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There are two ways of optimizing your website’s content.
The first way is to work on great search engine optimization (SEO), which will help you to target your potential customers and bring them to your website through organic results in the search engines.
The second path you can take is broader. It considers the overall user experience (UX, also known as customer experience), which is very important if you want people to stay on your page, and keep coming back.
Both ways are equally important and you simply have to do your best with both.
1. UX will improve the SEO
Both processes are complicated and you’ll need to work a lot before seeing any results. Once you master them, the traffic on your website will increase, leading to better sales and profits.
If you decide to primarily work on SEO, keep in mind that this way of attracting people will please Google’s search engine. You’ll be awarded better visibility in result pages.
On the other hand, if your goal is to provide your customers with the best experience while searching through your product list, it is important to go the other way and improve UX.
2. Shady SEO practices are history
During the last few years, Google improved their search engine algorithms, and they’ll continue with this practice until it’s perfect.
Keep in mind that SEO rules are evolving rapidly and it’s a matter of time when all black and gray hat procedures will become a part of history. Namely, a lot of businesses took advantage of Google’s search engine algorithms and profited over its imperfections.
Fortunately, Google uses powerful machines that are capable of learning and distinguishing what is real and what’s fake. This was impossible just a couple of years ago, and hopefully, search results will be filled just with high-quality content in the future.
Their goal is to promote quality over quantity, and the best chance of improving SEO may be through your website’s UX.
3. Great UX will boost organic rankings
Once a visitor of your website pays a visit, they shouldn’t have any difficulties while navigating through it. Your site should be simple, fast, and visually appealing.
All of that will keep people coming back, and increase the engagement, conversion rate, and other SEO metrics that can be measured in Google Analytics. If people find your website functional and aesthetic, your search engine ranking will go up.
First of all, make sure your website loads quickly. People are not that patient while online, and they expect to be provided with quick solutions and instant service. In case your website is slow, the majority of potential customers will leave it to search for another, faster option.
Therefore, bounce rate will increase, and your search rankings will drop. That’s the reason why you should get well informed about the relationship between SEO and UX.
4. High-quality content will rank you better
The online space is saturated with plenty of articles, blogs, and websites which purpose is to fool the search engines and attract a lot of visitors. This solution doesn’t offer real value to the people, and it won’t last very long.
Because of that, make sure to create original, well-thought and informative content which will be appreciated by your target audience.
Avoid using common phrases and jargon, but remain strictly professional while communicating. Provide them with relevant information and keep it simple. People like to get informed and decide upon a product or service quickly.
If you manage to create great content on regular basis, search engine algorithms will recognize your efforts and place you higher in search results.
5. Understand your customers
Don’t waste a lot of time trying to understand search engine algorithms so you can use them for attracting more people to your website. You should be learning about your potential customers instead.
Go ahead and start gathering feedback through surveys via email or your Facebook page. Hear them out and see in which areas you should improve.
Some people will talk about the product or service, some will mention prices, and the majority will talk about their experience on your website. In the words of one of the Sydney’s best e-commerce web design companies, “Forget about SEO for a moment, and focus on people and their needs”.
If your customers are satisfied with your website and product, your business will grow and you’ll rank better in search engine results.
Final thoughts
Don’t forget to communicate with the customer base on regular basis. Their opinion will help you to grow the business and improve overall user experience on your website.
It is very important that your company goals line up with customers’ expectations and needs. That’s the reason why you should avoid pleasing Google instead of potential and current clients.
At the end of the day, great SEO itself will not sell your products. Your goal is to increase the revenue. That’s possible just in a case your customers are happy with your service and overall experience while using your website.