Long gone are the days when it was enough to stuff a web page with keywords and links to get to the top of search engine results (SERPs).

Since the last update, which was completed in March 2023, SEO algorithms have become much more advanced, now carefully selecting which websites to display based on their relevance to user expectations.

In other words, UI/UX design has become an essential ranking factor, which is something that can’t be ignored. 

In this article, we’ll explain the role of user experiences in SEO rankings and how they are connected. We will also shed light on the important factors to consider when optimizing your website. Sit tight and get ready to take notes!

Understanding The Importance Of UX

The concept of UX is pretty simple. Unlike the user journey, which takes the visitor from point A to point B, UX describes its quality, i.e. how users feel when interacting with the website at each touchpoint. As you can guess, the better the experience is, the higher the chance that they will take the desired action in the end. 

If the user can quickly and smoothly get to the end without getting stuck in any of the steps, the experience is good and Google is more likely to rank the website or app higher in search results. If not, you are losing precious traffic and conversions. 

To give you an idea of just how big the impact of UX design is, companies that improve user experiences achieve up to 400% increase in conversions on average, which is phenomenal. These numbers are also backed up by multiple surveys, showing that 66% of users would not mind paying more for great UX. 

All this can mean only one thing — investing in UX is not a luxury or optional aspect; it’s a crucial strategic decision that directly impacts your success in the digital landscape.  

The Elements Of Good UX

When it comes to user experience design elements, there are a number of factors that UX designers take into consideration. As no product is alike, one of the first steps is to actually “get in the shoes” of customers and “walk through” the core functionalities.

For example, for a website that sells language courses, designers need to clearly define the path to purchase. 

• What steps need to be accomplished to move the user to the final one? 
• How many will there be? 
• Are there any nice but redundant steps that could be removed to shorten the path? 

Answering these questions can help identify hiccups or frictions in the way of the user journey and speed up the path to a conversion.

Once the steps are defined, it’s important to make sure that the product has all the necessary features needed to help find the product. This can include:

• Search bars
• Filters
• Sitemap
• Voice search
• Contact forms
• Checkout

When implementing UX for eCommerce, it’s important to consider not only the visual elements but also the content strategy. If there’s too much content that doesn’t necessarily provide any value, it can overwhelm users and drive them away.

Conversely, too little information may not provide enough insight into the product’s value and next steps, leaving customers confused and dissatisfied. Striking the right balance is the key to a positive user experience. 

The connection between different pages on the site is another important factor, affecting user experiences. Is there a logical flow guiding users effortlessly through their journey?  

To provide great structure, UX designers pay attention to the following aspects:

• Navigation menu (and their consistency)
• Internal linking
• Breadcrumb trails

By linking all the elements together, they ensure that users can easily backtrack and explore related content and enjoy the overall experience of using the site or application. 

About SXO (Search Experience Optimization)

SEO experts have long noticed that the convenience of interface interactions is directly connected with a website’s position in the SERPs, which gave birth to a new field — search experience optimization, soon known as SXO. 

Just as the name suggests, the SXO approach combines the principles of SEO and UX to create a holistic strategy aimed at enhancing a website’s overall search experience. The key focus of SXO is to create solutions that go in line with user intent and look attractive for Google’s algorithms. 

To nail SXO, here are a few strategies to follow:

• Keyword optimization with user intent. Instead of just targeting high-volume keywords, it’s necessary to conduct research to understand the intent behind user queries.
• Content that delivers value. The content on the site should be informative, engaging, and, more importantly, relevant. This will encourage longer visit durations and make users want to come back for more. 
• Seamless user interface and navigation. An intuitive and user-friendly interface is vital for moving up in SERPs. If visitors can easily find the information they seek, they are less likely to leave the site, which increases the chances of conversions. 
• Mobile optimization. With over 55% of traffic coming from mobile phones, Google considers mobile-friendly websites more valuable and shows them more often at the top of search results. 
• Performance and speed. Websites that take longer than 3 seconds to load stand no chance in the competitive digital world. To positively impact both user engagement and SEO ranking, the loading speed should be no more than 1-2 seconds. 
• User feedback and iterative improvements. UX design, just like a website itself, requires continuous iteration, which is why it’s important to closely monitor feedback and address any pain points users experience throughout their journey.

These are the crucial aspects to consider when implementing an effective SXO strategy. By approaching SXO with a user-centric mindset and seamlessly integrating SEO and UX principles (of which we’ll talk further in the article), websites can create a highly optimized and rewarding search experience. 

How To Win The SXO Game: Best Practices To Follow

If your search engine rankings aren’t as high as you’d like, it’s most likely due to poor UX design. However, other than low rankings, search engines won’t tell you the whole story, so it is important to audit your site. By regularly evaluating a site’s performance, it’s easier to identify its gaps and improve the UX design accordingly. 

That said, there are a number of tried and tested practices you can follow to win the SXO game and improve both your search engine rankings and user experience.

1. Invest in mobile-friendly optimization

Given the mobile prevalence, it’s crucial for companies to have mobile-friendly pages. Those who don’t have mobile versions lose more than half the traffic they could get. At the same time, simply having a mobile page is not enough. To achieve meaningful results, companies must focus on creative responsive website designs (RWD). 

Although not a ranking factor, RWD ensures that the website layout and content automatically adapt to fit various devices. This, in turn, helps attract mobile users and leads to longer visit durations, which will signal to Google that the site is responsive to mobile needs and worth being shared with a wider audience.

While the concept of RWDs isn’t new, not all websites approach it effectively. According to a recent review, a whopping 82% of websites have cramped interfaces, with tappable elements being placed too close to one another. The good news is, if you manage to nail RWD, you can outperform a significant portion of your competitors and get higher scores in SERPs.

