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We’ve all heard that to rank well on Google, “you have to have good SEO.” While no one is arguing against the importance of Google being your friend, it can’t exclude being friendly to the folks that matter the most: our customers.
I hear business owners talk a lot about their brand as if it’s somehow independent of customers. When you love talking about what you stand for and what you’re best at, it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most.
Buyers aren’t moved by your amazing keyword strategy, and they’re not wowed by your high rankings. They want to know if your company is impacting their life for the better, and that’s built upon trust.
Remember, your brand isn’t what you say it is; it’s what they say it is.
MOZ.com founder and SEO expert Rand Fishkin said, “There’s no such thing as ‘writing for people vs. search engines.’ There’s only ‘writing for people who also use search engines.’”
Google is ultimately built to give its users quality results, and that quality is based exclusively around levels of engagement.
So how do you give the algorithm what it wants and still maintain a great user experience? Focusing strictly on UX-related content, here are three tips to keep in mind:
1.) Make sure every page has a specific user-oriented solution.
Each layout in your store is like a key that unlocks a unique challenge the customer is facing. What action should the customer take to intuitively understand the value behind those respective keys?
Your content needs to answer the main question which is, “What does this have to do with me?” If your pages are littered with an obnoxious number of keywords that are intended for Google rather than your customer, they’re missing the mark.
If your content is engaging the needs of shoppers, it is much more likely that they will socially share what you’re offering. That combination of metrics will help boost your Google profile, and it’s all because you decided to put your customers first.
2.) Care more by investing in informative and entertaining merchandising.
Your average eCommerce store has a bare minimum of crafted messaging that underscores your brand’s ability to solve problems in style. The question is, do you want to do the bare minimum or not?
Others may argue that the opposite of doing the minimum is by throwing a maximum amount of keyword-stuffed text at the customer. If you attempt to solve customers’ needs or problems within a wall of text, you can forget high engagement. Hey, maybe you can just make the text super-small so it’s not quite so irritating.
No one wants to read your novel. Instead, think of your layouts more like a storybook that communicates through a proper balance of words and pictures. If your desire is to appeal to customers, you’ll be concentrating more on the quality of the writing that is only complemented by branded design elements.
3.) Keep the store fresh by maintaining an intuitive combination of engaging content.
While getting a site to rank well is vital, keeping that ranking is equally important.
This doesn’t just mean adding new content and updating the publishing date. While Google takes that into account, it is also looking at the amount of content you’re creating.
When a store begins to nosedive in customer engagement, it also begins to score lower on search engine relevance. While having good content by itself is important, the entire experience is the ultimate arbiter of how your online brand will fare with SEO.
Committing to an ongoing amount of fresh, meaningful content is one of the best ways you can achieve, and keep, those hard-won rankings.
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Taking a thoughtful approach to how your content affects your customers is always the right move. Forcing keywords on users in a way that seems strategic but not meaningful is a short-sighted action that will never build any kind of lasting brand. All a competitor must do is care a little more, and all your hard work will be upended.
Our experienced SEO team at EYStudios is fantastic at not only auditing your existing content but also imagining authentic ideas that will resonate with your customers (and search engines). If you need help, give ‘em a call!
