« Search Engine Optimization Q&A | SEO Blog | Linking Q&A »
February 28, 2008
SEO & Usability: They Can (And Should) Coexist
I'm running so late. Okay, here's the next panel: Moderator Gord Hotchkiss (Enquiro) who I have seen so many times this week. Speakers are Shari Thurow (Omni Marketing) and Lance Loveday (Closed Loop Marketing). This is presentation only because the site clinic is next session.
Shari Thurow is up first and my fingers start hurting preemptively.
She's going to be establishing a common vocabulary for us all and some key concepts of search usability.
What is usability? She provides Jakob Neilsen's.
People should be able to get the scent of information before they get to the actual web page. Usage-centered design is a focus on the use of the product, what you're doing, trying to accomplish. Search usability is usage-centered, not user centered.
Search does not mean query. It also addresses refining, expanding, foraging, pogosticking, browsing/surfing, negative search behavior, etc.
There are at least three types of query behaviors but the majors are navigational, informational and transactional. Your Web pages need to accommodate all of these types.
Usability affects search engine visibility.
Key Concepts:
- Using and validating the user's language - search engines do this by highlighting the words used in the query.
- Sense of place
- Scent of information
- Information architecture
- Interface
- User confidence
There's a lot of swearing that goes on in usability testing. Ahem.
Headings are important not just for ranking but also for user confidence. It validates their search.
Sense of place answers the questions: where are you, what page are you viewing whose site are you visiting? what content is this page focused on? is this the information I was looking for?
Scent of information:
Is makes of textual and graphical cues. You need to have both.
Ensures that visitors will be successful in finding what they need
Answers the questions: is the information you desire on the page, what can you do? Where can you go? How do you get there? How do you get back? Where have I been? Nothing irritates a user more than messing with the link colors.
Information architecture:
How Web content is organized and grouped
How files are arranged on a Web server
How Web content is categorized
How Web content is labeled
Interface always FOLLOWS after architecture.
Navigational labels and cues should be written in the users' language whenever possible and applicable -- often contain keywords
The interface should always support the site architecture
Pages will end up more focused.
Reinforce your primary navigation with your secondary navigation.
Keyword research always comes first. Important keyword phrases should be a part of a site's information architecture and corresponding interface which means that effective search engine optimization begins before a site is being built, not after. Search usability addresses all search behaviors, not only querying behavior.
Usability testing and a focus group are not the same. It's task oriented, not focus group questions. The goal is to balance between user expectation and business goals.
She goes through a case study.
Just because something isn't your particular taste, doesn't mean that it won't convert. Get over your preconceptions.
She finished her presentation in exactly 25 minutes. Gord is impressed.
Next up is Lance Loveday. He's got his own lavaliere mike. It's keen but a little feedback.
Let's start with some philosophy: Some Web sites are better than others. Better Web sites make more money. ROI depends on making your content visible and effective. You need to get traffic and convert that traffic. In other words, you need SEO (get traffic) and you need usability (convert traffic).
Extreme design can get in its own way. Extreme usability can be equally oppressive. Jakob Nielsen's site is both very usable and very search engine friendly but it's boring as heck.
MYTH: Applying SEO to a site limits design flexibility and inhibits usability.
We want to think that there's one right way to do things and there's got to be a number one. The reality is that there is no inherent tradeoff between the three. It's just more work to do it.
First, remember what the engine is seeing. It's just the HTML. There's a separation between content and interface.
A word about Flash: You can still design in it but it's more work.
What people say to defend Flash: "Having a deep immersive experience is more important that search engine rankings" "We'll sacrifice search engine rankings for the experience."
What they mean: "SEO is boring." "We want to use Flash."
What people say to defend Flash: "Usability needs to be balanced with design, branding and user experience objectives."
What they mean: "Usability is boring." "We want to use Flash."
[Gord: It's funny because it's true. Quicksand is an immersive experience too.]
All Flash page/site can't be crawled.
Options:
1. Ideally, don't design entirely in Flash. Use elements instead.
2. Provide important Flash content in alternate manner visible to search engines using Progressive Enhancements. (HP's site is a good example of this.)
Major SEO Considerations:
- Title
- Description
- Copy (length, keyword density)
- Links
None of these are usability conflicts.
URLs:
SEO -- Use keywords in the URL and use static appearing URLs
Usability -- doesn't matter Matters.
Recent Marketing Sherpa results: "Long URL Length contributed to more clicks on… the next ad down the page. Those viewing the listing on the long URL clicked on the listing immediately following 2.5 times more than those viewing the listing with the short URL. The long URL repelled the click as it was interpreted as being less relevant. The long URL may act as a visual wall, directing attention to the next ad."
Lance shows a few sites that are doing things right.
Posted at February 28, 2008 3:44 PM
View related entries in: Design, SMX West 2008, Search Engine Optimization
Virginia Nussey
Susan Esparza
