If you want your website to rank well on search engines like Google, you’ll need an SEO-friendly website with keyword-rich content, optimized metadata, and high-authority backlinks. 

But if you want anyone to actually use your website, let alone buy anything, it also has to be user-friendly and provide a pleasant experience. 

That means creating relevant content that answers pressing questions, solves user problems, and hopefully entertains along the way (after all, you don’t want your prospects to fall asleep before they get to the call to action). 

You also need a responsive web design (meaning it works on both desktops and mobile devices), lightning-fast loading speed, and effortless site navigation. 

An effective SEO strategy can provide an ROI of 12.2x your marketing spend, and the ROI on UX investments is 9,900%, so it’s worth having them both working for you.

To make things easier, we’ve put together this guide to help you strike the perfect balance between SEO and UX with your website design to achieve a sky-high ROI.

What Is SEO Web Design?

SEO web design marries the best practices of designing and developing websites with the principles of search engine optimization. 

Put simply, it’s about building a high-quality website that ranks well on search engines like Google and Bing. 

Besides ranking in position #1 for important keywords, your website will also provide an excellent user experience for its visitors, improving the chances that they’ll make a purchase or leave their contact information. 

The key goals of SEO web design are:

• Better online visibility. Since you put so much hard work into designing your website, the SEO side of web design exists to ensure your target audience actually gets to see it by boosting your visibility on search engines. 

• More organic traffic. It’s not so much about generating traffic per se but the right traffic. SEO web design helps you attract qualified prospects from your target audience. 

• A better user experience. The web design-side of SEO exists to provide a pleasant experience for anyone that visits your website. 

• Boosted brand authority. With a stellar website and a plethora of helpful content, SEO web design will help you achieve thought leader status in your field. 

Why does it matter?

SEO and web design have a symbiotic relationship, meaning their bond is mutually beneficial. The SEO side generates a ton of traffic via Google search, and the UX side generates leads and conversions. 

Tactics like placing keywords in alt tags will catch the attention of Google’s crawlers and help you rise through the search engine rankings. 

If you ignore SEO, you’ll have next-to-no visibility on search engines, making it extremely difficult to find new prospects and grow your business.

After all, 63% of all shopping experiences begin on a search engine, even if the purchase is ultimately made in a physical store. 

At the same time, user experience, such as easy site navigation, a pleasant layout, and clear CTA buttons, will help you keep users on your website once they arrive and increase the chances of them making a purchase or providing their contact information. 

Essential metrics related to your user experience include dwell time and bounce rate. If your dwell time is low, users aren’t impressed with your website or are too confused to find what they need.

The same is true with a high bounce rate, meaning users leave your site before taking further action (such as viewing a product page). 

For these reasons, it’s important to pay equal attention to SEO and web design when creating a new website.

How To Optimize Your Site for Users and Search Engines

Now that you know why SEO and web design are equally important, let’s learn how to optimize your website for both. 

The good news is, when done right, they’ll flow together so seamlessly that your users won’t even notice what you’ve done. 

Much like video editing, you know you’ve done it right when you don’t notice the transitions. 

Here are the top factors to consider when making your website appealing to users and search engines.

Make it mobile-friendly 

Since 2017, Google has practiced mobile-first indexing, which means it crawls, indexes, and ranks the mobile version of websites first. So, if your website doesn’t have a mobile version, you’ll have difficulty ranking high on SERPs. 

SEO experts are well aware of this, which is why mobile friendliness is always near the top of their priority list when working on new websites. 

Rather than using 2 separate versions of your website, it’s a good idea to adopt a responsive web design. This means you only have 1 version of your website, but the dimensions and images adapt to the user’s device. 

Once this is done, your website will load on mobile devices and will have a higher likelihood of appearing on Google’s SERPs in a top spot. 

Mobile friendliness is also crucial for UX and web design because most users browse the internet with mobile devices instead of PCs. So, if your website doesn’t display correctly on tablets or smartphones, your users will click back to the SERPs to find one that does.

Create relevant content with target keywords 

Content is a crucial resource for users and search engines, so most digital marketing strategies involve creating some kind of content. 

However, you should avoid creating content strictly for search engines. 

Instead, strive to create high-quality content that’s directly relevant to your target audience. Your content should answer questions, solve problems, and provide entertainment. 

At the same time, to gain visibility on search engines, you’ll need to uncover desirable keywords and place them in the right spots, including:

• Meta descriptions 
• Title tags 
• Headers
• First 100 words of text 
• Conclusion 
• Alt text 

UX-wise, you’ll need to ensure your content is easy to read; otherwise, most users won’t bother consuming an entire post (and reading your product/service pitch at the end). 

Use short sentences and even shorter paragraphs (most blogs use one-sentence paragraphs). 

Break up the text with plenty of images, bulleted lists, infographics, and call-out boxes.

Also, you should follow Google’s E-E-A-T Quality Rater Guidelines when creating content.

What is E-E-A-T?

E-E-A-T is an acronym used by Google to guide its team of human quality raters when they assess website content. It stands for:

Expertise: Is the content creator an expert on the topic? Do they have relevant credentials, knowledge, or experience to provide authoritative information?

Experience: Does the creator demonstrate firsthand experience with the subject matter? This adds a layer of credibility that theoretical knowledge alone can’t fully establish. Wherever possible, share experiences from your past that demonstrate your expertise and familiarity with a topic. 

