How to use a UX audit to improve Search Engine Optimization process?

Introduction to user experience

User experience is the bridge between human needs and digital solutions. It’s what makes things feel natural, intuitive, and easy to use. When it comes to websites, this means understanding how people will actually interact with your site. If you create an engaging user experience for your users, you’re more likely to keep them on your site for longer periods of time (which improves conversion rates).

In the world of e-commerce UX is the study of how users interact with products, services, environments and brands. Ultimately, it is about maximizing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your product or service to others. They’ll be more loyal because they want the same experience that made them happy in the first place.

Does UX affect Google ranking?

A site’s user experience level can have an enormous impact on its ability to attract users, which in turn affects how it ranks on Google. Google indexes sites based on the value they provide visitors and users. If your site has a bad UX, then you can’t expect it to rank well in search engine results pages. Each element that the website is built of influences its rating. Google has over 200 ranking factors that are related to user behavior.

What is a UX audit?

A UX audit is a process in which you evaluate your website or application from the perspective of your user, including everything from usability and accessibility to customer experience. The process should also include an evaluation of how well the customer can find what they are looking for, how easy it is for them to complete their task, and how satisfied they are with their experience. You may not be aware of the importance of these things until someone points out an issue that has been bothering users.

Why is it so important?

A UX audit is an excellent tool for improving your search engine optimization because it provides you with actionable insights into how you can improve the experience of your website visitors. A well-conducted audit will highlight any usability issues and also provide you with recommendations on how to fix them.

It can also help with identifying areas where users are struggling with the navigation or interface, determining how long it takes users to complete certain tasks, uncovering opportunities for content that’s not currently available, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The most common mistakes. What to avoid?

Often, website owners, wanting to save money, try to audit themselves or implement UX design elements. Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge, skills and tools means that we can distinguish some of the most common mistakes.

• Website is not user-friendly. It should be easy to read and navigate. The user can lose interest in your website if they encounter difficulty in this area, especially at the beginning.
• Form over content. It’s overly complicated and uses flashy distractions, including animation. Sometimes the easiest way to do things is the best – especially for usability.
• Failure to adjust to reading patterns. Several so-called reading patterns can be used by the human eye, including the Gutenberg diagram, the Z pattern, and the F pattern. While most creators ignore them entirely and opt for solutions that might look good and work, but are not able to convert visitors into leads.
• No responsiveness. Given that if the website isn’t legible on your phone, you will likely have low conversions, the goal is not only to have a mobile-friendly website, but to make it of quality as well.

When should you use a UX audit?

Audit, not only UX, should be a permanent element of the optimization and positioning strategy. The perfect website where nothing can be improved has not yet been created. In each of them you can do something better, each service can be adapted to the needs of users, which additionally change over time. Most often, however, it is recommended if you want to reorganize the website due to its outdated layout, when traffic or sales decline, in the context of the planned reconstruction or expansion of the website.

How to start?

Regardless of the nature of the website, your first step in the context of auditing should be to create a target audience – a persona that will be the average of all the characteristics of the website audience. Persona is a tool that helps auditors conduct analyzes and research in the context of real website users.

Use heuristic analysis. It is used to analyze the quality of a website. They act as a reference while evaluating the usability and style of the site. According to this point in the work process, many websites use templates tailored to their purpose, the industry they operate in, or their website template service, often with the help of a checklist.

Not only do the heuristic audit activities examine the store’s structural problems and shortcomings, but a crucial part of the audit is also usability testing of the site by testing its usability by a selected sample of website visitors.

UX audit basic checklist

A well-designed website is crucial for your business’s success. But when it comes to search engine optimization, there’s more than meets the eye. You need to assess how your site can be improved with a user experience audit before you start brainstorming on new ideas. Here are five things you should look out for when you’re conducting an audit:

• Ease of navigation.
• UI design: language, color, and industry standards.
• Readability of content and headlines.
• Comprehensiveness of content and listings in your directory or database, like your blog and FAQs page.
• Presentation of information such as charts or infographics.
• Data about visitors like the average time spent on pages or the bounce rate.
• A/B testing.

How long does the user experience audit take?

UX audits are typically very time-consuming, and the process can take anywhere from two days to two weeks depending on how many people are assigned to the task. The upside is that it’s worth it if you want your site ranking at the top of Google searches.

Final thoughts

The process of performing an audit is not just about improving your website’s design and usability – it’s also about making sure that it meets the needs of your audience. To do this, you’ll need to be able to test a variety of different user personas who might view your site. Once you’ve completed the audit, you can use the information gleaned from it in order to create a successful and sustainable business model.