What Kind of User Experience are You Creating for your Readers? - SEO

Since the algorithm updates this year, Google is looking for and tracking user's experience on websites. While SEO in general will probably always be around to some extent, we are need to focus more and more on our user's and readers rather than just for search engines.

Now, I don't have to tell most of YOU that! I hear all the time, "Well, I just write for the people and don't care about the search engines" and while this is basically the idea, if you are NOT giving your users the experience they are looking for and needing, the search engines are not going to notice you either.

Read more: What NOT to do when optimizing your posts

Making your blog posts more "readable" and gearing the tone to a level we all can understand is just as important as the other hundred tiny little things that make a post, page or article highly authoritative and therefore also makes Google sit up and notice. 

Matt Cutts said back in April of this year: “ … I wouldn’t focus as much on the actual ranking signals. Rather, I would concentrate on trying to make something that’s compelling. Because that’s the sort of thing that’s going to be really rewarding for users, and so is going to be the kind of thing that we would like to return in our search results.”

Worrying too much about how many keywords are in the post, how many words in general, how to title etc... all are things to consider, yes.. but if no one wants to stay on your blog, read your information or eventually get a hold of you, all those factors mean ZILTCH!

Google is looking for how long people are staying on your site, how many different pages they click through and their overall experience of your site (yes, they can tell that too).

So how do you create a better user experience?

Create a writing style that people like. Dick Greenberg wrote a great (and somewhat controversial) blog this last week about the font, Comic Sans and how it was the hardest on our eyes. While this is all personal opinion, going with a font, color, size and style that the majority of readers like will help keep more readers engaged and reading.

Add white space

• Bullets

And Bold Text when appropriate

All of these add intrigue and are easier on the eye. People want to know that they can scan or skim an article and get the meat without feeling blocked in by a wall of words.

Read more: Are you doing the 3 things Google want?

Create teaser links not just in the content but in the middle of the post that urge people to click on them, leading them from one topic to another. (Similar to the link above this paragraph)

By creating the sense of urgency such as a link on a real estate site saying, "Are you making these selling mistakes right now?", this creates a panic sense that sellers must know what that is before continuing. 

Give them something to do.

People love interactive posts! Have you seen those Facebook posts lately that tell you to "like" or "share" if you prefer one picture over the other? Or "like" the picture if you remember this retro tool or game. Everything in me wants to like it or share it, just because I was told to or because I know the answer and MUST answer! This is what you need to give your readers. The desire to know more, click more and just have an overall better online experience at your site.

So, what are you doing for your users today!?

 

Tammy Emineth is an expert in custom content and original articles for blogs, website, press releases and more. Contact me anytime and feel free to subscribe to this blog to stay up to date on my latest blogs and informative information. Email me or contact me for Real Estate Website Marketing and SEO Content Writing.

The information contained in this blog is believed to be true and correct and while every effort is made to assure that the information is as accurate as possible, the author of this blog, and its comments disclaim any implied warranty or representation about it's accuracy for any particular purpose. All information is copy written and the property of Tammy Emineth.