Now that the online marketplace is competitive more than ever, businesses have come up with their own strategies to attract their target audience. One of the methods they usually use is search engine optimisation (SEO). It plays a major role in social promotion and the smooth running of a website. Another important benefit of using it is improving the user experience.
What Is User Experience?
User experience (UX) is a web experience focused on the user. It involves the usability, optimisation, and interactions made on the website.
An impressive UX provides the customers with their exact needs without hassle. It allows them to easily locate what they are looking for. Besides giving them what they want, achieving high-quality UX can be done by seamlessly merging services of multiple disciplines.
What Are the UX Factors That Directly Affect SEO?
Designing a good UX will positively impact user engagement metrics and boost search rankings. To improve these metrics, here are some UX factors that must be enhanced:
Mobile Responsiveness
Not everyone has easy access to personal computers. In fact, the majority of users utilise tablets as their primary devices for browsing online. With that in mind, when creating a website design, mobile users must be considered. This means that the website must easily be accessed using mobile devices to prevent losing customers. Besides working with web designers, one way to see user engagement metrics and determine the effectiveness of mobile responsiveness is to take the Google Mobile Responsiveness Test.
Menu Design
Menus are important for website navigation. A website with a confusing interface and tacky menu design can easily frustrate users and prevent them from finding what they are looking for. To offer easy navigation to existing and potential customers, make sure the menus, titles, and headers have a simple and sleek layout.
Load Times and Responsiveness
When it comes to load times and responsiveness, no user has the patience of a saint. Each second that passes increases the likelihood of users exiting the tab even before the site loads, increasing the bounce rate and affecting search rankings. Since businesses only have several seconds to make a positive impression and attract customers, their website must load almost instantaneously.
While it’s true that some factors that could negatively impact load times are not in businesses’ control, what they can do is to make the necessary adjustments for their site to load as fast as possible. For example, this can be achieved by optimising photo resolutions and reducing file sizes.
URL Structure
URLs are used to understand and index web pages. Additionally, the keywords used in the URL affect search rankings. For this reason, implementing effective URL structures is important. They contain hierarchical structures, which improves UX since they offer insights into the contents of the web page. It helps both users and search engine crawlers understand these coherent URLs.
Conclusion
Since SEO is essential for a strong online presence, UX must be prioritised. Creating an impressive UX starts with knowing how users perceive and interact within the website. If you’re unsure how to begin and what to do to improve your metrics, work with the right professionals.
Stephenson’s IT Support Solutions is an IT support provider that specialises in SEO. Partner with us to build a digital presence and make your business stand out!