative with your message instead.
Intuitive and user-friendly navigation helps your viewers get where they’re going fast. This can reduce bounce rates, which ultimately leads to better SEO performance.
Provide Quality Content
Search engines love fresh content. Keep it fresh. Keep it unique. Give people informative content they choose to engage with. This keeps them coming back for more.
Content can be crafted in a way that makes the most sense to you. Blog posts help you rank well for SEO purposes. But you can utilize copy, video, graphics, and more to convey your message. Only you know what your audience wants most.
Improve Website Design
When was the last time you updated your layout? Does it still speak to your audience? Is it easy to navigate? Do you include meaningful calls-to-action?
Simplicity is key. But that doesn’t mean you should use a simple design. A site should remain organized so users can easily click and move around to find what they are looking for.
Accessibility
Accessibility is growing in importance. Improving accessibility ensures all users can access and use your website. This includes things like alternative text for images, keyboard accessibility, and straightforward navigation.
Create a Fast-Loading Site
Short attention spans mean people will leave your site quickly if a site takes too long to load. Almost 70 percent of consumers have said that page speed impacts their buying decisions.
But don’t just consider users on this factor; it affects your SEO rankings too. Google considers page speed an important ranking factor, saying load time is essential for better SEO performance. You can do this by optimizing images and minimizing HTTP requests, among other things. And remember, this is ongoing. Websites can easily get weighed down as you add pages and adjust your site. Don’t forget about mobile responsiveness as well.
Improve SEO, Improve User Experience
It starts with a good SEO strategy. If you haven’t utilized SEO before, there’s no better time than now to implement it. Understanding how users interact with your site is critical. The more you learn, the more you can improve the user experience and boost your search engine rankings—a win-win for your overall digital marketing strategy.
The strategies here are your starting point. Then, keep adapting and refining to give your users what they want and need most.
Have questions? We’re here to help. We look forward to speaking with you soon.
