Modern search engines take hundreds of factors into account when determining which pages rank the highest in search engine results pages. These days, User Experience (UX) is more important for your WordPress website’s good Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking than it ever was.
The evolution in search engine algorithms means that the focus is on designing sites that captivate, entertain, and ultimately convert visitors.
Here is how you can use SEO and UX combined to improve your website.
How can SEO and UX work together?
SEO and UX work hand-in-hand to drive traffic to your website and increase conversions. SEO’s job is to get visitors to your site in the first place, and UX’s to ensure they have a great experience once they’re there. They might have different approaches and final goals, but the truth is, UX and SEO complement each other.
SEO’s primary focus is the architecture of a website. Its goal is to drive more traffic to your website. At the same time, UX’s priority is keeping those new visitors and making them come back repeatedly. It does this by creating a web design that will minimize distractions and maximize engagement.
The ultimate goal is to implement the best practices from both sides to end up with a website that people won’t only enjoy, but that will also be ranked well. Here are some ways you can ensure that SEO and UX coexist on your website.
Focus on speed
Page speed is something that users value, and so do Google and other search engines.
No matter which platform you’re using, if your website is slow to load, people won’t spend much time on it and search engines will prioritize other websites over yours.
To make your site load faster, use image compression tools to save an image’s quality and significantly decrease its size.
Also, consider getting a dedicated server and talking to your web host about possible steps you can take to increase your website speed.
Have interactive and engaging content
The more time people spend on your website, the more likely they are going to convert. This is why providing them with interactive content matters.
People enjoy content that diverges from the usual static text. AI-powered chatbots that can also provide information about products and services and help them find their way around your site make them more likely to engage with your content.
Things like quizzes and interactive infographics can make visitors active participants in their own user experience by providing content they can interact with, rather than just watching or reading.
Make your content easy to share
The amount of your content that people share on social media won’t directly impact your ranking. Still, it will help you grow your brand audience, which will bring more traffic and greater engagement, as well as an increased number of searches for the content your WordPress site has to offer.
Ensure that your website is built to make social sharing easy, not only via clearly placed social sharing buttons but also by creating the right kind of content.
Be mobile-friendly
This one almost goes hand in hand with the piece of advice given above.
The Google algorithm change that occurred in 2015 tweaked the way Google displays mobile search results. Websites that are optimized for mobile rank better than those that don’t.
Besides, making your website mobile-friendly automatically opens your visitor base up to anyone performing a mobile search. People won’t have to hunt for your site or type in the exact URL to find it since they can just perform a search to find you quickly and easily. Creating a dedicated mobile app is another sure way to make sure you are always within your audience’s reach.
And, just like with everything we’ve mentioned so far, a pleasant experience creates happy customers who will return to your site and tell others about how great it is. Remember, satisfied customers mean a good SEO ranking.
Make your content easy to read
Good content plays a significant role in user satisfaction, but merely stuffing your site with quality content is not enough.
Make sure that your website is as readable as possible by using subheadings, bullet points, and numberings. Make sure you stick to short paragraphs and avoid large blocks of text.
Simultaneously, ensure that your content has good grammar and correct spelling, and make it easier to read by using visuals and multimedia to break up the text.
Conclusion
Certainly, the link between SEO and UX for website optimization will only become stronger as time passes. One thing is clear – to please Google and get the SEO results you want, you will first have to make sure your users are satisfied.
To achieve this goal, make sure that your loading time is fast and that the entire site works well and looks good on mobile devices. Also, provide users with engaging, shareable, and easy to read content, and your WordPress site will be rising through the search engine ranks in no time.
