SEO for Beginners: UX and Link-building [Part Three]

Eric Kazda  |   May 9, 2018   |  Posted in Tips

There is no shortage of search engine optimization tricks on the internet. If you’re new to SEO, the most important thing to remember is that it will take time and effort optimize your website. In our past few articles we discussed HTML formatting, URLs, keywords, and title tags. Today we’re breaking down two more important SEO factors – user experience (UX) and link-building.

Read SEO for Beginners Part One here.

Read SEO for Beginners Part Two here.

Once you’re caught up, continue reading to learn about how UX and link-building strategies can help SEO.

Tip # 1: Create quality content that will improve the user’s experience (UX).

While UX hasn’t been identified as a primary contributor to search algorithms, it can still greatly affect SEO. This is because happy users indirectly signal to search engines a website’s popularity.

They could indicate this a variety of ways including:

  • Sharing the page on their social networks
  • Bookmarking the page for later reading
  • Returning to the site multiple times
  • Staying on the site for a longer period of time

You can measure your UX through metrics like your bounce rate, or the rate at which visitors leave your site after seeing just one page.

The best way to ensure your website has great UX is to ask yourself these questions:

1) Is my site easy-to-use and navigate for a first-time visitor?

2) Is my page content relevant to a visitor’s search query?

3) Is my site well-designed and accessible in all available browsers?

4) Does my site come across as credible and legitimate?

Find out how to improve your website’s navigation with these 9 best practices here.

Tip #2: Build up a strong repertoire of internal and external links.

Search engines analyze links to your website and on your website to determine its popularity and credibility. A site that is trustworthy and an authority in their industry will have many other credible sites linking to them. Here are a few indicators a search engine may use to determine the value of a link:

  • The quantity of links to your site
  • Links from sites within your industry
  • The credibility of the site that created the link
  • The number of visitors sharing that link within social circles

Take advantage of link-building by encouraging credible backlinks, or incoming hyperlinks from other websites to your website. Also, make sure the internal link structure of your own site is top-notch. Here are a few ideas on how to build up links to your site:

  • Encourage your business partners and/or customers to link to you
  • Create a long-term content strategy that will increase your popularity and credibility on the web
  • Guest post on other credible websites that will link back to your website

Get more info on how to build backlinks that improve SEO.

Terminology to Remember

User experience (UX) – The groundbreaking idea that website visitors can enjoy using your site and easily use it to its full potential

Bounce rate – A percentage that shows how many website visitors clicked away from a site after only viewing one page

Backlink – Incoming hyperlinks from another website to your website

Website analytics and SEO data analysis concept
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Eric

About
Eric Kazda

Eric Kazda is a leading expert in the interactive development industry with over fifteen years of experience. With a mastery of critical development technologies, Eric has crafted innovative award-winning work for clients both large and small. Coupling this knowledge with a real world understanding of usability and technological feasibility, his work is developed to be accessible by every user.