SEO Archives - Web Usability Talk

Why Companies Need to Rethink Their Site’s Usability Factor

Usability, while seemingly invisible, encompasses everything from SEO, conversion ratios, user experience and authority in the market. Embarking on a usability path and building a strategy can be a challenging task for an organization, however it is one that will pay off in spades if implemented well and maintained through testing and optimization. The benefits of adopting a website usability optimization strategy through redesign will affect all those who come in contact with the company – from prospective and current customers to internal stakeholders. Following best practices from design to development to offer the ideal user experience can deliver an increased level of positive association and better bottom line to the brand it supports. User experience and web usability are significant aspects of a websites core functionality that every company must pay attention to for the current and long term health of their organization. Its estimated that sites that have poor […]

Ensuring Your Site Will Measure Up to Google’s New Mobile-Friendly Standards

Chances are you use Google and have noticed that one of the search result criteria is whether or not a site is ‘mobile friendly’ or not. This is a result of step 1 in a major implementation on Google’s part to encourage website owners to take the plunge and optimize their site structure. Beginning in late 2014 and implemented in April 2015, this isn’t some power play for Google – it’s simply better for a user-centered system and better business for a site. To reinforce the importance of this shift, with regard to search, as of April 2015, “more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan.” Further, and even more telling to conversion strategies, behavior in spending has shifted to approximately 30% of all online sales now made on mobile devices. Gartner predicts that, by 2017, U.S. mobile commerce will have increased […]

What’s In A Name? How a URL Can Affect A Site’s Usability

Often overlooked due to the fact that they aren’t the biggest ranking factor used by search engines, the structure of URLs can have a major impact on the SEO and usability factors of a website. The keywords contained within a URL are much more than just a location tool. Relevant to both the user and search engines, URLs help to assess and describe what each page on a site is about and what kind of product or services it provides. The better the URL optimization, the higher it will rank in organic search engine results. While a great deal of thought may be put into the main URL of a website, the inner pages are very important to give thought to in terms of usability. Many times, for these pages – a URL is automatically generated that can easily be optimized to better serve the site and its visitors. Being […]

The Business Case for Optimized Site Usability

Web usability is a significant aspect of a websites function that every company must pay attention to for the current and long term health of their organization. Usability, while seemingly invisible, encompasses everything from SEO, conversion ratios, user experience and authority in the market. Embarking on a usability path and building a strategy can be a challenging task, however it is one that will pay off in spades if implemented well and maintained through testing and optimization. The benefits of adopting a website usability optimization strategy affect all those who come in contact with the company – from prospective and current customers to internal stakeholders. Following best practices from design to development to offer the ideal user experience can deliver an increased level of positive association and better bottom line to the brand it supports. External Benefits of Usability Delivers Faster Conversion Its estimated that sites that have poor usability […]

Identifying (and Fixing) Common Usability ‘Stuck Spots’

There are many seemingly small usability issues that can go unnoticed causing site owners to wonder why drop numbers are increasing and conversions aren’t happening frequently. Making sure the site is performing at it’s highest potential across all devices by testing and correcting identified issues will help to get back on track to better SEO and happier users. Site Speed & Load Time Slow site speed is an increasing challenge across many channels with respect to design, development and ultimately – the bottom line of a company. Site users provide the data backing. Improved levels of satisfaction are present when a site loads quickly and alternately, a dissatisfaction if a page load is longer than they expect it to be. Longer load times, even at a rate of a one second delay can be an huge issue affecting the financial stability of a company, particularly for ecommerce. At this one second delay […]

The Importance of Web Usability Testing

Web usability is one of the most important aspects of a website; however often in the corporate environments, it is one of the least understood aspects of content optimization. Although UI/UX is an integral part of site design and architecture, there are few people who truly understand it enough to make it an integral part of the layout right from the start. Here are just a few of the advantages to including UI/UX in the testing and planning of your website from the very beginning of its inception. You will create better SEO from the beginning of your online presence Search engine optimization usually takes quite a while to affect a website’s presence on the Internet. However, incorporating web usability testing into the framework of a website will speed up this process immeasurably. It is well known that the major search engines place a premium on sites that have low […]

Mobile Usability Matters: Search Ranking Developments

With the new announcement from Google that mobile usability will count as a search ranking factor beginning in April 2015 – now is the time to pay attention. We’ve all known that mobile is rising quickly as a main platform for users across the board, but now the stakes are higher. Mobile search results will now reflect how mobile-friendly sites are, and if a website isn’t optimized for mobile browsing, it will most likely drop in ranking. Most site owners don’t understand what to do when it comes to mobile sites. Mobile sites are different from regular sites, so there are a different set of best practices that you need to follow. It’s important to make sure your mobile site is optimized and formatted correctly because mobile visitors now make up a large percentage of total site visitors. Some webmasters report 30-40% of their visitors use mobile devices. This news is […]

3 Ways to Improve Usability for Better SEO

Web usability overlaps with many UX best practices, particularly Search Engine Optimization. Studies have shown that some benefits of properly accessible sites include better overall search results, reduced costs and increased audience reach. Search engines are not human – this we know. As this is the case, there are only a narrow number of specifications that they can detect from the mass amount of content that is processed. The engines are however, constantly being optimized, and are capable of delivering a great deal of intuitions through sifting engagement numbers, user patterns and links to determine rankings about a specific site. Content Useful, thoughtful and targeted messaging will increase the UX of a site, increasing the probability that a visitor will return to the site and have a good feeling about it. Notwithstanding the value of return visits, the encouragement of sharing via social media or on additional platforms, the application of bookmarks and resulting inbound links will all […]

Web Analytics: Back to Basics

As the importance of having a great website becomes widely known, companies are jumping on board to stay relevant. But how can an organization measure the impact of its website on its users, both off-site and on-site? That’s where web analytics come in – the collection, reporting and analysis of website data. Defining the Details The main objective of web analytics is to take a close, in-depth look at a websites functions and determining the best implementations and calls-to-action based on that research that will drive more site traffic. An organization must identify what makes its website (and often accompanying microsites) attractive to viewers; once this process has been implemented, that information can be used to build a strong framework and better experience for the intended users. Going through web analytics is truly an intuitive process that can assist organizations in any industry in their goals for web usability. First […]

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