For a very long time, optimising a website for search has always been done after a website has been built and published online. Most websites have lived on the web without seeing traffic. With the help of a good marketing strategy agency, only then can it reach the first page of SERP and even the top 10 search results. But times have changed, and so have the strategies for ranking. It’s now important for SEO and user experience (UX) to be aligned right from the start.
SEO and UX: What Each Brings to the Table
There’s a deep connection between SEO and UX. The former helps search engines find content and rank it according to different algorithms. UX, on the other hand, is based on how website visitors understand, navigate, and enjoy a website. What they do on the site and how long they stay provide search engines with useful ranking data.
What SEO brings:
- Online content optimised for people and search
- Easy trade and organised website code
- Site structure readable by search engines
- Strategic use of keywords and metadata
What UX brings:
- Logical website design and layout
- Easy-to-navigate menus and pages
- Clear CTAs (call to action)
- Clean and mobile-ready design
- Structured content hierarchy
The results they bring together:
- Longer on-site user engagement duration
- Lower to no bounce rates
- Higher conversions and number of repeat visitors
If AI and web development pairing is considered unusual but functional, SEO and UX have been proven to be best united.
Key Pillars of Combined SEO & UX
For your website to rank high and keep visitors coming back and converting, focus on the overlapping areas of SEO and UX.
Mobile-First Design & Responsive Experiences
Your website should seamlessly adapt to any screen size for a smoother user experience. Search engines look kindly on websites that are responsive and built with mobile usability.
- Buttons and texts should be easy to click and read, even with viewed on small screens
- Implement a responsive design so pages automatically adjust to any device
- Remove pop-up elements that interfere with the mobile user experience
It’s important that your site’s responsiveness continuously evolves with emerging devices. Test regularly all mobile versions of your website.
Blazing-Fast Site Speed & Core Web Vitals
Consider your website as your salesperson, whom you trust to close deals quickly and efficiently. If they’re always late or take too long to get things done, however, potential clients and leads are sure to drop out. The same analogy applies to a slow website. Users and Google hate slow load times.
- Invest in reliable and lightning-fast website hosts
- Avoid overloading the website, compress images and script files without sacrificing quality
- Cache web page resources locally to boost performance
- Use Google PageSpeed Insights for performance monitoring
Intuitive Site Architecture & Navigation
Your website should be easy to navigate for visitors and crawl and index for search engines. If either of these two has trouble moving from one page to another, you can bet they’ll abandon your site and crush your ranking, respectively.
- Organise web pages into logical categories and subcategories
- Add a search function for a smoother navigation experience
- Keep the menu structure clear and simple
- Link internally to guide users and crawlers through
Building your website to provide a better experience for users and crawlers is crucial for it to rank on the first page of search engines. By treating SEO and UX as a unified entity rather than separate, you set up your website for long-term success. Ready to transform your website? Let Barking Dog give it the overhaul it needs.