User Experience & SEO - How They Work Together
SEO has changed since its beginnings and even in the past few years, as it used to be that rankings were the only reason to optimise websites. This resulted in a lot of pages that were stuffed with keywords and hard to read, but thankfully practices have evolved.
In order for businesses to grow to their potential and attract users, search engine optimisation tactics have to change. SEO itself is constantly changing as well, as spammers are constantly looking for ways to take advantage of ranking systems.
For business owners, it can seem impossible to keep up with all the demands of SEO. However, SEO professionals have gotten ahead of the curve and some even offer free SEO analysis services to companies to keep them up to date on how to reach more potential customers.
One of the key ways these professionals stay ahead of everything is by focusing on customers, or user experience, instead of on rankings.
The Importance of User Experience
SEO experts don't have to have specialised training in user experience, but they typically have a basic understanding of user experience optimisation. This is simply focusing on what the visitor experiences when they visit a website.
Everything that SEO professionals do is intended to make user experience better, though there are some practices that are required by search engines if you want your website to increase its ranking and relevancy. Some of the things that are required are outlined when you get a free SEO review, so you know exactly what needs to be included on brand websites.
Search engine optimisation is complex and grows even more complex each year with the intent of collecting data to give users more of the content they want and less of the content they are not interested in. To effectively use this data collection to your advantage, you want your website to contain more content that users are interested in.
SEO for User Experience Practices
Research Keywords
Researching keywords is typically the starting place for businesses that want to strengthen their online marketing strategy. This is an essential practice that has an effect on your entire website, so it should not be taken lightly. If you're not sure where to begin, consider getting a free SEO analysis to help you get a better idea of how keywords affect your site.
Entice Clicks
Another thing you will learn when you get a free SEO review is that optimising your website is about more than ranking high - it is about getting users to click on your website. Even if your ranking is not as high as your competitor's, you can still bring in just as many clicks by making sure that you capture user attention and entice them into clicking on your site.
Breadcrumbs/URLs
A URL of your page and the breadcrumb displayed for your page should be relevant to your products or services, adding to the credibility of the website. If either of these aspects does not match the website or searcher intent, your website may not be considered viable.
If you're not willing to dedicate the hours to learning about SEO practices, consider working with professionals and getting an SEO analysis to get more insight into the performance of your website and the user experience you are providing.