Authoritativeness: Is the website and content creator considered an authoritative source of information in their field? This is built over time through reputation, recognition, and backlinks from other established sources.

Trustworthiness: Is the website and its content credible, accurate, and reliable? Do users feel safe on the site and trust the information provided?

Why does this goofy acronym matter?

This framework helps Google determine which websites are informative, helpful, and reliable. As a result, websites that embody each letter of the acronym are far more likely to rank in the #1 position on Google’s SERPs. 

How to create content good enough to E-E-A-T 

• Focus on quality: Create informative, well-researched content that contains original insights and first-hand experiences.
• Showcase credentials: Highlight author biographies wherever possible. If the content is from field experts, clarify their experience.
• Build backlinks: Do your best to build backlinks from reputable websites in your niche, as these act as ‘votes of confidence’ for the quality of your content. 
• Maintain accuracy: Ensure all information provided is accurate and up-to-date.
• Build trust: Make your website secure with an SSL certificate, and consider including things like contact information, privacy policies, or positive user reviews.

Use headers to create a hierarchy within website content

Without proper use of header tags, a 5,000-word guide would devolve into an unreadable wall of text, and readers wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails out of it. 

A header tag is the HTML equivalent of a chapter title or a subheading in a book. 

They break up long pieces of text into smaller pieces, which makes them easier to read and comprehend. Headers also make your content scannable for readers, which is a big deal.

Why is that?

It’s because a vast majority of readers (79%, according to the Nielsen Norman Group) scan articles before deciding if it’s worth their time to consume the entire thing. 

Only 16% of readers in the NNG study read content word-by-word, which is why you need to make your content scannable to ensure as many users read it as possible. As a bonus, scannable articles can lead to longer visits to your site, increasing dwell times (which Google likes to see). 

Understanding header tag sizes 

Header tags come in several different sizes, which include:

• H1 tags are the largest and most prominent header tags and should only be used once as the title of the piece. It’s crucial to include your primary keyword in the H1 tag because it’s one of the first places Google’s crawler bots will look. 

• H2 tags are slightly smaller than H1 tags, and they introduce the various subtopics that encompass the main topic. Try to include primary and secondary keywords in your H2 tags without overdoing it. 

• H3 tags are subheadings that add further context to H2 tags. It’s important to only use an H3 tag if it’s related to the previous H2 tag. If it’s a brand-new concept or subtopic, use an H2 tag instead. 

• H4 tags are subheadings for H3 tags, and so on (there are six header tags in total). 

Proper use of header tags offers several SEO benefits:

Headers help search engines understand your content structure, making your pages easier to crawl and index.

Including relevant keywords in headings tells search engines what your content is about, improving its ranking for those terms.

Well-organized content with clear headings increases your chances of getting featured snippets in search results, which are great for boosting online visibility and brand awareness.

How to use header tags  

Imagine you have an article titled “The Ultimate Guide to Baking the Perfect Cake.” In that case, you’d want to use your H1 tag like this:

H1: The Ultimate Guide to Baking the Perfect Cake

This H1 clearly tells search engines and users the page’s main topic.

Here are some example H2s you could use for the post:

• Essential Ingredients for Delicious Cakes
• Mixing Techniques for the Perfect Batter
• Baking Tips for a Fluffy Cake
• Frosting and Decorating Your Masterpiece

These H2s break down the main topic into key sub-topics. 

Let’s continue the trend and throw in some H3s (Let’s say under the “Essential Ingredients…” H2):

• The Role of Flour
• Sugar: Not Just For Sweetness
• Eggs: The Binding Agent

These H3s provide greater detail for a specific section, and these headings will be neatly categorized underneath the H2.

Why does this matter?

The headers signal to search engines the organization of your content, helping them ‘understand’ the different topics and subtopics addressed on the page. 

They also help with user experience. Readers can easily scan the headers to find the information they need, improving their experience on the page. When similar subtopics are grouped together in a linkable table of contents, it makes it especially easy for users to go straight to the part they want to read the most.

Speed things up 

Your page speed is a significant factor that affects both SEO and user experience since slow load times will ruin your SEO profile and turn users away. 

Google uses the Core Web Vitals test to determine every website’s page speed and load times. If a site fails the test, it won’t appear on Google’s search results pages. 

Poor loading times on your website are also a surefire way to increase your bounce rate. Today’s users expect lightning-fast speeds, so if your site takes more than a few seconds to load, they’ll likely click away and look elsewhere. 

Here are some tips for improving loading speed:

• • Minimize CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Excessive lines of code will slow things down on your site, so minimize it wherever possible by parsing it, compressing it, and getting the output. This post outlines how to do it.  

• Compress your images and videos. Keep an eye on the file sizes for any images and videos stored on each web page. If they aren’t compressed, they could start to slow down your website. Handbrake is an effective tool for compressing content without sacrificing quality. 

• Use a content delivery network. A content delivery network (CDN) is a group of servers that stores data near end users. This means that connected websites can deliver content cheaply, quickly, and reliably. Here’s a list of the best CDNs to use in 2024. 
• Cut down on the number of plugins you use. Too many plugins will start to hinder your website’s performance, so try to limit the amount you use at once.  

Check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to learn how fast your website loads.

Follow accessibility guidelines 

While search engines may not have direct accessibility ranking factors, these practices significantly impact user experience – a crucial factor that search engines DO measure – so it’s worth making your site as accessible as possible. 

A website that’s easy to navigate and understand signals a pleasant user experience to Google, which can positively influence your search engine rankings. 

