From SEO to Search Experience Optimization is this transformation the future of Business?
Evolving from Search Engine Optimization –SEO to Search Experience Optimization – SXO is the way to go.
The most successful companies will always be those that maintain some flexibility, which allows them considerable room to maneuver in the face of change. And is that change that is constant in any industry, especially if we talk about the digital field.
In this sense, companies and brands have understood the importance of search engine optimization, including SEO experts in their organization charts or outsourcing contracts. The idea is to appear as high as possible on the search pages of these engines.
However, this effort alone could fall short. The answer could be found in leaping SXO, i.e., Search Experience Optimization.
What is Search Experience Optimization?
SXO is search experience optimization, that is, the optimization of the search experience. This means going beyond keywords, backlinks, metadata, and other forms of SEO optimization, which are focused on the search engine. It’s about focusing on the search engine user and the experience they will have while searching for a product or service.
Let’s think in terms of metrics. When we talk about measuring, we refer to the number of clicks on an ad, how many users became buyers, how many emails or leads we got, the number of page views, etc.
Although the tool I use to keep track of these metrics is from another company (Google’s Google Analytics, for example), the measurements are mine, my website, and my users.
With SXO, we must take the leap and think beyond my users, focus on Google users and satisfy their needs.
The SXO and search engines
Basically, Google and any other search engine want to provide answers, even when people don’t ask specific questions. For example, a user could type in a brand of shoes, and the search engine would show them places to buy shoes from that brand, reviews about those shoes, etc.
As long as your site helps Google answer the questions of its users, the better it will do in the rankings. In other words, search engines want you to start using SXO too.
It happens that with SEO, many fraudulent practices began to be adopted. A couple of examples were the spamming of links and including lots of keywords without content value. All of this was done to “trick” Google’s algorithm into placing these sites higher in the SERPs.
But Google’s algorithm is always changing, making sure this doesn’t happen, and its users get what they’re looking for in the most efficient way possible.
In broad strokes and without being exhaustive, among the elements they take into account to know if your website is helping them to give their users what they are looking for are :
- Short click: when a user quickly returns to Google after entering a website. This is not a good sign.
- Long click: when a user spends more time on the website before returning to Google. It is better than a short click.
- Pogosticking: when a user jumps back and forth between multiple results.
- Click-through rate: The ratio of the number of clicks a result gets compared to the number of times it is displayed.
- Next click: where a user clicks when returning to Google after having gone through the pogosticking process. It can be in another result of the same search or a new search.
Kill search
SEO in itself helps you to increase your site ranking in the SERPs. But with SXO, you can make sure you stay there while gaining high-quality leads and satisfied users.
With SXO, you will aim to “kill the search.” This means that once the user goes to Google, everything ends on your site; that user has no reason to return to Google and continue the search.
Although it is impossible to control what the next click of that user will be if we can influence to direct it to our benefit.
To “kill the search,” we need to understand why users are landing on our page. What was the question or need that brought them to Google in the first place?
In the beginning, SEO was a way to earn a higher ranking, no matter how it was achieved. But as search engine algorithms get smarter and put user experience at the center, an SXO strategy becomes necessary.
This does not mean that it is a battle against SEO because it is still an important component. What’s more, this is a list of elements to take into account in the Sraaech Experience Optimization strategy:
- Search Engine Optimization – SEO
- Search Engine Placement
- Content marketing
- Public relations
- Optimization of the user experience and the Marketing Funnel
- Website Performance Optimization
The Search Experience Optimization and the consumer journey
According to an article published in The Huffington Post by Nick Chasinov, founder of Teknicks, says that the issue is in creating a unique and memorable consumer journey.
It happens that the consumer journey is always transforming and evolving, so he proposes these five steps to ensure the best possible experience.
- Carry out surveys: Do you want to know how was the experience of the user or your customers when they came into contact with your digital spaces? Ask them. Make changes based on these answers.
- Paying attention to user experience: What would make the user experience memorable? There are free tools like Crazy Egg that help you identify where your users are clicking, how they move around the site, and why they are leaving.
- Produce high-quality content: Regardless of the form of the content (a long blog post, an infographic, or an animated gif), you must make sure that it represents your business as the expert on the subject and offers value. Users will appreciate it, and Google’s algorithm will notice.
- Be available: users are looking for personalized information that may require more than the information already on the site. You could implement live chats to answer their questions.
- Constant improvement: the only constant is change. Just as SEO has had to evolve, everything that refers to digital marketing will continue to do so. In three years, the picture could be completely different. You will require qualitative and quantitative feedback and an analysis process.
The Search Experience Optimization invites you to change the focus of your attention. No longer try to please an algorithm; it seeks to delight users. It is about people and their individual needs. By not treating everyone the same, personalization will get you far.
To have professional help in terms of improving your Search Experience Optimization, contact us at Infosty technologies. Or visit our website to check our digital marketing services.
