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A positive user experience is very important for a successful business. It is the whole reason why customer service even exists. People want to provide you, the user, or customer, the very best experience they can so that you will want to continue to bring them revenue. Makes sense, right? Unhappy people probably won’t want to continue to give away their hard-earned money. Time equals money, so don’t waste the time of your customer, or they’ll convert for your competitor.
What does this have to do with SEO? What is SEO? User experience and SEO go hand in hand, and below will explain how.
[bctt tweet=”Time equals money, so don’t waste the time of your customer, or they’ll convert for your competitor.” username=”ThatCompanycom”]What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the science and art of bringing back accurate search results with quality content from a user’s input. If you are looking to buy shoes, and the search engine you use gives you results for shirts, then you probably won’t want their service. Google, for example, does a great job focusing on user experience and giving back the results you expect.
A lot goes into returning those correct results a user seeks. A user may type in “food near me” in search, for example, looking for places to eat in the area. The search engine needs to understand what you are looking for and how to deliver the best results from the countless possible sites online. For “food near me,” the search engine will take apart the input and digest its important pieces. “Near me” will utilize location services to pay attention to the geographical location of that user. “Food” will bring back results that relate to that keyword. Combine the two and you begin to see any food-related business in your local area. This is one layer of how SEO can and does enhance user experience.
Being able to tailor pages and content to a user off of a couple of keywords requires several technical and ranking components. Depending on how well particular sites and pages follow the quality assurance and layout guidelines, will dictate how well they will rank. This competition drives businesses and marketers to cater to the user experience.
Ranking? Am I Being Promoted?
You may not be, but those websites you see are constantly going through promotions and demotions. Ranking fluctuation is constant. Updates to the search engine, changes to ranking factors, and the introduction of new quality content on the web all play a part in ranking results. What does this mean for user experience?
Users want to use a search engine to quickly find and do something. Whether it is research, shopping, or looking for a place to eat, the user has a purpose. Have you ever heard about the difference between walking with a purpose and just walking? Maybe you’ll stop and smell the roses or take a nice long look at the water feature near you when just walking. Walking with a purpose implies speed and direction. Google wants to deliver content with a purpose to those searching for a purpose, no matter what it may be. Quick concise content delivery is the name of Google’s game, and their focus on the user experience is in part why they do so well.
When you input your search, the results that are given are then organized on several pages. The sites on that first results page have been ranked as the most relevant and optimized sites for the keywords or keyword phrases you typed in. Any results on the first page have the proper content, authority, and technical requirements associated with your search query. It’s rare to click past the first couple of pages, or even off of the first one when looking for something. Why? Google knows what you’re looking for and wants to provide the best user experience it can. Google wouldn’t want you to open up and search with Safari or Bing in hopes of finding something they couldn’t.
Authority and User Experience
No, you’re not in trouble with the authorities. You’re safe here, trust me. Authority is one of the three key components that SEO focuses on. Authority is essentially synonymous to trust. How much do we trust this page? A major way trust and authority are measured with Google is through linking. Does your site have quality links from other safe, trusted, and well-built sites? If yes, then this page more than likely also is built well and contains quality content.
From a user experience standpoint, this is to ensure Google delivers safe and trusted sites that match your query. You wouldn’t want to land on a page that is filled with spam or unrelated links that could pull you into dangerous sites. This also gives the user even more ways to find quality content related to what you’re searching for. I’d rather wander into a well-lit business with clearly labeled services and products than into a back alley with a guy trying to sell stuff from his trench coat. Google thinks that’s a good idea too, and is why authority is an important element for SEO and a positive user experience.
Content and User Experience
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Content is crucial for SEO and a good user experience. For some, it’s the reason they prefer to have a white label SEO service to help them optimize their website. This is what the user is truly looking for when they type something in to search. Just like in the example for “food near me,” keywords are typed in and then Google brings back their idea of what you’re looking for. SEO experts understand and utilize ranking factors that Google and other search engines look for, and build their pages optimally for the user.
Proper heading tags and page layouts, the addition of images and trusted links, and the use of certain keyword phrases with a specific density throughout the content are a few key SEO elements. A White Label SEO agency uses several analytic tools to further enhance the specificity of how they deliver certain content. Making sure the website can be seen, crawled, and indexed are also crucial ranking components. When it comes to SEO content creation, there are several factors to consider when building quality content. Quality content refers to sites that are easily navigable with fast load times, contain relevant content to your search query, and are trusted secure sites.
Speed Matters?
Absolutely. Last but not least, SEO looks for page speed. Ever get stuck in traffic or at a red light? Waiting sucks, and Google knows it. Page speed and quality backend components are essential to SEO and the user experience. You want the site you enter into to be interactive and ready in seconds. Chances are if you have to wait and end up leaving that site, other users have done the same, and Google keeps track of that. Those sites will eventually show up lower and lower down the list on Google’s results page. Doesn’t matter how good the content is if it takes too long to be used or seen.
Summary
In conclusion, SEO is built around user experience. Content, authority, and technical aspects of websites built along with Google and other search engine ranking factors all go into delivering the best possible result for the user. User experience, essentially, is the number one ranking factor and focus for SEO experts and businesses alike.