While Google doesn’t use accessibility as a ranking factor, they do have a series of accessibility guidelines for website owners, which are as follows:

• Leveraging image alternative text: Alternative text (known as an alt tag) describes the image for screen readers and users with slow connections. This gives them the chance to understand what an image represents (and its overall role in the content). 
• Using high-contrast colors: High color contrast enhances readability for everyone, especially those with visual impairments. Avoid color schemes that are hard to read, such as bright red text on a yellow background. 
• Ensuring font legibility: A minimum font size of 16px and left alignment support easy reading.

Other accessibility features to consider when creating an SEO-friendly website:

• Clear headings and structure: Use descriptive headings (H1, H2, etc.) for content sections.
• Keyboard accessibility: Ensure that visitors can navigate your website without the use of a mouse.

Not sure if your website is accessible?

These free tools will let you know:

• W3C Validation: Use the W3C Markup Validation Service (https://validator.w3.org/ ) to check your code for compliance with web accessibility standards. 
• Google’s Lighthouse Browser Extension will provide insights into your website’s performance, including accessibility. 

Fill out your website’s metadata

Website metadata is information that describes the content and purpose of a web page, but it’s not directly visible to users when they visit your site. It’s embedded in the website’s HTML code. 

Think of it as the “information about the information” on your site. It’s also the information Google draws from when listing your content on its results pages. 

Crafting clear and informative metadata in your CMS will improve your website’s search engine visibility. While Google may sometimes adjust it, your descriptions provide the foundation for attracting potential visitors.

Here’s a breakdown of the primary types of website metadata and their importance:

• Title Tags are arguably the most important metadata element. They are the clickable headlines users see on search engine result pages (SERPs). The title tag should clearly and accurately describe the page’s content and should contain your primary keyword.
• Meta Descriptions are brief summaries that appear below the title tag in SERPs. They expand on the title tag and compel users to click through to your site.
• Image Alt Text is descriptive text for images that assists with accessibility for screen readers and helps search engines understand image content.

Make sure your website is indexed

Search engines like Google build their massive database of websites by ‘crawling’ the web. If your website isn’t indexed, that means it hasn’t been crawled and won’t appear in search results. 

You can’t get an SEO campaign off the ground if you aren’t indexed, so this is a crucial step.

Here are the essential steps you need to take to ensure your website is indexed correctly by search engines: 

• Avoid Blocking Search Engines:

• Check your robots.txt file to make sure it’s not accidentally blocking crawlers.
• Ensure there are no “noindex” meta tags on important pages, as this tag will cause Google’s crawlers to ignore them. 
• If your site is under development, make sure any logins/password protection are removed once you’re ready to launch.

• Create and Submit a Sitemap:

• An XML sitemap is a file that lists your essential pages in order. Uploading your sitemap to Google Search Console will help the search engine better understand your site architecture (and decrease the chances of pages not appearing in Google’s index). 
• Many website builders can generate sitemaps automatically, so it’s not a complicated process.
• Submit the sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

• Leverage Google Search Console:

• Create an account and verify ownership of your website. 
• Use the URL Inspection tool to directly request indexing for your homepage and other key pages.

Additional Tips to Speed Up Indexing

• Internal Linking: Create clear links between related pages on your site. This helps search engine crawlers discover and index more content. Web pages with no internal links pointing at them are called orphan pages, and they aren’t good for your SEO. 
• Backlinks: Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable, relevant websites. These act like votes of confidence, signaling to search engines that your website is worthy of indexing.
• Social Media: Promote your content on social platforms. While social media links don’t always directly influence indexing, they can drive visibility and potentially encourage natural backlinks.
• Update Content Regularly: Fresh content shows search engines your site is active and maintained.

Important note: Indexing can take time, from a few days to several weeks or even months. Be patient, especially with new websites.

Ensure your website has a good structure 

Another important aspect of SEO-friendly web design is ensuring your website is easy to navigate. 

A clear site structure improves crawlability for search engine bots and intuitively guides users, which is what you want. 

After all, you could have the most convincing landing pages in the world, but if nobody can navigate to them, it’s all for naught. 

Here are some ways to achieve a logical site structure:

• User research: Conduct user research to gain an understanding of how your site can satisfy various user personas and their common behaviors.
• Clear Navigation Design: Ensure that users can quickly and easily find the information they need no matter where they start navigating your website (i.e., have an ever-present navigation bar that guides users where they want to go). 
• Hierarchy and Categories: You shouldn’t randomly link to your web pages haphazardly. Instead, group related products and services into appropriate categories to keep things organized. 
• Breadcrumbs: Implement breadcrumbs to show users their location within the site. An example looks like this: 

Home > Products > Guitar Accessories > Strings

• Internal Linking: Create natural links within your content to guide users and search engines to related pages on your site.
• User Testing: Now it’s time to put your website to the test. Have some prospects navigate your site and provide feedback on what they thought worked and what didn’t – and then adjust accordingly. 

An example that embodies all these traits is Walmart’s website. 

They’re a giant retail operation containing thousands of products and categories, so it’s crucial that their web design and navigation are on point. 

They have a search bar and navigation bar that’s present at all times. 

Walmart’s site also makes excellent use of hierarchy, categories, and breadcrumbs to make navigating their products a breeze. 

Final Thoughts: SEO and Web Design 

When building a new website, prioritizing SEO and web design will help keep users and search engines happy, leading to more organic traffic, leads, and conversions. 

