SEO and UX: Partners in Online Marketing

Distinction Between SEO and UX

Combining SEO and UX can lead to Effective Online Marketing, however, you must first know the differences between the two.

UX designers focus on the end user experience, while SEO professionals try to dance with them and figure out what the search algorithms are currently prioritizing.

SEO and UX are both dynamic fields and each have apparent and different priorities. Frequently, they seem to oppose each other. Whether or not that is the truth, it’s a common perception.

Your visitors have to be able to find you on a search engine. Once you’ve been found, the moment they land on your site they need to be impressed and engaged. SEO and US are very important considerations for your website’s long term visibility on search engines.

Common Argument between SEO and UX

In designing a site, you have to design with your marketing goals in mind while trying to meet the needs of your visitors. You also have to decide whose needs you’ll be prioritizing: those of the search-bot or the user. But here’s the truth, search-bots don’t read the same way that human beings do. More often, content that is optimized for search engines is not good in the eyes of the site visitors.

As I’ve noticed, Google has even gone so far as to make more algorithm changes to produce more relevant results. To learn more how this algorithm works check this article.

SEO Analysts  are on a never ending task to figuring out what the algorithms prefer and make adjustments based on what the algorithms require. However, a lot of SEO strategies end up gaming towards the robots. Below you will learn how to optimize the site for robots and balance it with UX.

You Shouldn’t Be Stuffing Anywhere

keyword stuffingBe concise in your keyword optimization. Don’t do keyword stuffing in the site’s page. Rather, insert keyword carefully within the content so ensure that it make sense.

Don’t stuff keywords in :

  • Footer
  • White background with white text
  • Metadata
  • Alt Text
  • In the code and CSS

Stuffing affects the quality of the page content. You can keep keywords in the headings and few in paragraphs but always consider the quality of the content.

Use Good Vocabulary

Some SEO writers use synonyms just to avoid keyword repetition, but this is not the best solution and it will annoy the reader.
The better approach is to use simple language to increase value and accessibility to the content. Use the most common vernacular of your target audience and make sure it is clear enough that the non-native speakers can understand.

One Page Websites and SEO

In this case, if the site owner wants a one-page website for his business, a better way to optimize the site for search engines is to separate the content and organize it in a compelling format. It is simply paginating your one-page website. You can separate content into headings like about us, contact information, services and so on.

Easy navigation and clear sectioning will make a one-page site more legible to the search engine spiders and to the visitors.

Multiple H1 Tags

Normally, it would be bad to include multiple H1 tags on your page. But on a single page site, however, I think there is an exception, more than one H1 tag can indicate a separation in content, making your page more legible to the user and search engine friendly. You can also optimize this with your target keywords.

Content readability

You will definitely be excluded from the top search engine results if your content is not readable. The best way to be successful in search engine optimization is to deliver quality content that is relevant to your target audience. If you prioritize the quality of the site then the organic traffic will come in naturally.

Refresh the Content

In order for Google to rank your site highly, it is pretty important to continually update the site. My advice and a useful trick for a one-page site is to be creative with what you change on your site and how often you do it.

Misinformation About SEO and UX

Images

Imagery captures the user’s attention but doesn’t always improve usability. If your images are  high quality, it hurts page load times so make sure to optimize the images to improve load times.

Moreover, Google punishes slow page load times and they are not appealing to the users. Ideally, pages that load under 5 seconds have a huge advantage. Anything over that time and your bounce rate starts to increase. When this happens you become penalized by search engine. Check this informative and more detailed explanation about website page load.

Content Below the Fold is Less Important

Content above the fold has efficacy, top visibility and priority. If it is appealing, users will definitely scroll down the page. So to standardized this concept, start with important idea and follow up your supporting details as you go down the page.

Alright, I think those are the main points and factors you need to consider when in terms of the UX and SEO in online marketing. As internet marketers Project Assistant has developed a process before launching the content wherein we review and consider the user experience, interaction design and SEO which includes the content strategy and web development. Review your site today and see if you can boost your search engine ranking with these tips.

Lynie Tinguban

Lynie is an SEO expert and social media guru. She’s always made sure our client got their businesses where they wanted to be online. Even when she's working hard, Lynie is a ball of sunshine. She’s always happy and is guaranteed to make everyone smile or laugh at one of her quirky jokes. Everyone at the office just loves her.