SEO and User Experience Go Hand-in-Hand

The best search engine optimization is search experience optimization

Search engine optimization and user experience should work together. A user shouldn’t visit a website and find that it has been created more for the search engines than for her. Is your site designed to appeal to visitors and rank well in the search engines or just rank well in search? If you’re just targeting search engines, you’ll get visitors but they won’t stay to look around or take action.

Identify why people are visiting your website and make it easy for them to find what they want.

Common reasons include:
• Completing a transaction. For example getting a quote for electrician service or buying a product.
• Researching specific information before a transaction. For instance, they read something about your company and want to know more.
• Seeking education. They aren’t interested in a transaction but want to learn more about your topic or industry.

Help your visitors find the information they need easily by providing a site that is easy-to-navigate. A visitor should be able to find the content she needs without having to hit the back button. Your site should load quickly and be optimized to display well on different screen sizes. So aim for search experience optimization which is about having a site that is easily found and works well for visitors, not just search engines.

Reduce bounce rates for your site by making it really easy for people to find what they want. There should be a clear path of action laid out for visitors or they will leave. Offer a call to action (CTA) for those visitors seeking to complete a transaction such as a button for a “Free Estimate”. Make sure your CTA stands out on your page with a contrasting color and is obviously placed near the top. If you are using a form for your CTA, keep it as simple as possible and try different variations to see what works best.

In addition, every page on your site should have a clear purpose, especially the home page. Don’t load your page up with lots of content in the hopes that someone will click on something. Put the most important information first and have a clear hierarchy. Stick with one call to action per page. Use white space to emphasize your most important content. Test different versions of your page until you find what works best to increase conversions and reduce bounce rate.

Is your website not performing the way you’d like? We’d be happy to take a look at your site and give you some feedback. Just let us know by sending the form, calling 888.412.7469 or by leaving a comment!