User Experience
A good user experience (UX) is important for SEO purposes. Sure, some websites that rank have a terrible UX but in general the best websites deliver a good UX.
What is user experience?
User experience is how someone interacts with the website. Do they like it? Is it helpful? Friendly? Navigable?
User experience is affected by:
- Style. For example, colors, fonts, and branding.
- Structure. Where things are, use of headers, how navigable it is.
- Content. What the words actually say. Is copy succinct? Are images clear and attractive?
Does user experience affect SEO?
Yes and no. Google says it doesn’t use engagement metrics in their algorithm. But data suggests they factor how users interact with your content into their algorithm.
When people are engaged (find content helpful, view multiple pages, and find value in your content) Google wants to know.
Google’s job is to satisfy users. An SEO’s job is to rank. If Google is doing their job well, our job is to deliver the best possible user experience for keywords we want to rank for.
So yes, and no.
UX affects SEO in largely indirect ways. But if you have a solid structure in place, your homepage has good UX, and so do your product/services pages, your blog, etc. then you’re in good shape.
You don’t need a 10 out of 10 UX in order to rank (it probably helps!) but if your homepage is crappy and people don’t engage with your core pages (products/services) then Google can probably figure that out and your rankings may be hindered.
How does UX affect the SEO process?
SEO priorities involve finding the lowest hanging fruit. Is your UX really bad? You may want to start there. Is it as good or better than your competitors? UX? Then maybe get started with SEO.
The point we want to make here is this: if you put a bunch of money into SEO (keyword research, writing blogs, etc.) but your blogs are difficult to read because your fonts are small, use a super-wide width, and are light yellow, your rankings are going to be hindered.
Conclusion
Clean up the UX. Make your site usable. As long as it’s easy to read, navigable, and helpful, you’re probably good to move forward with regular SEO services/best practices.