A lot has changed since the initial days of SEO. Back then, all developers needed to do to make their website rank well on Google’s search page was keyword stuff. Times have changed. To ensure that spammy or low-quality websites are not clogging up the search page, Google has implemented a number of changes to how their search engine optimization algorithms work. Now, more than ever, the state of your UX determines how well your website does when determining its rank. Find a white hat national SEO agency that can help you achieve your digital marketing goals. Here’s how UX affects your SEO score.
What is UX?
Those who do not continuously dwell in the land in web development and web design may not immediately understand what UX is. UX stands for User Experience. It describes the sort of experience and ease with which your users have when using your website. It has made up of a few key components. They include:
- Bounce rate
- Page dwell time
The bounce rate of a website corresponds to how many times users visit a single page on your website and then leave. This indicates to Google that they either visited your Home Page or a landing page and could not find what they were looking for. Patience is incredibly thin when users visit websites. If your Home Page or landing pages are not giving them the quality information that they seek, then they will exit and move on to the next website. A high SEO score requires a low bounce rate.
Page dwell time refers to how long the user spends on the website. It is a measure of their engagement. Obviously, if they spend a lot of time on a page, then they are reading what the page says because it is informative for them. To rank high in SEO, you need a high page dwell time.
Now that you know the two main metrics that Google uses to analyze your UX score, you can then influence those metrics to better your overall SEO score.
Factors That Influence UX
The key to improving your SEO in terms of your UX is to focus on these key factors:
- Load time
- User-friendly URL structure
- Mobile syncing and optimizing
Let us break these down further.
1. Load Time
Users are not going to wait a long time for a page to load. They have things to do and can’t wait around for your website to get its act together. A few variables may add to the load time. Large pictures, in particular, are to blame. They can also make your page look messy. When it comes to pleasing website design and fast load time, less is more.
2. User-friendly URL Structure
If you look at your search bar at the top of the screen, you should see a URL. A high-quality URL structure is an easy-to-understand list that describes and categorizes which page you are on in a website. Search engines use the structure to index the websites. Using a user-friendly URL structure that includes the website’s name, the category they are searching, and then the specific page, is a great way to help both the search engine and the user.
3. Mobile Syncing and Optimizing
If you do not have an app or a mobile website, then you are not going to do well for your SEO ranking. More users than ever use their phones to search for businesses or ask questions. The interface of your mobile site needs to be compact, easy to understand, and load quickly.
Trust the Experts
Clearly, there are a lot of variables involved with creating a great UX for your website. To make sure your website is ranking as high as it can, trust the experts at SEO Locale.