When done correctly, SEO and web design work together so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. 

Do you need expert help with SEO and web design at your company? 

Contact us to learn about HOTH X, our state-of-the-art managed SEO services for websites. 

Whether you need help with an eCommerce site or want more exposure for your brick-and-mortar, our experts can do it all—so don’t wait to get in touch. 

The post 7 Important Considerations For Web Design And SEO appeared first on The HOTH.

There’s only one problem. 

WordPress is a tad limited with what it can do out of the box, which will likely interfere with the plans you have for your blog. 

For instance, if you plan on selling eBooks and other digital products to readers once your blog takes off, you won’t be able to do that with vanilla WordPress, as it lacks the capacity to process payments and enable downloads. 

Does that mean you can’t sell eBooks on your blog if you use WordPress?

No, it does not. 

Enter WordPress plugins, which are optional software add-ons that provide new features and capabilities for your CMS – all without the need for additional programming. 

What’s even better is that most of these plugins are entirely free, so you won’t have to go broke spending money on plugins before you can monetize your blog. 

There are countless WordPress plugins that provide features like site analytics, SEO metrics, payment processing, form creation, and more. 

We want you to succeed with your blogging efforts, which is why we’re listing the best WordPress plugins for blogging and SEO, so read on to learn more. 

Must-Have WordPress Plugins That’ll Transform Your Blogging Experience 

While there are plenty of plugins out there, they aren’t all of equal quality. Some even cost money, so you need to know A) precisely what you’re looking for and B) which plugin handles it the best. 

To make your life easier, here’s a list of what we believe are the quintessential plugins for new WordPress bloggers. 

AIOSEO (All-in-One SEO)

First things first, you’ll need a solid SEO strategy to generate lots of traffic to your blog, and AIOSEO is the best SEO WordPress plugin available today. 

Its free version contains powerful features for monitoring and improving your SEO efforts. 

Stand-out features include:

• SEO health checks 
• Smart meta tag generator 
• A link assistant that identifies link opportunities in posts 
• Schema generator for rich snippets 
• Smart XML sitemaps 

The smart meta tag generator is invaluable for keeping your posts updated, as it uses dynamic values for things like dates, author info, and more. 

That means you won’t have to update a bunch of old blog posts just to change the year from 2022 to 2023, and so on. 

While the free version contains tons of great features, there is a paid premium version that takes things to the next level. It includes advanced capabilities like 404 error tracking, local business schema, and access to Google Search Console metrics. 

Easy Digital Downloads 

This WP plugin is a must-have if you plan on selling digital products to your readers, which is one of the most effective blog monetization techniques.

As mentioned previously, the base version of WP isn’t able to do things like process payments and enable downloads. 

That all changes with Easy Digital Downloads, as it makes it effortless to sell:

• eBooks
• Music 
• PDFs
• Software
• Other digital products (i.e., organizers, calendars, etc.)

You have the option of setting up one-time or unlimited downloads, and the tool integrates with payment options like Apple Pay and Google Play. 

So, if selling digital goods is part of the plan you have for your blog, don’t forget to download this crucial plugin. 

MonsterInsights 

If you want to successfully build an audience for your blog, then it’s essential to pay close attention to your site analytics and user behavior. 

Most SEOs use Google Analytics for this purpose, but how do you connect it to your blog?

MonsterInsights solves this problem, as it enables you to sync your blog up to GA for real-time insights into things like site traffic, dwell time, click-through rates, and other vital metrics. 

The best part about this plugin is how it simplifies the learning curve involved with using GA. Not only that, but it’s undoubtedly handy to be able to view your GA metrics straight from your WordPress dashboard, which is worth the price of admission. 

Speaking of price, there are two versions of MonsterInsights, Free and Pro. 

The free version will be sufficient for most, as it lets you connect your blog to GA and view its analytics. 

The Pro version adds these features:

• Page tracking
• Tracking 404 error pages on your site
• Custom reporting
• Google AdSense tracking 

It’s worth the upgrade if you want customizable reporting and to track your performance on AdSense. 

WPRocket 

If you want your blog posts to rank well on search engines and provide a pleasant user experience to readers, lightning-fast loading speed is a must. 

After all, if you don’t pass Google’s Core Web Vitals test, you won’t stand a very good chance of ranking high on the SERPs. 

Luckily, WPRocket is a plugin with the sole focus of optimizing your page speed. 

The one drawback is there’s no free trial or free version, so you’ll have to pay for the privilege ($49, to be exact). 

It makes the list because, despite the price, it’s the best plugin for improving loading times. 

While it’s listed as a simple caching tool, WPRocket’s ability to speed up your site can’t be understated, so don’t forget to add this plugin to your must-have list. 

WPForms

Even if you aren’t trying to monetize your blog, it’s nice for your readers to have a contact form to get in touch with you if they have questions or comments. 

Once again, without a plugin, you’ll have to jump through all sorts of hoops to create a simple form on WordPress. 

To avoid having to write your own custom HTML forms, try downloading WPForms for free instead. 

It uses an intuitive drag-and-drop editor for form creation, and it couldn’t be simpler. 

In no time at all, you’ll be able to create contact forms, payment forms, subscription lists, and more. 

Pretty Links 

Are you part of an affiliate program?

If so, then you know how long and cumbersome referral links can be (we’re looking at you, Amazon). 

You’ll also be thrilled to know that Pretty Links is a dedicated referral link shortener.

