Updating the design of your website at regular interval is a smart decision. Redesigning your website breathes new life into it. It also presents you with the opportunity to fine-tune the websites UX and search visibility.
It is a great tactic to ensure that your site always adapts to the changing technology and demand.
Even though User Experience (UX) and search engine optimization (SEO) might seem like they are two different worlds, in reality, they are very closely related.
Here are 5 tricks that will help you enhance your UX as well as SEO aspects of your website:
1. SEO friendly URLs
The value of URL structure is universally deemed as crucial by experts. The URLs throughout your website is a major factor when it comes to ranking in Google. Search engine optimized URL means an increase in search visibility.
SEO Benefits:
• SEO friendly URL provides you with an edge in SERP ranking over your competitions website
• Google’s understanding of your site in improved when there is a proper URL structure with related keywords.
Furthermore, an optimized URL also enhances the users experience in several ways. For example, ‘www.yoursite.com/page-name’ is far better than having a URL such as www.yoursite.com/page?!id=478984’.
UX Benefits:
• More trust and clicks are attained if the URL is human-readable and short
• The readable URL gives users an idea about what to expect on the page
There are also many subtle aspects of the URL structure that will impact how your website ranks. In such cases, the best course of action would be to use:
• Short-length URL infused with two to three keywords
• Readable keywords when possible
• Hyphens (-) to separate words
• Creating custom URL
• Creating URL using only lowercase characters
2. Multi-Step Loading
Trends come and go. But there are some trends that stick for a long while until it can be improved upon. Page loading has seen many improvements throughout the year, and Multi-Step loading is such a trend in web design.
Today, websites are heavier than ever. Loading page all at once can slow the pace of the loading time.
According to Kissmetricks, around 40% of users will abandon a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. Also, 79% of online shoppers won’t revisit a site if it has a slow loading pace.
Therefore it’s logical to show users a skeleton of the site while other aspects are being loaded. Viewers perceive it as a faster browsing experience, even though the time remains the same. It is even more essential for websites with infinite scrolling.
Your infinite scrolling configuration should be SEO friendly though.
When available, the website will first load a placeholder for contents. This gives the user an idea of the placement of objects on the website. After that, the texts, images and animation load up.
SEO Benefits:
• Reduced loading time of website has a favourable effect on Google ranking
• Proper configuration of the infinite scroll makes your pages more engaging as well as increase session duration
UX Benefits:
• Increase appreciation for rapid page loading speed
• Users are better prepared for the elements being loaded on the page
• More user-friendly for mobile devices
3. Internal Search Feature
One aspect of the website that is often neglected is its internal search feature. Redesigning your website allows you to improve greatly upon it. When users are able to find exactly what they are searching will lead to more engagement.
SEO Benefits:
• Google prioritizes websites in their ranking that have more engagement
UX Benefits:
• Having a reliable internal search feature increases UX
• Strong search capability increases conversion probability and gives your ecommerce store an edge
An improved site-search feature should have characteristics. Including:
• The search bar should be placed beside the navigation bar at the top and visible from every page
• Use colours to differentiate between the search bar and other elements
• There should some text to signify its function
• Features such as auto-correct and suggestions should be incorporated
• Providing users with the option of custom search if possible
4. Mobile Optimized
With the recent Mobile-First Index update from Google, the importance of mobile-friendliness has increased ten folds. Since more than 50% of the total Google traffic comes from mobile devices, they are prioritizing mobile optimization.
If you are redesigning your website, then this is the perfect time to make it mobile responsive. Here are some things to keep in mind when redesigning:
• Speed plays a major role in mobile UX. The quicker the better. The topmost websites in mobile searches take around 1.10 seconds to load
• Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP greatly increases the performance of your website
• Font’s size, as well as other touch elements, have an impact on user’s experience. Tiny elements have a big effect.
SEO Benefits:
• Mobile optimized sites rank higher and are further boosted if AMP enabled
• More social share and users’ attention can be captured if the content is organized
UX Benefits:
• The quicker and smoother the site is, the better user experience it provides to mobile device users
• Sites that are easily navigable through touch offer more user-friendliness
5. Removing Outdated Pages
There are bound to be some unnecessary old pages or outdated pages from long ago. The best time to remove them is during the redesign of your website. This includes pages that were created for PPC campaigns or another promotional offer. However, if a page has good backlinks, try to update it with relevant information.
SEO Benefits:
• Organized and free from duplicate content will boost a website’s ranking
• Continuously updated pages perform well in SERP
UX Benefits:
• A landing page with outdated information will drive users away
• If the similar content is offered in different pages, the user’s experience will dwindle
Conclusion
Here you go. Our five simple tricks to enhance the UX and search visibility of your website. Redesigning your website, even though tricky, can be a great boon. You get a chance to correct any mistakes and improve what you have.
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