You may have already read the term “UX” here on BlogPasCher. But what is UX? And why is it important for the SEO ? In this tutorial, we will explain to you what it is and why you should not forget to work on it, if you want to rank high on Google. In addition to this, we will soon give you some tips on what to do to keep your website users happy.

What is UX?

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UX stands for User eXperience. As you may have understood, it all depends on how users perceive a product. It can be a website, but it doesn't have to be. It could be an app, a cell phone, or any other physical product you can use, even a carton of milk. It all depends on what it feels like to use a particular product. Does the product make you feel excited or happy, is it a pleasure to use it, does it help you effortlessly achieve what you were aiming for? Or does it make you angry or frustrated, because it doesn't work or look like you expected?

UX or usability?

UX and usability are sometimes used interchangeably. They are both used to describe the ease with which a visitor uses your site. However, user experience is often seen as broader than usability. If a website is very usable - or user-friendly - visitors will be able to find or do what they want to do easily. Great user experience involves more, for example, aesthetics. A website can be simple to use, but boring at the same time. This means the usability is great, but the user experience could be improved.

For example, illustrations in our blog posts are not required to improve usability. However, they do contribute to the user experience on our site. These images contribute to the user experience of our site. Without them, your experience on our blog will be different. This way UX can be part of a branding strategy even more than usability.

Why is it important for SEO to improve the user experience?

So why should improving the usability and UX of your site be part of your marketing strategy? SEO ? Google, or other search engines, want to provide people with the best result for their query. The best result not only means the best answer, but also the best experience. For example, if you are looking for the answer to “What is keyword research?” » Google wants to give you the best answer in terms of speed, security and usability. So even if you have written a great article, but your site is slow or unsafe, Google will not consider your article to be the best answer there is.

How does Google value the user experience?

Google uses different methods to make an educated guess about how users experience your site. They look at things like site speed - there is hardly anything more boring than a page that takes a long time to load, mobile usability, the way you have structured your content, internal and external links. of your pages. Lots of high quality links to your webpage probably indicate that people had a good experience, don't they?

On top of that, Google uses user signals to find out how visitors discover your website. User signals are patterns of behavior that Google sees on your site. If a lot of people leave your site very quickly, they may not have found what they are looking for. Of course, there are some exceptions to this. Some other user signals are time spent on a page and how often users return to your website. If these are high, visitors will likely enjoy your site or find it useful. You can check these types of statistics for your site with Google Analytics and other website analysis tools.

It is no coincidence that the factors mentioned above are important for both UX and SEO. Google is trying to figure out how humans experience a website. This is why a positive experience on your site can contribute to your rankings.

The case of holistic SEO

So should you work on usability and UX just for search engines? I think you can guess our answer to that… We advocate a holistic look at your website. This means that you strive to make your website excellent in many ways: great content, easy to use – also on mobile – and secure. You make these changes for your visitors. In the end, it is the user who will buy your products or even subscribe to your newsletter.

Where to start?

As always, start by thinking about the purpose of your website and specific pages. What do you want visitors to do on your site? Buy things ? Read your articles? Donate money to your charity? The purpose of your website or a specific page on your site should be at the forefront of your mind when making improvements. Your design and content should support this goal. Having a clear goal in mind will also help you prioritize improvements for your site.

Mobile user experienceIf you want to improve the UX on your site, try looking at it from the user's perspective as well. Ask yourself a few questions - and be honest:

  • What do you expect to find on a page?
  • Does the design of a page support the purpose of that page?
  • Are you using the right buttons in the right places?
  • Is your content well structured and easy to find?
  • Is your mobile site performing well?

Most people develop blind spots if they work a lot on their site. You should therefore take this opportunity to ask people to rate your site, when you can! Try to get people in your target group to test your site and ask them if it worked as expected. You can also use questionnaires TRAFFIC & CONVERSIONS or, if you don't want to bother them too much, use an exit intent question and ask them why they are leaving your site. Another option is to do an A / B test to find out  (Source in English) which design of your page gives the best results.

So, no more excuses. Start working on your site's UX, and you might increase your rankings too!