The Role Of User Interface (ui) And User Experience (ux) In User Metrics And Seo Rankings

By Author: Michael Crawford
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SEO and user experience (UX) began decades ago. While search engine optimization is still practiced as a marketing technique, user experience focuses on providing the user with an engaging experience.

Even implementing all their SEO techniques, many people don’t see any improvement in their rankings. It simply means that they have not got their UX right. But finding user experience-related issues at your website becomes challenging when you look at it from SEO's point of view.

So instead, you need to look at it from your customers' perspective.

Link between UI, UX, and SEO

A user interface, user experience, and SEO — all are linked with each other. Let's understand it this way — a user enters some specific keywords using Google or any other search engine. Then, the optimized website for design, content, and accessibility appears in search result pages. The user clicks on it and gets landed on the website. But when the user finds it hard to get what they really want or face some usability-related problems, they leave the website soon, spoiling the overall purpose of the website in vain.

Conversely, ...
... when search engine optimization covers up the look and feels of your site, it impacts its user experience. If a modern website design is packed with unnecessary elements, it might affect the SEO, and the search engine might have issues accessing the details underneath it. If your website's look and feel don't follow the optimization principles, your ranking goes down.

So to implement strong SEO, you have to organize the content with its functionality, usability, and accessibility to form a solid user interaction. Once the website design aligns properly with well-optimized features, Google bots cannot ignore the on-point answers that you have added to your site.

Here in this blog, we will explain the role of user interface and user experience in SEO and user metrics. So keep scrolling.

Page speed and load time

A slow website is a significant turn-off for web users. It isn't very pleasant for them as well. If it takes more than a few seconds to load, it's evident that your audience will leave your site before loading. This will make your site appear negatively and impact your bounce rate.

Many possible reasons lead to slow website speed. While some of them are out of your control, like a user's slow internet connection, some of them you can control. You can make sure that your site is well-optimized for the fastest loading. This means optimizing images, reducing file sizes, and minimizing server requests. If your website is optimized for all these, it will automatically improve your page speed and load time.

Website’s navigation

SEO often supports robust website architecture that leads to complex navigation. People think the more pages, the better. But that’s not the case. Gone are the days when keyword stuffing used to rule in many pages. But now, just one page with relevant keywords is enough to rank higher.
Having a user-friendly and content-rich page can be your powerful weapon for SEO. You want your audience to navigate your site without any trouble. Complex navigation structures once that are more SEO-friendly can disturb their experience. Hence, this will cause them to leave your website soon. Therefore, instead of implementing traditional SEO practices making all web pages accessible to search engines, make them accessible to users. This will be more user-friendly.

Mobile responsiveness

Mobile responsiveness has become more critical than ever. It is one of the vital aspects of great UX. If your website lacks mobile responsiveness, it will result in a 50% reduced audience. Google has made mobile responsiveness mandatory for every website. Even they weigh this factor a lot in their algorithm for ranking. Sites that don't have mobile responsiveness will see a drop in their user engagement rate.

Aesthetics engage users

Most marketers emphasize content that drives traffic to their website. However, along with the content, aesthetics play an essential role too. With the right aesthetics, you can make your content more impressive and informative for the audience.

Using images and graphics with content attracts visitors and engages them on the website. They also react positively when they get the information precisely required.

The right mix of images, graphics, and text is a compelling idea to use. Also, use Meta information, alts, and SEO-friendly URLs for more benefits. This all improves user experience, and an improved user experience means your website will rank higher.

Call-to-actions or user signals

User signals work as an essential factor in search engine ranking. Such signals or CTAs highlight what a visitor is anticipated to do. It also helps visitors find what they exactly need. CTAs help users consume the content they're searching by easing its access, boosting engagement, and improving the conversion rates.

Google notices and knows everything about your site. For Google, every touchpoint and interaction on your site means visitors are interested in your site, and they're engaging with the information you provide. It all translates into a better user experience which means better ranking.

Headings

The headings of a printed work make it easy for users to find information. Similarly, a web page heading makes it easier for search engine crawlers and visitors to understand your content. Headings such as h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6 should inform the search engines and visitors what the sections or paragraphs are about. These headings also illustrate a logical hierarchy of your content.

Using just one h1 tag on your page helps search engines and visitors know that the page has the main focus. Generally, h1 is considered the first piece of content you want to place at the top of a page. Adding keywords in your h1 heading is said to improve rankings.

Other headings such as h2 to h6 should be structured after h1 to organize the page correctly. You can use different headings on a page several times as long as it's relevant. Also, you don't have to use all the headers. Sometimes, one header (h1) is enough, followed by h2.

Meta tags

Your modern website design starts with how it appears on SERPs. To entice people and compel them to click, you have to optimize your meta title and description. Ineffective meta tags that receive only a few clicks are an indication to search engines that your website or content isn't valuable. So, make sure your meta title and description are well-written and are appealing.

For example, you're searching for the phrase "where to buy funny t-shirts online." You will get many results for this particular phrase. But you won't mind clicking on anyone but the one that provides the answer to your question, right? The title that doesn't add any value to your search and the description that doesn't provide you with a helpful hint about the site's content is useless.

You won't be curious, and you will not click on the given link. In such a case, your SEO will have a negative impact.

URL structure

The structure of a URL is also an integral part of the effective user experience strategy. Therefore, it helps in achieving desired SEO results. Using effective URL structures allows you to make users get familiarize with your site's overall hierarchy. At the same time, it helps you to communicate what the particular page is all about. On the other hand, ineffective URL structures will leave the users confused.

They will find no sense in your hierarchical structure. Also, it will not help them to get any insights about your site's contents.

So, pay extra attention to the keywords that you include in the URLs. It is because search engines use it to index pages. Create logical and clean URLs that are easy to understand for visitors and search engine crawlers.

Streamline your menus

Menus make one of the significant features of a site. The foremost use of menus is to guide visitors to the relevant section or page of a site.

When you streamline the design and structure part of a menu, you get an effective UX.

Make sure your menu isn't complex. Placing too much content in your menu will leave the audience confused. You want your menus to help your audience find what they're looking for, and you can do it by creating relevant categories and subcategories.

Conclusion

UI and UX are both crucial elements of any website out there. For an unparalleled user experience, you need to optimize both the elements and improve your SEO. But there is no straightforward approach to this. You will have to do a lot of testing. Along with it, you will also need to get feedback from users and implement some technical skills. Aligning your UX and UI with SEO strategy boosts your online visibility and increases your conversion rates.