Author: Ola King
SEO can attract potential customers to your website, but what will get them to buy from you once they’ve arrived?
Many brands focus on content, but so do their competitors, and it would be very easy to read an article on one brand’s blog, but buy from another.
That’s why user experience (UX) is so crucial, especially in highly competitive industries, where a minor advantage in site speed, mobile usability, or accessibility can make the difference between converting the visitor or forfeiting the sale.
In this article, I’ll teach you how to implement on-page optimizations that enhance your content for your potential customers while making forward leaps with your search visibility. Let’s get started.
Table of contents:
What’s UX in SEO?
User experience (UX) refers to how seamlessly users interact with and use a product, service, or website. For our purpose, it encompasses elements like site design, navigation, content accessibility, and overall ease of use. A positive UX ensures that visitors find your site intuitive, enjoyable, and valuable.
Here’s one of my favorite case studies on the impact UX can have, by a former member of Google’s Maps design team:
While website owners often view UX and SEO as separate entities, they are deeply interconnected. A website that provides an excellent user experience is more likely to rank well on search engines, and a site that ranks well is more likely to attract users. So, the best approach is to integrate UX and SEO into a cohesive on-page strategy.
Basically, SEO gets potential customers to your website, but good UX keeps them there.
Not only is this crucial from a conversion standpoint, it increases dwell time, which may also help with your search visibility.
Note: In UX, people are referred to as ‘users’, while SEOs say ‘searchers’ and ‘audience’ interchangeably to refer to the same group. So for the rest of this guide, wherever you see any of these words, assume they mean the exact same thing.
Do UX designers need to learn SEO?
Since one of the main goals of UX is to make your product or service accessible, it’s a good idea to learn the basics of SEO (as SEO helps ensure that when users look for something related to what your business does, your website, blog, or content shows up).
You don’t need to be an expert, but you should learn SEO fundamentals.
Do SEOs need to learn UX design?
The fact of the matter is that modern, user-centered approaches to SEO involve a combination of UX research and design (in addition to the many existing SEO techniques and activities).
I know, it sounds like a lot of work. The good news is that someone doing SEO doesn’t need to learn every aspect of UX research or design. They just need to be knowledgeable about the methods and best practices useful for creating content. In fact, a lot of the current SEO best practices already overlap with this.
In this guide we’ll primarily focus on the activities related to improving on-page SEO (although I will also discuss technical essentials like HTTPS and responsive site design).
How UX and on-page SEO work together
Content quality and relevance are the most important factors in SEO, and they’re at the heart of UX as well.
Visitors come to your site for information, and search engines rank your pages based on content relevance and quality. So, creating content that satisfies your users and optimizing it for search engines is essential. Just like Airbnb is happy to promote hosts with beautiful homes and delightful pictures, search engines want to show off high-quality, informative, and relevant content.
User-centric design
Both UX and SEO aim to satisfy user intent. UX focuses on delivering a seamless, enjoyable experience, while SEO helps the right audience discover the content in the first place. Together, they prioritize the user journey from discovery to conversion. This ensures that content is discoverable, meaningful, and engaging for the target audience.
Tactically, this means focusing on content that answers user questions, provides solutions, and guides users effectively.
Data-driven decision making
UX relies on behavioral data like click patterns and session duration to optimize web design, while SEO uses metrics like search rankings, CTR, and bounce rates. By sharing insights, teams can make informed decisions that benefit both areas.
Accessibility
Accessibility benefits both UX and SEO. Making a site inclusive expands its reach, improves usability, and ensures compliance with search engine guidelines. Accessible design enhances both user trust and search engine recognition, creating a win-win situation for discoverability and experience.
Authority and trust
UX builds trust through design elements like secure connections, intuitive navigation, and transparency. While SEO establishes authority through high-quality, optimized content, backlinks, and trusted experts.
Continuous collaboration & adaptation
Search engines may prioritize UX signals and engagement metrics in their ranking algorithms. UX and SEO teams must work together to meet these evolving standards. A proactive approach helps your website remain competitive, regardless of any algorithm updates.
UX and SEO teams must collaborate continuously. Regular meetings, shared KPIs, and integrated workflows ensure both disciplines contribute to a unified goal.
UX & SEO in tandem: How to implement site design that also improves visibility
The success of your content rides primarily on a single factor: how well it satisfies your users’ particular needs (i.e., their user intent). Understanding why users search for specific queries lets you speak their ‘language’, which you can then use to create content that better meets their needs by accounting for their circumstances.
So, how do you create this high-quality content that satisfies user intent for your specific audience?
