SXO: Why Merging SEO with UX Matters?

The digital landscape is a dynamic environment that is constantly evolving. As a result, the strategies for website optimization are also changing. SXO is a prime example of this evolution, combining SEO and UX with a more holistic approach. But what is it, and why is it crucial for you to stay updated about it?

What is SXO (Search Experience Optimization)?

SXO, or Search Experience optimization, is a different form of website optimization. It combines SEO’s technical know-how with UX’s user-centric focus. SXO mainly aims to enhance a website for search engines and, more importantly, its users.

Although traditional SEO mainly focuses on website visibility in search results, SXO takes it a step further by enriching the user experience once visitors land on your site. Besides making your website discoverable, it makes the entire visit enjoyable for the user.

SEO is a comprehensive strategy that involves many methods and techniques to improve a website’s position in search results. However, it isn’t only about being on top; it’s also about ensuring your content is relevant, authoritative, and high-quality for visitors looking for specific answers or information. On the other hand, UX (User Experience) focuses on the user’s journey on the site, ensuring that users have a smooth and responsive experience and interaction from start to finish.

SXO is the bridge between SEO and UX, ensuring your website is not just visible but also user-friendly and intuitive. As Google and other search engines continue to evolve, they are placing more emphasis on the importance of UX. In fact, Google has developed various user experience signals that measure users’ enjoyment and interaction with a page, including Core Web Vitals, safe browsing, and mobile responsiveness. This underscores the significance of SXO in the current digital landscape.

Enhancing these elements allows you to streamline user navigation on your site and elevate your position in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Ultimately, SXO combines the precision of SEO with the sensitivity of UX to capture attention and resonate with users emotionally and cognitively, fostering real engagement and conversions.

Benefits of SXO

Below are five benefits of implementing an SXO strategy:

User retention – With a better experience on a website, users will more likely stay on your site, which reduces bounce rates.
Increased conversions – A user-friendly design paired with quality content will drive higher conversion rates.
Improve brand reputation – A seamless user experience will enhance brand credibility and encourage more visits.
Improve search rankings – As search engines continue to emphasize user experience, SXO will improve your site’s organic rankings.
Higher engagement – Users will engage with a product more when the design and content are appealing.

Should UX and SEO stay separate?

In today’s digital landscape, search engines like Google prioritize user experience when determining search rankings. Metrics such as page load time, dwell time, and mobile responsiveness are a few UX elements that influence SEO. Therefore, SEO and UX are inseparable for businesses that aim for online success.

The difference between SEO, UX, and CRO

Let’s look at the distinction between SEO, UX, and CRO (conversion rate optimization). While SEO and UX are crucial for driving traffic to your site, CRO is an entirely different strategy that focuses on increasing the number of visitors to take specific actions like purchases and form filling.

SEO and UX bring traffic and elevate user-friendliness, while CRO focuses on optimizing website elements for conversions, which leads to increased revenue and ROI. Many marketers still aren’t sure about the differentiation between these terms, so it’s essential to understand how CRO fits the entire digital optimization space.

Why is SXO important?

SXO is vital for businesses as it recognizes how naturally intertwined search engine optimization and user experience are. As competition intensifies, ranking well in search results may not be enough. You must also ensure that once visitors arrive, they have a pleasant experience that leads to increased trust, brand loyalty, and, ultimately, increased conversions.

How to improve SXO?

When improving SXO, there are plenty of key aspects to consider. Below are the most significant but not the only ones:

Responsive design – Your site must work well and look good on any device, whether on a desktop, smartphone, or tablet. Ensure your images scale properly and menus work so users don’t get frustrated when they click buttons on their smaller screens.
Page load speed – No one wants to navigate through a slow website. Ensure your page loads quickly by resizing images, using networks with fast delivery (CDN), and maintaining a clean and light code for your website. Every second counts especially in smaller devices.
Clear navigation – Can users find what they are looking for on the website easily? Make sure you have a simple, clear, and organized menu. Think of it as your users’ filing cabinets, organized with labels where everything has its place and can be found easily.
Quality content – Remember that having a lot of content isn’t enough; it’s about having content that users actually want to read. Ensure that your content is useful, answers questions, or solves problems.

How Google prioritizes UX

When we talk about SEO and UX, we’re delving into the core of what makes a successful website. Think about the existing mantra: “When users are happy, Search engines are also happy!” It’s a symbiotic relationship where a superior SXO strategy not only pleases visitors but also significantly boosts a website’s rankings and visibility in the search results.

So, why do search engines like Google focus so much on user experience? Google is committed to offering the best search experience for visitors. To prove this, Google has taken specific steps, such as the Core Web Vitals rollout, which serves as a metric to measure crucial aspects of the user experience.

In addition, user experience directly influences bounce rates, as the top 10% of sites in user experience have a 123% better engagement rate compared to the bottom 10%. This shows how much search engines care about UX, and we should too.

Should your SEO and UX teams combine?

You might think we’re suggesting combining both teams. However, this is not the best approach.

Even though they collaborate closely, SEO and UX have significantly different objectives and tasks. There are moments when the SEO team’s priorities don’t align with the UX team’s and vice versa. Despite that, maintaining effective and continuous communication between the two departments is still crucial for your business’ success.

It’s important that SEO specialists have a basic understanding of UX principles like UX laws and cognitive biases and that user experience designers be familiar with the basics of SEO’s best practices. In addition, we recommend that SEO experts be present during the planning stage of UX teams, such as design sprints. However, we’re not suggesting that one should replace the other during the collaboration, as we aim to complement each other while respecting each area’s expertise.

Final thoughts

In today’s digital space, integrating SEO and UX is necessary. Due to the ever-changing digital frontier, it’s clear that the path to success depends on user experience and search optimization – SXO. By prioritizing the user and ensuring an exceptional website experience, companies will enjoy the benefits of improved rankings, increased conversions, and enhanced engagement.