Drive more traffic to your website by evaluating user experience

Each year, Google refines its search algorithm about 500 to 600 times. Although Google’s own bots and spiders do most of the crawling and calculating, the algorithm itself is intended to “think” like a user, offering the best possible user experience.

With over 40,000 search queries processed every second, translating to roughly 1.2 trillion searches per year worldwide, it makes sense why the algorithm places heavy consideration on the user’s perspective.

As a business owner, you may be looking to leverage Google’s algorithm in your favor without spending a fortune on paid search tactics like Google Adwords. We have good news for you! The best way to bolster organic SEO for your business is by focusing on your customer.

Google’s algorithm determines content relevancy and order of search results, and its most recent update significantly favors User Experience Indicators (UEI).

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UEIs are signals that indicate when shared content provides value to the consumer. Pay close attention to these indicators to help drive your SEO business strategy toward success:

• Click through rate (CTR) –A click through rate is the frequency with which a user clicks through the links found in search results. In 2014, CTR was the top ranking factor for determining Google search results, and it still reigns supreme today.
• Responsive web design –With mobile usage dominating consumer behavior, having a responsive website that creates a positive user experience has never been more important. In fact, websites that weren’t mobile optimized in 2015 experienced a 5% decline on average in overall organic traffic.
• Page load time –The length of time it takes to fully load content on a web page has a strong correlation with how long a user is willing to spend on the page. A slow page load time can result in a higher bounce rate and a lower average time on page.
• Bounce rate –The bounce rate is the rate at which a user leaves a page without visiting any other pages on the site. Aim for a bounce rate of 26-40%, and be sure to evaluate individual web pages to ensure there isn’t one problem page that turns users off of your website.
• Time on page –There is a strong correlation between the amount of time a user spends on individual pages of a website and their level of interest in the content. An average session duration for traffic coming in from Google organic search is 53 seconds, so any session duration longer than that is an indication of quality content.
• Pageviews per visit –A website that sees an average of 3-4 different pageviews per visit tells Google that the content you’ve published and shared is significant and relevant to readers.

Although these aren’t the only considerations to make when trying to appeal to Google’s search algorithm, cultivating healthy and effective UEIs can have a profound impact on your website’s overall SEO strategy.

And don’t forget: Understanding your audience is the key to reaching them with engaging content.