As we’ve pointed in previous blogs, various factors can affect how a site ranks in search engines. While some of these factors are obvious and measureable, others – like the user experience – may be more qualitative (than quantitative), making them a bit more elusive to understand in some cases. However, knowing just what these factors are can be essential to helping a site perform as well as possible.
To shed some more light on this, below is a look at just some of the user-related, qualitative factors that can affect how sites are ranked by search engines. While the following discussion is insightful, don’t hesitate to contact the experienced industry professionals at Epic Web Results when you are ready to apply effective SEO and Internet marketing strategies to your site to realize the best results from it.
User-Related Factors that Can Affect the Success of a Site
1 – Site loading times & bounce rates
Does your site take a long time to load – or even just a few seconds longer than other sites? Are the site loading times longer on mobile devices? If the answer to either of these questions is “yes,” this can be creating a negative user experience, increasing the likelihood that users will:
- Not wait for your site to load
- Click off of your site within seconds and look to a competing result/link instead.
This, in turn, can lead to higher bounce rates for a site, indicating that users are not happy with the information or results that site has provided. Given that Google puts a lot of priority on the user experience, this factor (long loading times and higher bounce rates) can lead to drops in search engine rankings.
2 – Whether a site is optimized for mobile devices
Mobile optimization is fundamental these days due to the growing popularity of mobile searches (and the fact that an increasing number of people are only using mobile devices to get online). So, if all or part of a site hasn’t been optimized for mobile devices, this will:
- Almost always result in a negative user experience for mobile users
- Quite likely lead to drops in search engine rankings for a site.
3 – Site navigation
Is your site easy to navigate? Would a new user be able to easily locate certain info on your site? If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” then your site’s navigation may be contributing to a negative user experience and, consequently, be impacting its rankings.
The fact is that Google’s algorithms analyze the ease with which sites can be navigated, ranking sites with intelligent, clear navigations systems better than those with complicated, obtuse menus or directories.
The Good News: A Lot Can Be Done to Improve a Site’s User Experience
While the above factors are just a few of the issues can that impact the user experience and rankings for a site, the good news is that, when sites are plagued with such issues, there can be various fixes that ultimately make the site more user friend, rank better in search engines and ultimately generate better results for site owners.
Just some of these fixes can include (but are by no means limited to):
- Improving site loading times (by, for instance, compressing images, deleting older/unused drafts/images, etc.)
- Optimizing a site for mobile devices
- Improving a site’s security
- Simplifying a site’s navigation.
Effective Internet Marketing Strategies & Solutions at Epic Web Results
Are you ready to realize better results from your business’ website? If so, it is time to contact the professionals at Epic Web Results. We are up to date with the latest advances in Internet marketing and SEO best practices, and we are highly adept at designing and maintaining optimized websites that will soar to the top of search engines.
To learn more about our customized, innovative Internet marketing strategies and solutions, contact the professionals at Epic Web Results by calling (800) 501-9724 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page.