Make your content engaging
Prioritize responsive design
Improve site speed
Use easily understood, user-friendly URLs
Improve your information scent with meta tags
Ensure accessibility for your audience
Guide users with clear calls-to-action
Secure and reliable website
Make your content engaging
High-quality, engaging content is the cornerstone of a positive user experience. Ensure your content is informative, relevant, and tailored to your target audience. It should also be easy to read and skimmable, with clear headings, bullet points, and short paragraphs.
While writing for users is paramount, you must also optimize your content for search engines. This involves using relevant keywords, writing meta descriptions, implementing structured data, and so on to help search engines understand your content.
Below are some best practices for improving user engagement.
Align with Google’s guidelines on creating people-first content: Offer valuable, goal-oriented insights that satisfy user expectations, and avoid practices like automation-driven mass content production or misleading updates aimed at gaming search engines. Regularly self-assess your content using criteria such as originality, depth, and trustworthiness. Ensure your content demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) by clearly identifying authors, providing well-sourced and accurate information, and transparently sharing how the content was created.
Talk to your audience: You’re not your audience—get out of your head and interact with them. Reach out to your customer support team to understand the trends they’re noticing, talk to your UX team to understand the struggles people have with your product, etc. You can supplement these with more research, surveys and interviews, as needed.
Use storytelling techniques: We are naturally inclined to understand and connect through narratives. Where appropriate, use storytelling techniques like the hero’s journey to create engaging narratives that resonate with your audience. Relatable characters and clear conflicts and resolutions help convey information in a memorable and emotionally compelling way, fostering deeper connections, trust, and sustained interest that inspires action.
Include multimedia: Enhance content with images, videos, and infographics to make it more engaging (which also helps with content distribution). Optimize all multimedia for quick loading and accessibility (e.g., subtitles).
Help the user satisfy their intent—answer these questions: Do the experiences I design fulfill my users’ needs? How relevant is a particular piece of information for users? How can I offer more capabilities to users? How can I make an experience more entertaining, efficient, or impactful?
Implement structured data: Add structured data (schema markup) to help search engines better understand your content better. This can enhance your site’s visibility through rich results in SERPs.
When it comes time to research keywords, use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, etc. to find relevant keywords (that reflect user intent) with a good balance of search volume and competition.
When it comes to keyword placement, naturally incorporate keywords into your content (including the title, headings, and throughout the body). Avoid keyword stuffing, as it harms both UX and SEO.
Break content into digestible chunks and use a font size and style that is easy to read on all devices. Evaluating what your content looks like on desktop and mobile can make a big difference here.
In addition to the tips above, I encourage you to read these two books that I've personally found helpful.
Everybody Writes by Ann Handley emphasizes clear, compelling, and audience-centric writing strategies, essential for producing high-quality content that resonates with readers.
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug offers timeless and practical insights on user-friendly design and usability—critical for maintaining user engagement and satisfaction.
Prioritize responsive design
Responsive web design is a cornerstone of both UX and SEO. In a world where users switch between phones, tablets, and desktops, your website must seamlessly adapt to any screen size. Google’s mobile-first indexing means that the mobile version of your site is now the primary reference for ranking, making mobile-friendliness an SEO essential.
On the other hand, a non-responsive site can lead to poor user experience, higher bounce rates, and lower search rankings.
Flexible layouts: Use flexible grids and layouts that adapt to different screen sizes. This ensures an aesthetically pleasing and functional design on all devices.
Touch-friendly navigation: Ensure that buttons and links are easily clickable on smaller screens. Avoid hover-only navigation, as it may not translate well on touch and mobile devices. This can be a point of frustration for users.
Optimized images: Compress images without sacrificing quality and use responsive image techniques like srcset to load images according to the user’s device size. This reduces load times, improving user experience.
Improve site speed
Usability (an important aspect of UX) measures how well a specific user in a specific context can use a product/design to achieve a defined goal effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily. Like responsive design, site speed also impacts usability.
Nobody likes a slow website. A slow website frustrates your potential customers, causing them to leave before exploring your content, and potentially leading to Google recommending your content less. In SEO metrics, this usually plays out as higher bounce rates and lower conversions.
This point is especially important for competitive niches, where content quality may be very similar across top-ranking websites. That said, having a fast site with low-quality content is like running to nowhere. Content quality is still more important.
Minimize HTTP requests: Reduce the number of elements on a page, such as scripts, images, and CSS files, to decrease load times. Combine files where possible.
Compress files and images: Huge files slow your site down. Use tools, like TinyPNG, Gzip, or Brotli compression, to reduce the size of your images, files, and code.
Leverage caching: Server-side and browser caching speed up subsequent page loads by keeping static resources like pictures, CSS, and JavaScript files in the cache.
