User Experience (UX) trends are nothing new on the market. Online users and customers of all calibers have grown accustomed to curated content and UX-centric design in their favorite websites. Whether you develop your own website and content or outsource your SEO and/or UX skills to a third-party company, the combination of the two can be highly beneficial for the end-product.
According to Top Tal, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience with 62% unlikely to purchase anything from that brand in the future. You’re your content marketing attracts potential customers to your website, the UX featured there will have to convince them to convert and make a purchase.
However, in order to get to that point with your customers, SEO techniques should be integrated into the UX writing featured on your website. With that said, let’s take a look at what makes UX-centric writing essential, how your brand can benefit from its combination with global SEO rules, as well as how to do just that through several simple steps and guidelines.
Let’s start with some elemental parts of UX-centric content creation before we move on to the meat and potatoes of the topic. There is no denying that content marketing can attract a sizable crowd to your website. However, without curation, optimization, and personalization, you will be hard-pressed to make an impact on the market.
According to Jason Briar, Head of Content Management at Trust My Paper who spoke recently: “Any form of content creation which takes the end-user into consideration in terms of their ability to identify with and share that content can be seen as UX-centric.”
User experience takes the literal “experience” which a “user” goes through while they digest your content into big consideration. Content elements such as calls to action, personal pronouns, cookie-based native ad offers, etc. all add up to your UX writing in terms of catering to the customer.
Add to that a healthy dose of SEO in order to boost your website’s search ranking and organic traffic generation and you can see how two and two come together. While it may seem simple on paper, combining these techniques takes a certain level of finesse and creativity – which we will discuss in greater detail shortly.
Now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s discuss the addition of SEO to your UX writing efforts. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an unavoidable and essential part of content optimization no matter the industry you operate in. Content elements such as UI keywords, navigation phrases, multimedia optimization, and others play a role in your website’s ranking in terms of search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing (to name a few).
Silvia Mathews, SEO Specialist at Is Accurate spoke on the matter: “It’s quite easy to look at SEO and be overwhelmed with the amount of optimization it can provide for your content. However, experience has shown that tools such as Google Ads provide just enough insight into current SEO trends to forgo any DIY content modifications.”
Whether you are a layperson or an SEO professional in your respective field, its inclusion in your UX writing can provide the brand you work for with a plethora of business advantages, including the following:
The worst thing that you can do for your brand is to start the SEO process without a clear goal in mind. While you may increase the overall search ranking of your links, you may not reach the goals which will further your business’ development.
According to Design Advisor, UX developers spend 50% of their time fixing mistakes which could have been avoided with proper planning while 46% of potential customers leave a website outright simply because they can’t understand what a company does or can do for them.
This is why clear goals and milestones should be created before any UX-centric writing or SEO take place. You can use numerous techniques to do so, including SMART brainstorming and customer journey mapping to name a few. Platforms such as Evernote and Grab My Essay can then be used to organize your plans into writing for your copywriters and marketing department’s convenience.
UI is a pivotal part of any web-based portal, service or eCommerce storefront. This is why your UX writing can be combined with SEO to improve your website’s user interface. You can use a platform such as SEM Rush to identify trending words and phrases in your niche and use those keywords in your UI elements.
For example, if your website revolves around copywriting, your “Blog” section can be named “Community Copy” or something along those lines. Combining your UI elements with SEO is a great way to not only stand out from the competition but also reach better search ranking with little effort.
Make sure to take keyword localization into consideration as well if you aim to translate your site into multiple global languages. You will have to optimize each language’s UX writing separately since the rules of the English language don’t apply to German, Spanish or Italian (SEO-wise).
Personalization is one of the most useful aspects of UX writing in terms of customer engagement and conversion. SEO can easily become a part of your personalized content post-production, allowing you to optimize the UX writing for better search engine ranking.
Customers who are dissatisfied with your UX content will likely look for another resource or platform for their needs (if your products and/or services are standard practice for the industry). According to E Consultancy, 48% of customers are willing to hold off on their buying activities until personalized content is available with 36% expressing a desire to go as far as purchasing personalized products and/or services.
Avoid generic UX writing which doesn’t cater to the end-consumer in order to generate leads and continue your business’ organic growth. In that regard, platforms such as Studicus and Grammarly can help you write and edit content to make it more personalized and curated towards individual users.
Whether you target a local market with your UX writing and SEO or opt for going global, chances are that you will attract customers of all calibers to your website. People with sight impairment, hearing problems or individuals who may not be able to register colors or long-form text will likely want to interact with your content in some manner.
This is where alt-tags come into play and are able to improve both your UX writing and search engine ranking. For example, your videos should always come with closed-caption options for those who cannot hear and your images should have text descriptions for people with low bandwidth or sight issues.
It’s especially important to create alt-tags for your content if you operate as an eCommerce platform with dozens or hundreds of products listed on the website. This level of user-centric optimization is at the center of UX writing and will allow you to gain a positive, pro-consumer reputation on the global market.
No matter what type of content marketing you run, you will undoubtedly attract a sizable mobile audience to your website over time. However, mobile UX is somewhat different than desktop-based content optimization due to obvious technical restrictions. According to 99 Firms, 62% of organic searches display differently on mobile compared to desktop with a recent increase of 64% in terms of mobile conversion rates compared to their counterparts.
There is a clear want and need for UX writing on mobile which creates a new set of SEO challenges for you as a content creator. Smartphone users prefer short-form content with informative writing, quick site navigation, responsive website design as well as clean navigation UI.
Tools such as Hemingway and WoWGrade can be utilized to retrofit existing content for mobile UX writing with ease and precision. You can opt for a minimalistic albeit professional look for your website and make it mobile-friendly in addition to it being well-received on desktop computers.
Lastly, calls to action should be a priority for your UX writing in terms of user engagement and subsequent conversion into customers. Calls to action are a tried-and-tested marketing strategy capable of enticing users into certain activities in regards to the content you present them with.
Simple “Buy now and receive a discount!” or “Subscribe today to receive a free gift!” can work well in regards to your audience’s growth over time. Failing to add any form of CTA to your UX writing will result in lower conversion rates due to a lack of urgency and direction.
Calls to action can effectively make your entire website feel more organized and meaningful since you will provide visitors with clear directions on what to do next. Make sure not to rely on CTAs too much in your UX writing – aim to strike a balance between informative writing and calls to action in order to deliver the perfect one-two punch which will result in lead generation.
It’s easy to spot the plethora of benefits UX writing coupled with SEO can bring to your website. However, it’s also important to note that this type of content optimization is an ongoing project.
Make sure that you are ready to commit to long-term UX writing habits in order to boost your website’s performance with every published piece of content. Once you develop a systematic approach to content production and SEO, the process will become an afterthought, and the right customers will find their way to your site through search engines without much effort.
This article was contributed by Estelle Liotard; read more about her at 3to5marketing.com.
