Is Good User Experience a Ranking Factor?
Is good user experience a ranking factor despite not being explicitly mentioned by Google? The short answer is yes, and we’re here to tell you why. User experience should be central to your website, prioritising a positive experience for whoever has clicked on your site. While not formally recognised as a direct ranking factor, it’s essential to know how SEO and user experience go hand in hand. Our comprehensive audit service can help you identify areas in which your site can be optimised for a good user experience, saving you time and resources with the benefit of our expert knowledge. User experience is predicted to become even more important shortly- get ahead whilst you can and work towards optimising your site in every way that will improve a user’s experience. After all, users are what drive the success of sites. Therefore, their needs should be considered in every element of your SEO optimisation.
What Is the Relationship between User Experience and SEO?
The definition of user experience is how user-friendly your site is. If this experience is anything but positive, a user can abandon the website, increasing the bounce rate and negatively affecting engagement. This is even more important in a society where our attentions are increasingly diverted and forever seeking fast access to information. The structure of the site and content must cater towards its intended users whilst boosting SEO factors. A positive user experience creates positive outcomes for ranking and vice versa. Google prioritises content that is user-friendly and is forever trying to understand the ways in which users navigate both content and the site. An attractive and engaging website is crucial for the user experience and therefore boosts SEO. Ranking factors are directly linked to the experience of the user, so the relationship is close-knit and cooperative.
What Factors Are Part of Good User Experience?
It can be hard to navigate which factors are at play for crafting the desired experience for your users, so here are just a few of the most important ones.
Website Speed
A slow-loading site is the enemy of your good user experience, increasing bounce rate as users become bored and impatient. A high bounce rate essentially tells google that your site is not worth ranking highly due to the lack of time spent on it by users. A quick and fast-loading website is optimal for user experience and encourages them to stay on the site. Again, society demands fast access to any query and with Google at our very fingertips, expectations are high.
Content on the Site
Your content must remain relevant to the users’ interest, meeting Google’s Helpful Content guidelines. Remaining relevant and not appearing spammy with keywords paints your content as trustworthy and deserving of ranking highly in the SERPs. In addition to relevance, your site is optimal if the content is attractive and designed in a user-friendly manner. Optimise your content as something a user would want to look at, using relevant H1, H2 and H3 headings to signpost important information. If your content is organised so that paragraphs are lengthy with a small font size, the likelihood is a user will not want to read on. In turn, google sees that the user clicks away almost immediately, realising that your page does not align with the user’s needs and shouldn’t rank highly. If the user is unimpressed with your content, then so is Google. Effective visual stimuli is appealing and livens up your site, adding a bit of dimension and flare alongside your useful bits of information. It is useful to consider breaking up your words with images.
Accessibility
How users access content is increasingly modernised, with most now turning to their mobile phones to look for answers. While a site may appear perfectly well on a laptop, it’s important to consider how it would display on a mobile device. Prioritising a responsive design ensures that your website runs on all devices and formats properly no matter where or how a user has found it. Users want to find exactly what they’re looking for, so every element of the site must be accessible and easy to navigate, that’s where mobile SEO comes in handy.
Linking
A well-structured site with an array of helpful internal and external links creates a website that is useful for whatever needs a user may have. It is comprehensive in its information and if it directs a user somewhere useful and credible, this gives the page authority in its ranking. An effective internal linking structure additionally helps users to find their way around your site, sticking to what’s relevant for their query but allowing more visitors to other parts of your website.
How Can We Help Optimise Your User Experience?
At Embryo Digital, we prioritise the creation of high-quality SEO content with a bespoke strategy for your every need. Get in touch with our expert team today at 0161 327 2635 or email [email protected] Discover how your site can be optimised for the best user experience possible with our expert audit service and support from our knowledgeable team.
