SEO 101: The Importance of User Experience (UX)

Last year Google emphasized the value of page speed with its Speed Update.

In announcing this update, which applied "speed" as a ranking factor to mobile searches, Google wrote: "People want to...find answers to their questions as fast as possible."

Page speed, we know, is a crucial part of user experience (UX), which many in the SEO cite as the most important ranking factor.

So for this week's article I'll answer two simple questions: What is UX? And what does it have to do with SEO?

What is User Experience (UX)?

User experience is a measure of a browser's experience of your website. Google has emphasized the value of user experience since the introduction of RankBrain, the search engine's machine learning system, which uses AI to measure "user intent."

Google's algorithm is shifting away from the old ranking standards, notably links and keywords, to this new measure, which evaluates user satisfaction by following certain metrics. As Search Engine Journal noted in its article about UX, these metrics include organic CTR (click through rate), pages per session, bounce rate, and dwell time,

These metrics attempt to answer several questions about a browser's experience:

Did the browser click your link from the SERP?

Organic CTR is a good initial measure of whether a search result satisfies a query. 

Did the browser click on multiple pages? 

More pages per session means more engaged browsers.

Did the browser click on only one page and "bounce" away? 

Bounce rate is a dubious measure of how often a browser "bounces" away from your site after only one click. A high bounce rate is a sign that your content, or some other aspect of the experience does not satisfy browsers. (Time to go back to the drawing board!)

Did the browser spend a significant time on your site?

A browser's dwell time is the total time spent on a site, from the first click until returning to the SERP. A high dwell time implies a browser is satisfied with a website's content or experience. A low dwell time--well, maybe not so much.

This guys seems happy! But you shouldn't need a ridiculous stock photo to understand the importance of UX. All of the above elements, which are products of the design, development, and content teams, measure UX.

Imagine a browser clicking on your site, excitedly exploring several pages, clicking from page-to-page with ease, before completing a conversion.

This is what Google is looking for--and its what you should strive to offer. To satisfy Google and your browsers, UX is the new search paradigm.

Read: "How to Analyze Three Key Website Data Points to Improve SEO"

UX and SEO

Many SEO sites make an arbitrary distinction between UX and SEO, as if the two define different disciplines. Search Engine journal makes the distinction, even though it admits SEO and UX share a common goal:

"Both share the goal of helping users to complete their tasks by providing them with relevant information. SEO will lead a person to the content they need, and the UX answers their queries once a user ends up on the webpage."

In reality, this quote is describing an interplay of many disciplines, including SEO, content marketing, and on-site optimization, all of which you might call "online marketing" or "digital marketing."

Whatever the case, it is true: SEO leads a visitor to your site and UX keeps them there.

Optimize User Experience With Stepman's SEO! 

To build an effective, fully-optimized website, you need a web design and development company that understands both UX and SEO.

Stepman's SEO is the rare company that offers a host of SEO and online marketing professionals to optimize your website.

Contact Stepman's SEO today to learn how you can improve your website's performance: 215-900-9398.