SEO and UX – How important is design really?
It was Steve Jobs who articulated his product philosophy with the words, "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." Visual appeal and user experience often go hand-in-hand, but user experience (UX) is more than just good looks.
It also encompasses:
- relevant and attractive content
- easily readable text
- a clear page structure and
- short loading times
A good UX guides users quickly to their goal. This positive experience keeps them on the website, exploring further and potentially returning repeatedly.
In recent years, customer and website visitor expectations have drastically changed. Not long ago, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was the "simple" search engine optimization.
Today, much more is required to rank high in search engines: technical and visual optimizations are crucial. Users are more likely to engage with a visually appealing website and read its content. If the structure is technically sound, users navigate the homepage faster, stay longer, browse more, and engage deeply with the offered products or services.
Especially in a time when mobile devices are gaining relevance, the mobile view of a website must also prioritize user experience. When users search for information on the go, they want quick access to everything important. Here, a simple, concise design and clear structure that makes everything accessible with a few clicks are crucial.
Never forget to optimize primarily for your visitors, not just for search engines.
This begins with optimizing the text on your site, especially for terms that are ambiguous or need an explanatory modifier to become clear.
How Google Handles Ambiguous Terms
What and how something appears in Google search results is determined by an algorithm. However, why someone clicks on a result is influenced by factors such as a good meta description and the design of the search result.
When using ambiguous search terms, Google's limitations become clear. Ambiguous terms are words with multiple meanings. You might remember these from childhood as the "Teekettle game."
For example, if you enter "morgenstern" in the Google search, the following appears:
Google responds perfectly to this and addresses both possible outcomes: Both the Wikipedia entry for the celestial body (Morning Star) and the medieval weapon (Morning Star) are displayed. Therefore, optimizing the website for this search term would only make sense if you work with a precise definition.
For such a search, Google does not always understand the dual meaning correctly.
If I recall that Schorndorf has a great music band and search for it under "Schorndorfer Kapelle," I get these results:
Firstly, the chapel in the old cemetery is displayed, not the desired city chapel of the Schorndorf Music Association. This may be because the Schorndorf city chapel is not optimized for such a probability, and Google has not yet recognized the search intent. The search engine therefore needs more incentives to find exactly what the user is looking for.
User Experience: Poor Usability in Practice
Many website owners are unaware of a lack of user experience. A central aspect is the meaningful usability of the content. When a user expects something that is not delivered, they are disappointed. This negatively affects their user behavior.
Therefore: Which questions should you definitely check:
Is Google Maps loading correctly?
On a website, the Google Maps map may not load correctly – such an error can result in visitors not looking further for another way to reach you and leaving your website unsatisfied. Businesses for which on-site visitors are of immense importance (e.g., restaurants) should particularly ensure the correct integration of a Google Maps map. For a restaurant, the route description is a very important point and essential for a good user experience.
When things don't work as expected, customers quickly lose interest.
Do you have a valid SSL certificate?
A secure website is also important for a good user experience.
If you do not have a valid SSL certificate, your website will be labeled as "not secure" and will be displayed as such by Google. In some cases, browsers will show large, full-page warnings before users can proceed. Potential customers might avoid an insecure website and be deterred by this message in their browser. If a purchase is supposed to take place on such a site, this warning will prevent most users from making the purchase.
Additionally, this violates the GDPR, as contact and data exchange do not occur over a required secure connection. This puts you at risk of legal errors, warnings, and/or fines.
Is Your Website Mobile Responsive and Are Plugins Up-to-Date?
The site is not usable on mobile devices, lacks SSL encryption, and has an outdated Adobe Flash Player plugin. This results in little trust and a very unprofessional appearance.
Would you consider such a source trustworthy and use it for information? More likely, you would seek another source that leaves a better impression.
UX & Technical SEO: Design Elements, JavaScript, Pre-Rendering
The more advanced the technical gimmicks become, the more important it is to invest in a solid, functioning technical foundation for the website. Technical gimmicks can quickly overload the site, making it increasingly unusable for the user. These may be great features on the site, but usability often suffers as a result. The content – no matter how good – becomes unusable and drifts into the background.
This is bad for the user and catastrophic for Google ranking.
Every sensible design element and of course the content are crucial for fast rendering and loading times that your user must tolerate. Users want a fast website with detailed and clear information.
Our world is fast-paced; we hardly have any time: Who doesn’t want to be in the shortest line at the supermarket? The same goes for waiting times on websites. With a 5-second wait time, the bounce rate is 90%. Even at three seconds, it's already at 32% (source: Google).
The design of the layout and the arrangement of information according to the search intent and user goals directly impact the user experience and search engine usability.
What Can You Do to Make Your Website Technically Perfect?
- Regularly check the site (Google Page Speed, etc.) and implement the measures from the results
- Review image compression, code, etc.
- Web security is a "must-have"
- Mobile-optimized website
- Regular updates and checks of the CMS
Be sure to use up-to-date technology; JavaScripts must also be properly adjusted to avoid negatively affecting render times. This can improve your listing on Google and lead to a good position for your most important keywords in the Google Index. Artur Kosch has put together a good overview of JavaScript and SEO (https://koschklinkperformance.de/javascript-seo/).
Think about the fast and smooth construction of the website, both in the desktop and mobile versions. Gimmicks should NEVER come at the expense of usability – content accessibility must not suffer.
Well, SEO and UX Belong Together!
In addition to optimizing for search engines, usability cannot be underestimated: Good usability of a website determines whether it stays in the top 10!
In the future, SEO and UX will continue to work together to provide good experiences on websites. Therefore, pay attention to both to increase the likelihood that many users will return to your website after their first visit.
Create content for your online presence that is both attractive and relevant to your industry, and readable for your website visitors. When choosing a design, make sure to keep the structure clear. Regularly check the technical aspects to provide customers and new visitors with a good user experience at all times.
SEYBOLD assists with UX audits to improve content and structures.
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