With it, you’ll be able to shorten and ‘beautify’ your links to make them far easier to deal with. 

Besides that, Pretty Links also tracks your affiliate links, which is definitely its best feature. 

It tracks each click on your affiliate links and provides a detailed report on when and where the click came from, which is excellent for affiliate marketers. 

Elevate Your Blogging and SEO with WP Plugins 

We’ll be honest: WordPress by itself isn’t too impressive.

However, add some plugins into the mix, and it becomes a total powerhouse for monetizing a blog. 

The plugins found on this list will speed up your website, help you track affiliate links, monitor SEO, and enable digital downloads and payments. 

If you need help putting together a professional blog/SEO strategy, don’t wait to check out HOTH X, our enormously effective managed SEO services.    

The post Rev Up Your Blog Posts with These Integral WordPress Plugins  appeared first on The HOTH.

These are critical questions to ask because 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a difficult-to-use or bad experience. Additionally, you won’t be able to dominate the search rankings without an airtight UX design and user interface. 

So, if your SEO strategy doesn’t incorporate a winning UX design, you likely won’t get very far. 

Why is that?

Google (and other search engines) have come a long way since the keyword-stuffing days of old. In the early days of SEO, keyword density was the primary ranking factor, which led to the heavy use of keyword spam. 

Now, Google looks at 200+ ranking signals, and the quality of your UX design is one of the most important. Because UX is an umbrella term that includes site speed, mobile friendliness, site navigation, and site architecture, we’ve put together this extensive guide for UX SEO. Here, you’ll learn more about how to include the top UX-related SEO ranking signals in your website. 

How Does UX Affect Your SEO Rankings?

When search engines first started to emerge on the internet, their algorithms were quite simple. They ranked how many times a search query appeared in a website’s content. The engines gave little to no credence to the quality of the content, its trustworthiness, or the quality of its website design/customer experience. 

That all began to change when Google emerged on the scene because they had one goal in mind: to match user search intent with the highest quality results. Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin even devised the idea of using backlinks to rank content (as a way to measure trustworthiness) while they were still at Stanford. 

As the years went by, more and more ranking factors entered the mix. 

UX ranking signals 

Today, Google’s algorithm (and other search engine algorithms) pays special attention to crucial metrics to determine the quality of your UX design. 

These metrics include:

• Click-through rate (CTR) 
• Bounce rate 
• Dwell time 

If you have a high bounce rate and low dwell time, it’s a clear sign that users are leaving your website due to a bad experience. It could be that your loading speed is too slow, the layout is too confusing, or it could be due to a number of other UX-related issues. 

Google also has its Core Web Vitals test that its crawlers run on every website in its index. This test determines page speed, which falls under the UX umbrella. 

As you can see, your UX affects your SEO efforts. To ensure that you don’t get buried too far down on the search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll need to follow some SEO best practices related to UX design. 

UX SEO: How To Create a Winning Design That Ranks High 

Now that you know how crucial your UX design is to your SEO efforts, let’s learn how to build a design that your users will love. 

To see the best results in your business, UX and SEO go hand-in-hand. You can think about it like this:

• SEO tactics cater to search engine algorithms and crawlers to rank higher on search engines like Google and Bing. 
• UX design tactics cater to the end users that will interact with your site and potentially make a purchase. 

Therefore, you need an SEO strategy that will rank your content in one of the top spots on the SERPs to increase visibility with your target audience. You also need a stellar UX design to keep users on your page while guiding them down your sales funnel. As you can see, your SEO strategy and UX design are linked because they work in tandem to generate leads and sales for your business.

Next, let’s learn about the top factors affecting your UX. 

Headers 

If you want a blog post or product page to provide a positive experience, you need to use headings to break up the text properly. There’s a reason why print media such as newspapers have used large, bold headers for countless decades—it’s because they grab attention. 

Using H1, H2, and H3 headings in your content makes it effortless for searchers to quickly scan your article to determine if it’s worth reading. Headers also make web pages easier to read because they summarize what large chunks of the text are about, creating a logical hierarchy (i.e., starting with the main topic and embellishing it and introducing subtopics). 

Headings also matter for SEO, as web crawlers scan them to determine what your content is about. As such, if you format your headings in an SEO-friendly way, you have a better chance of ranking higher. But, if you aren’t consistent (e.g., if you use more than one H1), you may confuse Google’s crawlers, which isn’t what you want. 

Here are some pointers for formatting headings in a way that both users and crawlers respond to:

• Only use one H1 heading per web page: This will help determine the primary focus of your content (i.e., an H1 titled ‘How to Groom Your Dog’ is clearly about dog grooming). 
• H2s should cover the primary talking points of the article, and H3s and H4s should be used to embellish each topic. 

Following this formula will help you build web pages with a positive UX. 

Site navigation and structure 

How easy your website is to navigate is another significant component of your UX. If most organic traffic visits your site from search engines, they likely won’t land on your homepage. Instead, they’ll probably reach one of your blogs or product pages instead. 

This means users will need a way to navigate to the rest of your website from there, so your structure needs to be on point. 

Can users reach any page on your site from the main menu/navigation bar?

If so, you probably have orphan pages (web pages that have no internal links pointing at them), which isn’t good for your SEO profile. 

Do your best to avoid cluttering your main menu with pop-up ads, social media buttons, or overly lengthy options. Your best bet is to include a clear, logical navigation bar, laid out in a user-friendly way that includes all the pages on your website.

