Is Bad User Experience Sabotaging your SEO?

What is user experience? According to usability.gov, “user experience (UX) focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities, and also their limitations.” So what does all of this have to do with SEO? Search engines, Google especially, are becoming more and more concerned with the experiences users are having when arriving at a website. They are looking at how users are interacting with a website, and if signs show of a bad user experience, you may be penalized when it comes to your visibility within search engine results pages. So how do you make sure your users are having a good experience on your website?

These questions will help you to think more carefully about the experiences users will have after arriving at your website:

• Does your website fulfill a need?  Users come to your website because they need something. Whether they have questions that need to be answered, or are seeking the products that you sell, your website should provide them a way to meet those needs while requiring minimal effort from them. If users have to struggle to get what they need from your website, they’ll go elsewhere.
   
• Is your website easy to navigate? How could you make it easier? Does the navigational structure of your website make sense? Your users should be able find the information they are seeking with as few clicks as possible. This is directly related to the first point. If your users are sent on a treasure hunt while navigating your website, they will become frustrated and leave. Make sure the structure and navigation of your website implies to users where they need to go to find what they are seeking.
   
• Does your website look nice? Is it up-to-date? Arriving at a website with an old design is an immediate red flag to most users. This causes for a number of concerns; worries over security, credibility, quality of product and/or service, overall success of the business. Any of these concerns can push your visitors away - right into the hands of your competitors.
   
• Does your website contain high quality content? Does it anticipate and answer your user’s questions? Good content should deliver keywords in a casual, natural way. Content with spelling and grammar errors can provide users a poor experience. Duplicate or similar content not only makes Google unhappy, but it can confuse users. Make sure your content is original, contains no grammar or spelling errors, and is presented in a clear and concise way. Be able to anticipate the questions your users will have and provide content that contains the answers to these questions.

Want to learn more about usability? Could your website use some updates to promote an overall better experience for your users? Contact Global Reach. We have a usability expert on staff who can provide you with tons of insight and recommendations for making sure your users are having a positive experience interacting with your website.