We all know about SEO’s effect on websites and web apps. Did you know the user experience (UX) applies to them, too? And that you can combine the two to increase visits and engagement online?
You might only consider UX for apps, but it’s an approach that applies to any digital experience, whether in a browser, a mobile app, or software application. Let’s dig into how you can combine UX and SEO to power up websites for you and your clients.
How UX and SEO Work Together on a Website
SEO is a set of processes that improve a website’s page rankings in search engines. UX is the overall experience a user has when interacting with a website. Since search engines consider multiple factors when crawling a website, adding SEO UX steps to its SEO makes sense.
Both SEO and UX share the primary objective of creating websites that efficiently cater to user needs (and, therefore, rank high on search engines). Search engines evaluate websites on technical aspects like page loading speed, but they also monitor people’s interactions with the site to gauge the type of user experience it offers.
UX Factors to Consider for SEO
Here are a few factors where UX affects SEO and what you can do to improve both.
Page Load Speed
Page speed is a significant ranking factor for all search engines, so enhancing the UX can improve it dramatically. Writers can help designers speed up pages by:
- Optimizing images by reducing their size or clarity since large ones can slow things down. Be sure to reduce them without negatively impacting clarity or resolution.
- Reduce the number of external links as most websites use a link-checking protocol to ensure it’s still valid. The fewer external links, the fewer checks.
- Use images sparingly as each one can slow down the page loading speed.
- Write concisely and clearly to increase readability and engagement with the page. Time on page is another SEO factor, so poorly written copy can negatively impact this.
Mobile-First Indexing
Most websites handle mobile responsiveness across desktop and mobile website versions, but only a few websites have optimized copy for each. You can quickly help B2B clients fix this gap because Google prioritizes mobile site content when crawling, indexing, and ranking pages. Help them zoom past competitors by optimizing copy on both site types.
- Duplicate the content on both mobile and desktop sites. It ensures both versions rank for the same keywords. You can optimize the UX on mobile through different design elements like accordions and tabs, but the content and copy should be the same.
- Optimize visual content on mobile sites. Optimize images for both and ensure they have the same alternate text for each image.
Writing for User Intent
Good UX copy is essential online as it guides users through the site and affects how long people stay engaged. It’s also good for SEO since it matches searching intent with content and copy on the website. The more effective the copy, the easier users can navigate to and consume the content they’re looking for.
Some UX writing tips that boost SEO include:
- Writing in active voice
- Using plain language
- Writing for user intent
- Being concise
- Using jargon only when necessary
- Writing short sentences
- Dividing content blocks into short sentences and adding other visuals elements to increase readability
Combine UX and SEO for a More Powerful Website Experience
Good website design points visitors and users in the right direction so they can make quick decisions without too much effort. Most SEO managers and web designers will tell you that “only” applies to design elements, site architecture, and other technical elements. Web and UX copywriters will argue that copy plays a role too. And they’d be right.
Search engines use various signals to rank pages. In the age of generative AI and other bad copy, intent and UX is even more important. A well-designed and effectively written website serves two purposes for users and audiences. One, it should offer an intuitive and efficient route through information as they travel the website. Two, it should present the right technical signals to search engines that indicate the connection between all the content on the site and user objectives. The first is the UX goal and the second is the SEO one. Nail both and the site will rank high consistently.