The last thing you want is for your visitors to spend too much time trying to find out how to get to one of your product pages; that will likely lead to a bounce. 

Mobile experience 

Google now practices mobile-first indexing, which means it will first crawl and index your site’s mobile version. 

Why did they do this?

Google made this change because mobile users are now more prevalent than desktop users. As of 2022, 53.74% of all web visits were on mobile devices (only 46.26% came from desktops). 

You should incorporate a responsive design to ensure that your website gets crawled and indexed. This is where you only use one version of your website that works for both desktop and mobile by switching its dimensions depending on the user’s device. 

Load time

We mentioned earlier that Google’s Core Web Vitals test will determine the page speed and load time of your website. 

As such, your loading speed is a huge part of your UX. If your page fails to load within a second or two, you’re doing something wrong. 

Here are some quick tips for improving a slow page speed:

• Minify JavaScript and CSS wherever possible
• Cache your web pages 
• Reduce the number of redirects 
• Compress all images and videos 
• Use a performance-optimized web hosting solution 

If you aren’t sure how fast your website loads, you can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to find out. 

Concluding Thoughts: UX SEO 

By now, you should better understand how UX design and SEO work together, not only to generate more traffic but also to boost your conversion rates. 

SEO will bring prospective users to your site, and your UX design will help turn them into paying customers (if you have well-written content with clear and convincing CTAs). 

Do you need professional help with your SEO strategy?

If so, don’t wait to check out our five-star managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our team of SEO experts is also available for consulting, so feel free to schedule a call today.

The post Why You Can’t Have SEO Without a Great UX Design (and Vice Versa) appeared first on The HOTH.

Why all the fuss over mobile search?

It turns out Google has a very valid reason for focusing on mobile users first, as mobile browsing accounts for nearly half of all web traffic worldwide. 

First, there was Google’s Mobilegeddon algorithm update that took place in 2015 – which emphasized the importance of a mobile-friendly website – especially if site owners wanted to maintain their high SERP rankings. 

After that, Google began to roll out mobile-first indexing in 2021, where the mobile version of each website would get indexed first.  

This led to the prevalence of responsive design, where a website can adequately display on both mobile devices and desktops by altering its dimensions. 

Yet, simply using a responsive web design doesn’t mean that you’re fully optimized for mobile. Instead, it’s simply the first step toward true mobile-friendliness, as mobile optimization is an entire SEO (search engine optimization) category of its own. 

Customer behavior and browsing habits have changed quite a bit in our current era. As of 2020, mobile visitors spent 90% of their time in apps instead of mobile browsers. It’s also more common for users to engage in an omnichannel experience – where they may begin a task on their phone but finish it on their tablet later. 

Read on to learn how to optimize for mobile devices correctly. 

What Makes Mobile Optimization Different?

Mobile optimization has come a long way in recent years, evolving from maintaining two separate versions of a website (desktop and mobile) to one responsive website that can handle both. 

With mobile-first indexing, the Google Core Web Vitals test got thrown into the mix, which tests a website’s load speed, interactivity, and responsiveness. 

That meant a mobile-friendly site had to load everything quickly and flawlessly onto a smaller screen, which posed unique challenges. For instance, image files that may load effortlessly on a desktop can have longer load times on mobile sites – so you may need to compress them. 

Then there’s the challenge of the type of content you display on mobile screens. 

Think about this; would you want to read and fill out an extensive 5-page sales form on your mobile phone? Or would you prefer to deal with a condensed version that’s only a few sentences?

These are the types of considerations you need to make when designing mobile content. The more that you can make things quicker, easier, and more convenient for your users, the better. 

However, there’s a fine balance involved here, as you don’t want to completely ignore users visiting the desktop version of your site, which may appreciate more in-depth content. 

That’s why the most powerful tool you have when designing a responsive website is a solid understanding of your target audience and customer journey. 

The more familiar you are with your buyer personas, the easier it will be to predict their browsing and buying habits. 

Micro-Moments & Omnichannel Experiences: How Consumer Habits Have Changed 

Back in the day (think the early 2000s/2010s), most searches were conducted by users sitting at desktop computers either at home or at the office. 

For instance, if someone wanted to learn about products from an eCommerce brand, the entirety of their user experience would take place behind their desk – diligently reading product descriptions, user reviews, and watching videos. After a while, they’d make a purchase, still from their desk. 

Smartphone browsing and shopping was definitely a thing, but it was far more limited than it is today (partly because most websites didn’t correctly display on mobile devices and didn’t have apps). 

Things are not the same in the 2020s, and that’s primarily due to the prevalence of mobile devices, time-saving mobile apps, and responsive websites. Also, applications like Venmo and Apple Pay made it much easier to make purchases on the fly without having to memorize your debit card number. 

We now have a world where any query or task can be answered or completed anytime, anywhere, in an instant.

With the world at our fingertips, we’ve become accustomed to answering any question or solving any problem within seconds – which has led to the prevalence of what Google calls micro-moments. 

It’s also increasingly common for users to start an experience on one device and finish it on another – such as starting product research on their phone and finishing it later on a tablet, which is an omnichannel experience. 

What are micro-moments, and why do they matter?

Google defines a micro-moment as ‘a moment where a user turns to a device to act on an immediate need, either to know, go, do, or buy.’ 

You likely experience several micro-moments each day without even realizing it. 

As an example, say you hear the word ‘patina’ on television and don’t know what it means, which prompts you to whip out your phone and type the term into Google to find a quick definition. 

