Over the past 20 years, the way people search the Internet has become more diverse due to changes such as the use of mobile and voice commands. These changes have caused Google Search to modify its analysis in order to continue to offer the most relevant results to users. As a result, SEO criteria are no longer sufficient to achieve a good ranking on Google.
SXO: What is it?
The acronym SXO stands for Search eXperience Optimization and designates the alliance between SEO (search engine optimization) and UX (user experience). This digital strategy aims to remind the importance of search engine optimization while focusing on improving the user experience.
With the increasing amount of content on the web, Google has implemented new data in its algorithms where the usability of pages has become as important as their content. SEO features such as “clean” HTML code, optimized content or quality external links are no longer sufficient if they are not complemented by the user experience.
SXO is also considered as the logical evolution of SEO. It adds to SEO, human-centered performance values such as loading time, responsiveness on different media (descktop, mobile and tablet), but also the quality of landing pages, their fluidity, their intuitiveness and above all, the possession of an efficient conversion process. Therefore, original and unique websites are largely prioritized by search engines.
But what is the difference with SEO? SEO remains a key factor in the visibility of your content and allows you to be better referenced than your competitors on the SERP (Search Engine Result Page). Its objective is to gain places in the Google ranking in order to generate more traffic and conversion. It is based on content, netlinking and technical optimization of the site. The SXO will focus on improving the experience of Internet users by adding useful features to the ergonomics of the pages. These features will be directly analyzed by the SERP and will allow you to rank better than your competitors. These features can be integrated into the way you collect information about your leads such as contact or purchase.
The ultimate goal of SXO is to facilitate the user’s journey, from the search on Google to the conversion on the site. SEO and SXO are therefore complementary in improving the user experience and together they increase the number of incoming contacts or sales made on the site if it is a merchant site. A good SXO management consists in mastering the basics of SEO while guaranteeing an impeccable quality of the contents as well as a unique and intuitive design.
Unlike the last few years, content pollution or spam is no longer welcome in your digital strategy. Instead, you need to focus on interesting and relevant content that will provide a complete and structured response to users.
What actions to take in SXO?
The first parameter to take into account is SEO. When a user types a query on Google, it is essential that your site is sufficiently optimized to appear in the first positions. This guarantees that your content will be visible to users according to the search terms they have typed. To do this, a significant work in keyword optimization is necessary as well as the choice of your title tags, your snippets, the naming of images or your internal mesh.
Then comes the ergonomics of the site. This factor, directly linked to the UX strategy, is essential when creating your site. To improve it, you can create pop-up windows, clickable links or call-to-action buttons that lead to other pages in order to make them more dynamic. These interaction elements must be visible and easily recognizable in order to attract users’ attention and bring them into the desired conversion process.
The architecture of your site will also play a role in your SXO strategy. Indeed, the average time that users spend on a web page is 10 seconds. The content of your pages must be sufficiently organized, readable and easily identifiable to interest your reader. It is then a question of structuring your pages in a logical and intuitive way. For example, we notice that some elements are regularly placed in a similar way on the sites in order to be easily accessible.
The shopping cart is often positioned at the top right of the screen or the home page, often on the first tab of the menu or by clicking on the company logo at the top left. By keeping these “landmarks” you save time for your users, who then capture the essence of your content and will be more satisfied with their customer experience than if they had to navigate through all your pages to find an element.
After the architecture, the UX strategy is obviously focused on the design of the pages. The clarity of the content also depends on the visuals proposed. The shapes, colors and illustrations you choose must be readable and in line with your content. Each color has a specific meaning that will influence the choices and thoughts of your readers. It is therefore important to opt for color combinations and visual effects that will attract the eye of users in order to build loyalty and lead them to purchase or convert.
Finally, you will need to offer topical content to keep your readers informed while entertaining them. The content put online on your site has an extremely important place in the loyalty of your Internet users. It is important to select relevant information according to the target you have defined. To build loyalty and increase the click-through rate, you can, for example, integrate the price of your products on the corresponding headlines or highlight the free service such as shipping costs. You can also display items similar to the user’s search like a charger if the user is looking at a smartphone.
Why is it important to use SXO?
Search engines have become very competitive environments due to the number of sites and content added to the internet every day. Until a few years ago, companies that managed their websites with relevant titles, synonym H1 tags and links to well-positioned pages were getting more than satisfactory results. Today, the visibility of a site in search results is not enough. This is why it is essential to integrate SXO, in order to optimize the user’s navigation and increase the conversion rate.
There are many other benefits to using SXO. By improving the user experience, it will increase the time spent on the pages. This will then increase the click-through rate (CTR) and give a better position in the SERPs. You will also have more page views, as users will no longer only look at the page they were looking for an answer to, but will also visit other interesting pages. You will then observe a decrease in the bounce rate, which consists of clicking on a page and then closing it directly without reading its content.
The people that you will have on your site will be potential customers because of the time they will have spent looking at your site. The traffic you will have will be more qualified than the users who arrived by chance on the site. Therefore, the conversion rate will increase because of the interest of the visitors of the site. The most important advantage of using SXO is that it is a strategy that will meet the needs of both users and search engines.
By using SXO, you will improve your company’s reputation by putting people first before search engine queries.
The Habefast agency
Our project managers and graphic designers are at your disposal to help you set up your SXO digital strategy in order to emphasize the quality of your site’s content before quantity. Do not hesitate to contact us.