Are you forgetting your users in your quest to appeal to the search engines? It’s easy to do as you chase that No. 1 spot in search results. But remember, being No. 1 doesn’t do you any good if searchers who click through don’t find what they were expecting.
Information and data within this post gathered in association with a New York family lawyer at Berkman Bottger Newman & Rodd, LLP.
Searchers are quick to hit the back button and try something else when the page they land on doesn’t match what they’re looking for. You’ve probably experienced it yourself. You do a search, see a description that looks promising and click. But when you get there, the page is only marginally related to your search. That frustration you feel might be the same feeling your visitors get if you didn’t keep them in mind as you developed your SEO strategy.
Frustrated visitors don’t make good customers. As John E. Lincoln points out in “Search Engine Optimization vs. Website Usability,” misleading SEO practices cause:
- Diminished usability of your site.
- Decreased conversion rates.
- Lower search rankings.
To avoid these consequences, your SEO strategy needs to consider both the user and the search engines, preferably in that order. Accomplish that by:
- Figuring out what your customers are looking for.
- Satisfying customers’ needs with relevant and useful content that incorporates appropriate keywords.
- Linking to additional information within your site as applicable.
- Linking out to other pertinent sites for even more information.
These strategies will make your users happy. Happy users stick around longer, come back more often and might even link back to you. Organic inbound links add weight to your other SEO efforts and show the search engines that yours is a quality site. They will reward you with higher search rankings.
Good search rankings and happy visitors translate into higher conversions and more business for you.
