In recent years, search engines have taken UX seriously when determining SEO rankings – they no longer prioritize only the most relevant results but also the most high-quality ones. This covers various aspects such as usability, ease of navigation, website design, and functionality. The following are the key areas where UX impacts SEO:
How easy is it for our customers to find our content? A well-structured site (often called the IA or Information Architecture) with simple and clear navigation will significantly impact UX. Search engines have complex algorithms that make assumptions about how well websites manage this – but checking key metrics such as bounce rate and time-on-site will indicate how well we are doing here.
High-quality, easy-to-read content is crucial for a good user experience. Readable content with proper formatting, headings, and bullet points can keep users engaged and encourage them to spend more time with our content. Search engines are getting better at establishing the readability of content and have ways to check if users are engaging with content actively.
A visually appealing website with well-designed content creates positive impressions on users, which will drive signals to search engines that BD has quality content. Additionally, focusing on a good design should include optimization of images and other media, which impacts page load speed and has technical SEO benefits. See Technical SEO.
Ensuring our content is accessible to users with disabilities, such as supporting screen readers, is a core BD Digital policy. Accessibility is also a key consideration for search engines, and applying a high standard across our marketing content can directly impact how well the content ranks on search engine results pages.
Slow-loading content is one of the biggest drivers of dissatisfaction on the internet. It negatively impacts user experience and has a direct impact on bounce rate. Search engines consider page load speed to be a significant ranking factor. BD has a benchmark for all pages to load in under 3 seconds.
Search engines prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings. Ensuring that the website and the marketing content are fully responsive and adapt well to different screen sizes positively impacts both UX and SEO.
