By: Misty Faucheux
Faucheux Enterprises
Mistyfaucheux.com
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UX is short for “user experience”. Google
defines this as:
◦ the overall experience of a person using a product
such as a website or computer application,
especially in terms of how easy or pleasing it is to
use.

UX is important for a variety of factors:
◦ Improves the chances of someone doing an action
on the site
◦ Makes it easier for users to find what they’re
looking for
◦ Improves site flow
◦ Ensures the site meets the needs of the customer
◦ Overall, a good UX makes a good website

Google manually checking sites for UX
◦ True? Probably not, but….

Scrolling sites not good for business
◦ Scrolling sites don’t get ranked well
◦ While probably not true, there is some anecdotal
evidence for this
◦ Why? Again – just a rumor - Div tags not actually
individual pages so Google takes it as a single page
as opposed to multiple pages.

Page load issues
◦ Increases bounce rate
◦ Reduces conversions
◦ Hard to navigate with mobile

Site Navigability
◦ People quickly leave hard to navigate sites
◦ Won’t come back to site if they can’t find what
they’re looking for
◦ They’re not going deeper into your site affecting
pages per visit
◦ If content is hard to find, then the consumer isn’t
going looking for it. They need to be directed to
quality content like blogs, products, etc.

URL Structure
◦ URL structure is for BOTH robots and people – but
people first!
◦ URLs should be easy to remember and not overly
long
◦ Should also incorporate keywords – without stuffing
◦ If URLs are too long, figure out where categorical
information can be logically cut

External Sites Won’t Link to You
◦ If other quality sites think your site is bad, then
they won’t link to hit.
◦ No backlink juice

Bad 301 Redirects Tank Current SEO
Standings
◦ If pages are moved and not directed correctly, you
lose all the ranking factors for those pages. If done
correctly, the PageRank will be transferred to the
new page.
◦ Redirects not sent to a comparable page could
confuse the user
◦ Always make sure 301 redirects are done for all
deleted or moved pages. If not, you’ll waste good
backlinks from other sites.

Google’s new emphasis on mobile
◦ A site that’s not optimized for mobile is bad for
business – both for SEO and for conversions
◦ Google has put a huge emphasis on sites being
mobile-friendly since the vast majority of
people are using mobile for search and that
trend is supposed to only accelerate.

Google knows how people are using your site
◦ And they know if people are finding what they’re
looking for or not
◦ Especially with Chrome, they can see how many
pages people visit, how long they stay on the site,
did they find what they’re looking for
◦ If not, then they’re back searching
◦ All of this signals to Google that your site
is not satisfying the consumer causing a
lower page rank

Build sites for people – not search engines

A good experience is a must nowadays
◦ See where people are most often exiting your site and
fix the page if it’s an issue

Use the suggestions in Webmaster Tools
◦ Provides guidelines
◦ Will crawl your site for potential issues and give
suggestions

Try doing your own user flow and bug tests
◦ Get people to beta test your site
◦ Use some tools
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Xenu – Checks for broken links
Webmaster Tools/Analytics
Web Performance/LoadComplete – Load testing
Open Site Explorer/Majestic SEO Tools – Inbound link
analysis
◦ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/twoexamples-of-how-one-line-of-code-could-killyour-seo-case-studies/37004/
◦ http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-toavoid-seo-disaster-during-a-website-redesign/
◦ http://usabilitygeek.com/4-ways-bad-ux-hurtingseo/
◦ http://moz.com/blog/ux-myths-that-hurt-seowhiteboard-friday