Search Experience Optimisation: How to get your customers clicking

There are some combinations that work incredibly well.

Strawberries and cream. Bacon and eggs. Honey and blue cheese.

(Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it!)

However, one of my favourite combinations by far is search experience optimisation, or SXO. While you can't eat it, you get some mouthwatering results when you do it right!

Let's look at what it is and how to implement it on your website.

What is SXO?

SXO is a marketing strategy that combines search engine optimisation (SEO) and user experience (UX).

Essentially, it covers the entire conversion process from start to finish.

You implement SEO so prospective customers can find your website in their search engine of choice.

Then, when they visit your website, you employ good UX to make it as easy as possible for them to find what they need.

Why SXO is so important

SXO encompasses the whole customer journey. You don't want prospective customers to click on your website in Google only to land on a slow, clunky site that looks awful on their mobile phone.

And of course, you could have the most user-friendly website in the world, but if it languishes on the 10th page of the search engine results, it's money down the drain.

The search engines are placing more emphasis on the user experience than ever before. In 2020, Google introduced the Core Web Vitals, metrics like Interaction to Next Paint, which measure site performance and determine where your website ranks.

It's no longer just about the keywords you use – the search engines only want to promote the most intuitive, responsive sites.

Seven tips for implementing SXO on your site

Getting your SXO bang on the money takes time. It's highly technical, and it's essential to try different things to see what yields the best results.

When you get it right though, it's a game changer.

Here are some things to consider when reviewing your business's SXO.

1. Improve your page loading speed

It's no longer just nice for your website to load quickly – it's essential.

According to Google, if your page load time goes from one second to three seconds, your bounce rate increases by 32%.

Not only this, but page loading time is a massive part of Google's Core Web Vitals, meaning a slow website can cause your site to drop in the rankings.

There are lots of things you can do to improve your page load speed. A quick win is to make sure your images and files are optimised.

If you're on a platform like WordPress or Shopify, removing plugins you no longer need can help too.

2. Make sure your website works well on mobile

Like page loading speed, a mobile responsive site doesn't just keep customers happy but can affect your search engine results.

Even the little things can have a big impact. That carousel might look absolutely stunning on desktop, but look like a mess on an iPhone.

Most platforms use mobile responsive design as standard, but it's still essential to test on mobile devices. If you struggle to navigate your site, your customers will too.

3. Fine-tune your navigation

Think of SXO like a car journey. You want your customers to get from A to B as quickly and effortlessly as possible.

You don't want them to drive round and round in circles on your website. Because if they give up and leave, it tells Google that your site might not be as relevant as it initially thought.

It's important to understand where your site visitors want to get to and provide as many routes as possible to get there. For example, links on your homepage, site footer, and menu.

And if you don't have a search bar, consider adding one. 43% of shoppers make site search their first port of call.

4. Get your checkout in check

Did you know that seven out of every ten shopping carts are abandoned?

While some people just put stuff in their baskets and forget about it, 22% quit because the checkout process is too long or complicated.

Getting your checkout process right means more revenue and happier shoppers.

Offering guest checkout is a great starting point if you want to make your site more user-friendly, with 43% of people preferring to buy without creating an account.

5. Add structured markup

Structured markup is code that you can add to specific pages on your website, such as product pages, blog posts, and recipes.

This code provides additional context for the search engines, increasing the chances that your pages appear for the right search results. It also adds extra information to your result, making your content stand out for all the right reasons.

Some platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce offer plugins that automatically generate structured markup for your pages– although I recommend double-checking the results just to make sure there aren't any errors.

If not, use a site like Structured Data Markup Helper to create your code and then add it to your page's HTML.

6. Focus on your metadata

Your page titles and meta descriptions do a surprising amount of heavy lifting when it comes to SXO.

Not only do they affect how your pages look in the search engine rankings, but they feed through to social media when people share your pages, and show up in your browser tabs.

It's essential to make sure all your pages have unique, relevant, and descriptive metadata. Plus the better your page titles and meta descriptions are, the lower the chances of Google trying to rewrite them!

7. Use CRO to see what works

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the science of making changes to your website to increase your conversion rate. It's all about making small, data-driven amends that deliver optimal results.

For example, let's say you want to see which call-to-action (CTA) wording to use on your product page. You can use A/B testing to set up two identical pages with different CTAs, like 'buy now' and 'add to cart'.

You then see which page gets the most conversions and replicate the winning results across your entire site.

CRO is the cornerstone of the SXO process. Boost your conversion rate, and it tells Google your site is high-performing, which leads to an improved search engine presence, which in turn results in more targeted organic traffic.

(Still stuck on where to get started with CRO? Check out our guide to rising above some of the most common CRO challenges!)

SXO? Sorted!

SXO is vital as it oversees the entire customer journey. Everything you do brings you closer to more clicks, higher-quality traffic, and an easier-to-use website.

One final tip from me – regularly check your metrics to see what's working and what needs to be improved. For example, if your bounce rate suddenly spikes on a mobile device, it might be a sign that you've done something that's affecting your mobile responsiveness.

Need a little extra help getting your SXO in order, from the first click in Google to the last click in the checkout process? Send me a DM, and let's talk.