That’s an example of an I-want-to-know micro-moment, as you had a brief moment of highly targeted search intent where you wanted to learn something new. Google was there to help you, and they provided the definition you were craving (if you were curious, patina is a greenish-brown film that forms on bronze and other metals, such as the Statue of Liberty). 

Googling a restaurant for user reviews or directions is another form of micro-moment, an I-want-to-go moment. 

Here are the different types of micro-moments:

• I-want-to-know. Quick searches to educate yourself.
• I-want-to-go. This is a search for local businesses that you want to visit.
• I-want-to-do. These are searches aimed at learning new skills, such as video tutorials for playing guitar. 
• I-want-to-buy. This type of micro-moment means the customer is ready to make a purchase. 

As you can see, micro-moments occur all the time, and figuring out ways to capitalize on them is essential if you want to learn how to optimize for mobile devices. 

Why are omnichannel experiences important?

Do you only use your smartphone to browse the web? Or do you use a combination of your phone, desktop computer, tablet, smartwatch, and other devices?

The fact is that most internet users juggle several different devices during their busy day. Activities such as blog reading, online shopping, and booking appointments often occur across several devices. 

That’s why all your content needs to be responsive enough to handle this demand. For instance, let’s say a user begins reading a helpful blog post you wrote about how to use one of your products on their phone during their subway ride to work. 

They mark their spot halfway through, and then continue reading on their desktop PC at work, and then finish it on their tablet during their lunch break. 

If your website can’t properly display on one of these devices, you’ll lose a reader and a potential sale. 

That’s why it’s imperative to have a mobile-optimized website that flawlessly displays your content, no matter the device. Beyond that, it pays to have a solid understanding of your typical customer’s journey, including which devices they use the most (more on this in a bit). 

How to Properly Optimize for Mobile 

Now that you know how mobile SEO has changed, it’s time to learn how to optimize your site to perfection for both mobile and desktop users. 

Optimizing for mobile goes well beyond a responsive web design and should factor in micro-moments, customer journeys, and omnichannel experiences. 

Without further ado, here are the most effective tips for developing a mobile-optimized site. 

Tip #1: Map your customer’s journey 

Does your target customer prefer to browse web pages on their smartphone, tablet, or desktop?

Do they regularly use apps like Uber, Venmo, or Apple Pay?

These are all crucial things to know about your target audience, which is why you need to map out your customer’s journey. Doing so takes a buyer persona, so you’ll need to develop one if you haven’t yet. 

To help, check out our guide on how to create a customer avatar that accurately reflects your niche audience. 

From there, you can use Google Analytics to discover which mobile devices your audience uses the most. Navigating to Audience > Mobile > Overview will break down which devices your visitors use to view the mobile web. 

This report gets very specific, as you can see which users viewed your website on mobile, desktop, or tablet and which specific devices they used. 

For instance, you may uncover that a majority of your mobile visits come from smartphones and tablets. Digging further, you find that most users are viewing your content on Apple iPhones and Apple iPads. 

You can use this data to map a typical customer’s journey on your website. They may view a landing page on their iPhone but then come back later to make a purchase on their iPad. This insight can help you understand what type of content they’ll respond to the most. 

For example, if most users are viewing your pages on an iPhone (that has a smaller screen size), they’ll likely not want to deal with long paragraphs and fine print. As a result, sticking to concise copy and sales forms is best. That’s how you can use your customer’s journey to influence the type of content you create. 

Tip #2: Capitalize on micro-moments 

Next, you’ll want to optimize your mobile content based on the micro-moments that occur with your content the most. 

Do your web visitors flock to you for your educational blog posts and videos?

Then it’s clear they’re having I-want-to-do and I-want-to-know micro-moments, which is driving a ton of organic traffic to you as a result. 

Yet, without a convincing call-to-action (CTA), your educational blog post or video won’t impact your conversion rates. 

That’s why you should end each piece of content with a concise CTA that lets users know what you want them to do next without beating around the bush. 

Do you want your users to sign up for your newsletter? Then make that explicitly clear in your CTA. The same is true if your goal is for users to make a purchase. The worst thing you can be with a CTA is shy, so don’t be afraid to be confident and direct. 

You should also set up landing pages to capitalize on I-want-to-buy micro-moments if you haven’t already. 

That means focusing on keywords that have a strong purchase intent. If you sell WordPress plugins, then you should target keywords like ‘buy WordPress plugins,’ WordPress plugins for sale,’ etc. 

Your goal should be to have mobile pages ready for every type of micro-moment that may occur within your audience, whether they want to learn, do, go, or buy. 

Tip #3: Use responsive design techniques 

Just because a responsive website design isn’t enough to cover all of mobile SEO doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use one. 

In fact, a responsive design is a must for any site that wants to optimize for mobile. 

In the past, web admins would have two versions of their website – the primary desktop version and an m-dot website for mobile phones. 

Trying to keep track of both is a real hassle, which is why responsive design techniques took over. 

What makes a design responsive?

This design style uses ‘media queries’ to define the proper display resolutions. Each different resolution is considered a ‘breakpoint’ from the original, which is the point where the page transitions from one resolution to the next. 

You’ll have a resolution for your desktop version, smartphones, and tablets. That way, your website will look the same no matter which device users are on. With a responsive design, you’ll be able to pass any mobile-friendly test. 

