Better Website Usability Can Lead To Improved Search Rankings

by ​Sujain Thomas, Guest Contributor

Often, it becomes a dilemma when deciding which aspect of SEO to focus upon when trying to improve search rankings.   There are more than 200 rankings factors that Google uses, and you must choose the ones that could move the needle for your SEO campaign and thrust your website to the upper ranks in search results. Indeed, you must consider keywords as one of the prime movers, but along with it, you must consider some other factors that influence search rankings. Keywords alone cannot do much, and it needs a concerted effort of some other factors to enhance the search rankings.

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The relevance of keywords on pages as well as the Metadata in relation to the search terms of users is an important consideration for search engines, but in addition, they also look at the aspects of bounce rate, the time spent on the website, pages viewed, broken links, inbound and outbound links and many more.  The more time users spend on your website and interact with it sends positive signals to search engines that help improve ranking. Improving the experience of users and website usability under the guidance of New Skool Marketing SEO Company are the other ways of improving rankings in search results.

In this article, we will try to understand the meaning of website usability and how it impacts search rankings.

Website usability
User friendliness is one of the ways to describe website usability that consists of various factors like effectiveness, efficiency, learnability, memorability and error prevention.

• Effectiveness means the ability of websites to fulfill the objectives of users when they log on to the site. Finding the right information, contacting the company easily and ordering products without any difficulty are some signs of good usability of the site.  
• Efficiency relates to the ease of using the website that helps to perform the tasks quickly and smoothly. The site is only effective to the extent it is efficient. The two factors are complementary, and unless they both work in tandem, users will keep away from the website that sends a negative signal to search engines and pulls down ranking.  
• Learnability is all about how quickly users can adapt the website functionalities and use it meaningfully. The quicker users familiarize with the website elements they would find more time to consume information or view your products. If it happens, on the contrary, they would desert the website and increase the bounce rate that affects ranking negatively.  
• Memorability relates to the elements of a website that leaves a deep impact on the users’ minds and makes it easy for visitors to come back to the site later. The keyword in searches must be powerful enough for users to remember so that they can come back to the website again and again.  
• Error prevention consists of helping users to avoid ‘404 Page not found’ kind of experience that leads to poor user experience and affects SEO ranking. Avoid broken links or links that say something and display something else.

Since search engines like and reward user-friendly websites, it means they like high usability websites. Here are some important SEO elements that not only enhance website usability but also improve search ranking.

Quality content
To ensure that users spend more time on the website you must feed them with high-quality content that is relevant and conveys value besides generating interest to consume it fully. Create unique content that carries authentic information which is useful and enjoyable for users. Avoid shallow and thin content and create long-form content based on good research that answers user queries exhaustively.

Page speed
Page speed is a ranking factor for Google that loves speedy websites just as users are also very fond of it. Users have very little patience, and they would desert your site if it does not open in a few seconds. Slow sites suffer from high bounce rates and reduce the number of page views besides drastically bringing down dwell time all of which are detrimental for ranking.  Image optimization is one of the ways of increasing website speed.

Image optimization
The size of the image and its file format determines the loading time, and you must optimize the images to ensure speedy loading.

The techniques of optimization allow you to squeeze the images to optimal size without affecting its resolution and appeal. Inserting keywords in the image file name, description, title, alt tag and caption enhances its relevance to the content that influences search engines.

Outbound links
Inserting outbound links of other high-quality websites makes your content more relevant and enhances its value as viewers can access more information and gather knowledge from those websites. The quality of websites that you link with sends positive signals to Google about the authority of those websites that reflects favorably upon you and increases the chances of better ranking.
Improving user experience helps to address important optimization issues that strengthen SEO.

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Author Bio: 

​Sujain Thomas is a data expert. She has been working with complex database architecture and big data analytics for almost eight years now. She has been helping many leading corporations optimize their customer service and product introductions as per big data analysis and predictive analysis.

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