2. Improve the page loading speed

If you can beat a half-second Google loading speed, you’re already ahead in the SXO game. However, you don’t have to tussle with Google. In most cases, it’s enough to decrease the speed by at least a few milliseconds to set you apart from your competitors.  

Here are a few things you can do to improve your website’s performance:

• Utilize lazy loading. Display images only when they come into the user’s viewpoint. This approach can be a game-changer, especially for content-heavy pages. 
• Reduce redirects. Make sure that all URLs on the site are optimized and direct users to the desired piece of content without unnecessary detours that increase the page load process. 
• Leverage browser caching. Set appropriate cache headers to enable browser caching for static resources. Caching allows returning visitors to load pages faster by storing previously accessed files locally. 
• Prioritize critical resources. Identify critical resources, such as CSS and JavaScript files, needed to render above-the-fold content, and load them first. This ensures users see the essential content quickly. 
• Optimize web fonts. Give preference to system web fonts or font subsets that do not take as much time to load as custom fonts.
• Minimize server response time. To reduce server response time, consider using a content delivery network (CDN) that distributes your website’s responses across various servers, closer to your users.
• Compress text files. Any large text files, such as CSS and JavaScript, should be compressed to speed up downloads. 
• Monitor third-party scripts. Be cautious of third-party scripts, plugins, or widgets. If you notice that they slow down your site, consider less resource-intensive alternatives. 
• Implement HTTP/2: If possible, switch to HTTP/2, a more efficient and faster version of the HTTP protocol that allows multiple file requests to be sent and received simultaneously. 

By implementing these strategies, you can significantly speed up the loading speed of your site, contributing to a more positive user experience. And the more satisfied your customers are, the stronger the signal to Google algorithms that your website provides value. 

3. Enhance navigation

In pursuit of high rankings, many companies make the same mistake  — they overload their websites with pages. However, the truth is, this doesn’t guarantee success. 

Before anything else, search engine algorithms pay attention to the quality and organization of content. That’s why sometimes it’s best to launch one page that is well-structured and organized logically rather than to have multiple pages with thin or redundant content. 

While this doesn’t mean that multi-page sites don’t have any weight in terms of SEO, the focus should always be on providing valuable content that can be easily found.  

To ensure that users can find what they need with less confusion, consider the following tips:

• Use consistent menu buttons throughout the website.
• Place a “Home” button at the top of the page so that your visitors can track back.
• Ensure that new pages open in the same window.
• Provide the option to navigate the site using keyboard user inputs.
• Include a search bar prominently on the website to allow users to quickly find specific content or products.
• Optimize content into clear categories and subcategories, making it intuitive for users to navigate and locate relevant information. 

Just like content, navigation plays a crucial role in user experiences. According to statistics, 37% of Internet surfers would not bother using the site if it has poor navigation. So, if you can get better in this aspect alone, you can expect a significant increase in user engagement.

Moreover, implementing website visitor tracking tools allows you to gain valuable insights into user behavior. By tracking visitor interactions and analyzing data, you can make data-driven decisions to further enhance the user experience, optimize content, and improve navigation, ultimately leading to higher search engine rankings and better user satisfaction.

4. Create user-friendly layouts

The layout of a site must be consistent. If you have headers and footers on the home page, ensure that they are present on all other pages as well. Consistency in layout creates a sense of familiarity and helps users easily navigate from one page to another. 

Aside from that, it’s a good practice to include CTAs on every page. As long as your call-to-action doesn’t come across as aggressive, it can help guide users toward taking specific actions that align with your business goals.   

To up the ante, you can make use of a page rotation script. A page rotation script, also known as a carousel or slider, can enhance the visual appeal of your website while providing users with a dynamic and interactive experience. 

5. Create a great UI design

Last but definitely not least, it’s important to ensure that your website has a great UI. One of the ways to achieve that is through an image quality enhancer.

Even though Google doesn’t directly consider UI design as a ranking factor, users pay attention to the visual appeal of the site. If it doesn’t look up to their expectations, they won’t stick around.

What happens next? Users click out of the site, which sends signals to Google that the website isn’t all that good. An image quality enhancer can significantly improve the aesthetic appeal of your website, making it more attractive to users and compelling them to stay longer.

So, if you want to stay in the game and deliver an exceptionally good user experience that drives traffic, it’s essential to invest in both UI and UX because, whatever they say, they go hand-in-hand together. An image quality enhancer is a tool that supports both these aspects, ensuring crisp, clear, and appealing visuals that enhance your site’s overall user experience.

Conclsuion

In the highly competitive world that we live in today, staying at the top of the SERPs has never been easier. Not only have Google algorithms become unpredictable, but also the expectations of online users have significantly evolved. 

At the same time, the connection between SEO rankings and user satisfaction becomes more profound. When users like the site, they’re more likely to stay on it longer and visit more pages, sending a clear message to search engines that the site provides valuable and relevant content.   

Surely, UX alone isn’t the only reason that may impact your rankings. There are many other factors that can affect the website’s position in SERPs. However, it’s definitely one of the aspects that often go unnoticed, even by experienced SEO experts. 

Hopefully, after reading this article, you have gained a deeper understanding of the vital role that user experience plays in SEO rankings and can make the most of the practices to stand out and succeed in the competitive digital landscape.

Author Bio

Roy Emmerson is the co-founder of TechTimes.com, a B2B SaaS platform that helps businesses stay up-to-date on the latest technology trends. With over a decade of experience in the tech industry, Roy is a thought leader in the field and is passionate about helping companies embrace new technologies to improve their operations and drive growth.