Do you know what decides the fate of your client’s websites in SERPs (search engine results pages)? It’s a combination of factors that include user signals and performance metrics. 

You can influence both things by improving and adjusting the UX design elements on these pages. 

Think about this situation – two online stores sell similar products at similar price points. Someone searching for the products being sold will choose the one that provides the most information that’s shown to them clearly and concisely, the one with easy-to-use navigation, and that looks trustworthy. 

The online store that does the above right is where most searchers will complete a sale. You can look at user behavior patterns to find which site is set up in a manner that helps people reach their goals. Google does this to decide where pages rank, which means you should be looking at this, too. 

As you can see, UX (user experience) is crucial in ensuring your website ranks well. With that in mind, here are a few tips you can implement on your client’s sites to ensure they rank well in SERPs. 

Text Formatting 

A page’s text content must be readable, useful, and relevant. While some emphasize one of these qualities, they are all equally important. In the modern world, people aren’t going to read a whole page of text. Even if it’s great, it’s just not going to happen. Instead, people visiting your page will scan it and find the most important or appealing parts. 

With text formatting, you can help people who land on a site navigate through all the information to find what they are looking for. When done properly, formatting will support the hierarchy of text that helps readers determine what primary and secondary information is. 

Some ways to do this include adding these elements to web pages:

  • Subheadings
  • Numbered or bulleted lists
  • Blockquotes 
  • Underlining, italics, and bolding

While formatting may seem simple and straightforward, that’s not always the case. You need to make sure that you choose the right size for fonts and the proper spacing requirements. 

When it comes to SEO, you need to be aware of how you can visually highlight the various parts of the text. You can use CSS styles or HTML tags. Just keep in mind how legible the text will be on all screens, including mobile devices. 

Illustrations and Images 

Visual elements on a webpage improve the user experience. If a page doesn’t have visual elements, they look boring. It’s possible to use pictures to illustrate what you are saying in the text. You can also use them to highlight or feature products and to make sales pages more appealing. 

While this is true, images also result in slower loading times. Because of this, you don’t need to add images that aren’t necessary. 

Every image added to a web page should offer some type of value to the users, and it should be SEO-friendly. The value of different images should be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

Some best practices for adding images to web pages include:

  • Use file formats search engines can index
  • Compress the images 
  • Add alt tags to the images
  • Don’t break copyright laws

The images used on a website can appear in image search results. This is another way to ensure that a site is seen and that it ranks well. 

Above the Fold

The content above the fold is what visitors see first when a web page loads. It needs to provide enough information for someone visiting the page to decide if they want to stay or go elsewhere to find what they are searching for. For business websites, the information that should be above the fold includes:

  • Business name and logo
  • Hero image
  • Headline
  • CTA (call to action)
  • Main menu

Regarding modern content management systems, templates are available and can be used. These follow best practices and include the proper structural elements. 

Headers and Footers 

Website headers usually contain the name of the business and the logo. It should also include important features and be seen on all pages. 

Creating a sticky header is smart too. With this, all the contact information and links are easily found by visitors, even if they scroll down the pages. 

Navigation Menu

The website’s header and main menu don’t need to be overloaded. They should usually include five to eight important links. The links you add depend on the type of business you have. Virtually all headers should link to the Home, Contact, and About Us pages. The rest of the links should be based on what is most important for the business and the people who are searching for what is offered. 

CTA Buttons 

It’s smart to put the main call-to-action button in the header and the page’s above-the-fold part. This will help website visitors see what they need to do to achieve their goals. The button should stand out from the elements around it. Choose a bright color or even a drop shadow to achieve this. 

It may be smart to add a secondary CTA button on that screen too. This can help visitors reach the same goal but through a different path. It doesn’t have to be as eye-catching as the main CTA, but it should stand out from the other elements on the page. 

Improving the User Experience Can Boost a Site’s SEO

As you can see from the information above, there are more than a few ways to improve the user experience on your clients’ websites. Keep these tips and information in mind, as they will help you create strong and effective campaigns. 

If you need help creating this positive user experience for your client’s sites, our team at Outsource My SEO is ready to help. We can handle this aspect of SEO, which will let you focus on other aspects of your client’s campaigns. Outsourcing these services is a smart move and can help you save time and money over time.