Lazy load content below the fold: Load only the images and videos that are immediately visible on the user’s screen. As they scroll, additional content can load in the background. This makes your page feel light and fast to users.
Use a content delivery network (CDN): A CDN is a network of servers around the world that deliver your site’s content to users from the server closest to them. This helps to drastically improve page speed.
Maintain only essential plug-ins: Too many plug-ins can make your site feel bloated and slow.
If you’re a Wix site owner or manager, you already benefit from many of these optimizations, including automatic image compression, lazy loading, server caching, and a world-class CDN.
Design intuitive website navigation
User-centered navigation is fundamental to UX. Because searchers may enter your website via different pages, they need to be able to get from one page to another using your site navigation.
In UX, this is referred to as ‘discoverability’—this means a piece of information is easy to discover without a user actively looking for it.
Your site should have a clear structure that’s intuitive, guiding users to the pages they seek with minimal effort. Poor navigation leads to user frustration and higher exit rates.
You may also miss opportunities to direct users to relevant pages, which is why a well-organized site structure is not only beneficial for users but also for search engines. Clear, logical navigation helps search engines understand your site’s hierarchy and content, leading to better indexing and potentially higher ranking.
Use a logical menu structure: Use a simple, hierarchical menu structure that groups related content. For simplicity and optimal user experience, limit categories pages to the bare minimum pages you need. If you need more granularity, then consider using sub-categories.
Show breadcrumbs to help users orient themselves: Implement breadcrumb navigation to help users understand their location on the site and easily navigate back to previous pages. Breadcrumbs also provide additional internal links for SEO.
Use clear and descriptive labels for menu items: Avoid jargon and ensure that users have a good idea of the content behind each link.
Use internal links to connect related content: This helps users discover more of your site’s content and improves SEO by distributing link equity across pages.
Verify links: Leading users to broken links/404 pages can damage UX, so verify the pages you link to.
Use easily understood, user-friendly URLs
User-friendly URLs contribute to a positive user experience by providing clear and concise information about the page’s content, framing what your audience can expect if they click through. A well-structured URL is not only easier for users to read and understand, it also helps search engines grasp the context of your content. Clear URLs improve navigation, user experience, and SEO.
Good URL example | Poor URL example |
www.example.com/best-ux-seo-practices | www.example.com/blogpage1 |
Use descriptive terms in your URLs: Create concise, descriptive, URLs that reflect the content of the page. Avoid unnecessary parameters and numbers.
Use hyphens instead of underscores: Use hyphens to separate words in your URLs. Search engines treat hyphens as word separators/spaces, whereas underscores are ignored. Hyphens are also easier to read and understand.
Implement canonical tags when appropriate: If multiple versions of a page exist, use canonical tags to specify the preferred version to avoid duplicate content issues. This tells search engines which version of a page is the primary one, helping to ensure that link equity is not diluted and providing a smooth experience for your audience wherever your content is indexed.
Improve your information scent with meta tags
No, there’s no digital cologne you can spray on your website to attract people (although that would be pretty cool).
Information scent simply refers to how users evaluate options on a website to find information. It’s a user’s ability to predict what they will find if they follow a link or pursue a path on a website. This is where meta tags come into play—they help inform your users’ expectations of what they will find from your content.
Meta tags, such as title tags and meta descriptions, are crucial for both SEO and UX. They are often the first thing users see on search engine results pages (SERPs) and influence whether they click through to your site. Well-crafted meta tags improve click-through rates and tell search engines about your content.
Craft compelling title tags: Think of your audience like a customer walking through a bookstore. Books with titles that stand out and are relevant to the customer’s intent are the ones that will get picked. Likewise, write unique, compelling title tags for each page that include the primary keyword. Keep your title tags under 60 characters to ensure it displays fully on mobile SERPs.
Write engaging meta descriptions: Your meta descriptions should summarize the page content and include a call-to-action. Keep them under 160 characters and incorporate relevant keywords.
Avoid duplicate meta tags: Each of your pages should serve a unique purpose, so ensure that each page has unique title tags and meta descriptions to avoid confusion for both users and search engines.
Keyword relevance: While meta tags should include keywords, you should also write naturally and appeal to human readers.
Be honest with your meta tags: Disappointing or misleading users will eventually lead audiences to stop using your website.
Avoid jargon: Steer clear of buzzwords or industry jargon that your audience may not understand. This is why understanding your audience through UX is important—this allows you to communicate using the exact language they’re already familiar with.
Ensure accessibility for your audiences
A well-designed and accessible website ensures that all people, regardless of their physical abilities, can use it. Accessibility is not only a legal requirement in many countries, but also enhances user experience and broadens your potential audience.
