UX (short for user experience) refers to the relationship between the customer and the product or service. The importance of UX design is sometimes underestimated in its relation to SEO, but we’re going to explore this dimension and why you’ll want to include SEO in your UX design process. What is UX design with built-in SEO and how can it support an overall positive user experience while enhancing your digital marketing plan? Read on to find out.

What Is UX Design?

UX design refers to a user’s experience with a digital product or service. Thoughtful designers must take in the experience of the user in order to arrive at a design that, for lack of a better word, is usable and offers the user a positive experience. In fact, usability is something that a customer will consider when evaluating a product or service: is it easy for them to use?

UX designers strive to design products that support elements like product or service value, function, and overall general impression. Consequently, the best designers understand how to balance technical functionality with criteria that are uniquely human-like emotions. UX focuses on the experience that customers are meant to have when they interact with a product or service.

Why Is UX Design So Important?

Many companies ponder the importance of UX design as well as how to improve website UX for better customer engagement (which, ideally, should lead to improved lead generation). Businesses involved with digital products and services know that UX is crucial for the success of their offerings, but they may not be aware of why it’s also important to search engine optimization. Here is why user experience Sarasota web design is also essential for SEO:

Visually Attractive and Well-Structured Web Page Layout

Thoughtful UX design should aid in the construction of a visually attractive website or web page that’s well organized and features an easy-to-read structure. Page structure is something that can affect your SEO. While ‘beauty’ is a more subjective term, a site’s appearance can be evaluated with some helpful analytics. Is the site pleasing? The bounce rate might suggest that something is amiss with the structure, appearance, or functionality of the site. Visitors are more likely to spend time on a website that’s more visually appealing.

UX Design Improves SEO Rankings to Help Convert Traffic

SEO is essential for achieving a good page rank. The higher your page rank, the more traffic you should expect to see on your website. Many of the factors that go into UX design are also factors that support SEO such as:

  • Easy-to-digest content
  • Leverage headers in multiple forms
  • Use of images and videos
  • Liberal use of CTAs
  • Links to related content

These factors enhance the user experience while also fulfilling requirements for SEO, which, of course, is also concerned with a positive user experience.

Provide Direct, Actionable Information That’s Relevant to the Query

Users expect to ‘find an answer when they use a search engine and UX designers strive to ensure that their web pages provide direct answers to those queries that are most closely related to their product or service. Doing so also supports SEO. As search engines ‘realize’ that your website provides relative, authoritative information to searchers, it can result in better page ranking.

The World Has Gone Mobile

UX designers understand that their designs have to work for mobile because increasing numbers of users access websites via their mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Mobile SEO is a critical aspect of general SEO in that it targets elements that relate to that mobile usage. A good mobile user experience must involve elements that are essential to mobile SEO such as:

  • The website is easily navigable
  • Website is scrollable
  • The website’s font size is legible and large
  • Website’s interface actions are easy

Deliver High-Quality, Legitimate, Credible Content

Gone are the days when SEO specialists could get away with keyword stuffing to enhance SEO. What good does that do for customers? UX designers and SEO professionals understand that a positive user experience depends on high-quality content that’s easy to understand but also authoritative in relation to its field.

Great content does, of course, employ relevant keywords and keyword phrases, but it does so in a way that supports the user experience. Good content communicates what the target audience needs to know and understand in order to engage with the website and, in the end, purchase the product or service or, at least, express some measurable interest.

UX Hacks Can Increase Revenue

Many UX hacks can support SEO and also lead to increased revenue for the business. Although SEO is important for customers because it is, in fact, concerned with customer experience, the result is that happy customers are more likely to support the businesses that made them happy using hacks like:

  • Consistent branding
  • Consumer-friendly products and services
  • Customer satisfaction

User Engagement Metrics That Matter

SEO is dependent on continual analytics and measurement. Both UX designers and SEO specialists can depend on metrics of engagement to determine how their efforts are working and if they’re achieving the desired payoff. Two metrics that should never be ignored include the website:

  • Bounce rate
  • Page dwell time

How fast do site visitors stay on the website and specific web pages? If they’re bouncing quickly, something about the design isn’t working. That can negatively affect UX and SEO. Using metrics allows designers to make appropriate changes that can improve these metrics.

Many of the factors needed to achieve search engine optimization are the same ones that UX designers concern themselves with. These two pursuits overlap in many ways and support a more positive customer experience. Noble Webworks specializes in SEO and web design Boca Raton services. We can help you achieve an SEO-friendly website that supports your digital marketing goals.