Rejoice Ojiaku wrote an in-depth guide on website accessibility that covers this topic in much greater detail—check that out to learn more. In the meantime, here are some quick tips:
Provide alt text: Write descriptive alt text for all images. This helps visually impaired users understand the content and improves image SEO.
Support keyboard navigation: Ensure that all interactive elements, such as forms and menus, are accessible via keyboard. This is essential for users who cannot use a mouse.
Enhance readability with color contrast: Use sufficient color contrast between text and background to make content readable for users with visual impairments.
Improve navigation on screen readers with ARIA landmarks: Use ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) landmarks to define page structure, which could be crucial for site visitors that rely on screen readers to experience your website.
Support text resizing: Ensure that text can be resized up to 200% without losing content or functionality. This also improves readability for users with visual impairments.
Guide users with clear calls-to-action (CTAs)
UX design’s goal of satisfying users’ needs means it plays a role in assisting them as they navigate your website.
Clear and compelling CTAs guide users towards the desired actions, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. Ultimately, this improves the user journey and contributes to higher conversion rates.
While CTAs are primarily a UX consideration, they also indirectly impact SEO. High engagement and conversion rates may signal to search engines that your site is valuable and relevant, potentially increasing visibility.
Use action-oriented language: Use action-oriented wording in your CTAs (e.g., “Download Now” or “Get Started”) to create a sense of urgency and encourage users to take action.
Highlight your CTAs for visibility: Prominently place your CTAs and ensure they stand out visually from the rest of the content. Use contrasting colors and large, legible fonts.
Make sure your CTAs are clear and unambiguous: Users should immediately understand what action they are being asked to take and what benefits they will receive. Each page should only have one main CTA.
Test and refine for iterative gains: Regularly A/B test different CTA designs, placements, and wording to determine what resonates best with your audience. Then use the data to refine your approach and maximize conversions.
To learn more about maximizing the impact of this technique, check out Lazarina Stoy’s excellent beginner’s guide to CTAs.
Instill trust with a secure website
A secure website is essential for both user trust and SEO. Google prioritizes secure sites (i.e., sites that use HTTPS) in its rankings, and users are more likely to engage with a site they trust (and don’t get browser warnings when visiting). Lack of security can lead to data breaches, poor user experience, and lower search rankings—all of which are totally avoidable.
Ensure that your website is secured with HTTPS: This encrypts data exchanged between the user’s browser and your server, protecting sensitive information.
Obtain and install an SSL certificate to secure your website: Regularly renew the certificate to maintain the security certification.
Keep your CMS, plugins, and other software up-to-date to protect against security vulnerabilities: Regular updates help prevent hacks and data breaches.
Implement regular backup solutions to protect your data: In the event of a security breach or data loss, backups allow you to restore your site (and business) quickly.
Analytics and user feedback for continuous improvement
UX and SEO aren’t ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ processes. You need to regularly check on how your site is doing and adjust strategy.
Continuous iteration is key to maintaining a high-performing website. Regularly monitor your site’s UX and SEO metrics to identify areas for improvement and update your strategies accordingly.
Use Google Analytics to track user behavior: This includes page views, bounce rates, conversion rates, etc. Analyze this data to understand how users interact with your site.
Implement heatmap tools to visualize user interactions on your site: Software like Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar, or Crazy Egg can show where users click, scroll, and spend the most time, helping you optimize layout and content.
Collect feedback from users through surveys, feedback forms, and user testing: Direct feedback generally provides valuable insights into user preferences and pain points.
Conduct A/B tests to compare different versions of pages, content, or elements to see which performs better: Use the results to make data-driven decisions that enhance UX and SEO.
Regularly update and perform SEO audits on your content: You can use tools like Semrush, Moz, Screaming Frog, etc. to identify technical issues, content gaps, and optimization opportunities.
A note about third-party tools: There are so many on-page analysis tools, content optimization tools, site crawlers, analytics tools, and so on that can provide you with useful insights. Many of these satisfy the quantitative aspect of UX research, but ensure that you’re not applying suggestions thoughtlessly (without regard to purpose, impact, or audience), as that could lead to unintended consequences.
The marriage of UX and SEO is here to stay
In today’s competitive digital environment, integrating UX and SEO is essential for creating a successful website.
By following these best practices, you can design a site that not only ranks well on search engines. but also provides a seamless, enjoyable experience for users, thereby attracting more visitors, engaging them, and ultimately driving more conversions.
Ola King, UX & SEO Consultant Ola King is a UX & SEO consultant using design-thinking to make digital information simple and accessible. He’s worked for Moz, created the Notion SEO Growth Kit, and presented at MozCon, BrightonSEO, and more.