Yet, a responsive design is only the starting point, as you’ll need to contend with other factors, such as loading speed. If your page doesn’t load fast enough, you’ll fail Google’s Core Web Vitals test and won’t show up in the SERPs, which brings us to our next tip. 

Tip #4: Use code instead of images to improve your loading speed 

Images have a large file size and tend to hold back the loading time of mobile sites. Even with compression, it’s best to use code (Javascript, CSS, etc.) instead of image files for your responsive website. 

For example, instead of using a repeating background image with thousands of pixels, you can code the background. While that may only save a minuscule amount of memory for one image, these optimizations add up. 

If you switch all your images to code, you can improve your page speed drastically, which is what you want. 

So if you’re having trouble passing Google’s Core Web Vitals test, think in terms of code instead of uploading images. 

Tip #5: Avoid intrusive interstitials 

Have you ever been browsing a web page only for a screen-sized pop-up offer to appear, obscuring your view of the content you were just reading?

That’s an example of an intrusive interstitial, and they tend to do more harm than good for your users. 

Besides interstitials that take up the entire screen, the ones that obscure the top half or bottom of the page are cumbersome as well. 

Not only do these rub users the wrong way, but Google doesn’t care for intrusive interstitials either, and they actively penalize them. 

Interstitials are only okay if they’re used for legal obligations, such as age verification or letting users know about your cookie usage. Otherwise, it’s best to steer clear of them and rely on ‘Buy Now’ buttons, convincing CTAs, and optimized landing pages to guide your prospects down your funnel. 

Tip #6: Follow mobile video best practices 

Videos are a highly effective form of content that you’ll likely want to implement. Yet, displaying videos on mobile sites presents some unique challenges. 

For one, Google’s web crawlers need some signals in place to properly understand your video and its content.

Next, you must ensure that your videos are accessible to the public. If you’re going to embed videos from your YouTube channel, then your privacy settings must be set to public; otherwise, your users won’t be able to view your content. 

Here are the best practices for mobile videos that Google recommends:

• The presence of a play/pause button for users. 
• Ensuring users can scrub forward and backward. 
• Use custom controls with a div root element, a video media element, and a div child element dedicated to video controls.
• Submitting a video sitemap to Google Search Console to ensure Google identifies your video as a video.
• Checking your robots.txt file to ensure your videos aren’t blocked and can be indexed by search engines.
• Using an easy-to-identify HTML tag to help Google identify your video. 

Follow these guidelines, and you shouldn’t have any trouble incorporating videos on your website. 

Final Takeaways: Optimize for Mobile 

Search engines have evolved in many ways in regard to catering to mobile devices. While mobile sites began as an afterthought, they’ve now become Google’s primary focus. 

As such, if you don’t properly optimize for mobile, you risk falling off the SERPs entirely, which will spell disaster for your business. 

That’s why you need to follow this guide to ensure your website can cater to any device at any time. 

Do you need expert help forming a mobile SEO strategy for your company?

Then you need to drop everything and check out our managed SEO services at HOTH X. Our SEO gurus are also available for consulting, so feel free to book a call today.     

The post Is Your Website Actually Optimized for Mobile? appeared first on The HOTH.

That’s why we’ve got some exciting updates to share. We’ve made a few changes to The HOTH dashboard. Starting now, you have more control over and access to HOTH orders than ever before.

Give your orders more meaning with order names

Relying on order ID numbers or product names as the main way to find specific orders can get overwhelming. This is especially true if you have multiple orders for the same product.

That’s why we’ve updated our dashboard to incorporate order names.

Order names allow you to give each of your HOTH orders a specific name– one that works best for you and your business.

Some ideas for order names include:

• The primary domain of the site
• Your campaign goal
• The client your order is white-labeled for
• Whatever else you’d like

This gives you complete control over how to keep your HOTH orders organized in a way that makes sense for you.

Learn how to rename your orders.

Filter by product AND status

Sometimes the best way to make a list more manageable is by making it smaller.

That’s why we’ve also added the option to filter your orders by status, allowing you to be even more specific in your search.

You can now focus even more on orders of a particular type. These include:

• Product
• Status
• Tag

It’s easier than ever to check in on where your campaigns are at.

See order details, reports, and deliverables in one place

We also designed a dedicated page for each order with a unique URL that you can bookmark or share.

This allows you to easily manage your items and download reports, as well as share with any stakeholders.

Know where your order is and what is left

It can be frustrating to be unsure of where a campaign is at in terms of its timeline.

We’ve fixed this by adding even more descriptive status updates for all of our products. Included is more info about our process, as well as a dynamic timeline that lets you know what’s been completed and what’s still in process.

You can see these using the details panel or the order details page.

Following your order progress has never been easier.

Order information without leaving the dashboard

We’ve made it so you never have to worry about “losing your place” in the order dashboard by adding a details panel.

When you click the info icon, the panel will slide from the right, and include info like:

• Order Status
• Order Timeline
• Order Inputs

You now don’t have to leave your dashboard to access this information.

Quick action dropdown

We are always trying to improve our products by adding more shortcuts and features.

That’s why we also added a quick action dropdown on the right side of all orders. This creates room for all links, actions, and buttons.

The quick action dropdown lets you download your invoice and reports, rename your order, place a similar order, and auto-approve items, all in one place.

Clearer information at a glance

We made it easier to see the info you’re looking for. For instance:

Tags are now visible from the dashboard without clicking the tag icon. (You can add up to two tags.)

The product and package type each have their own column for more consistency across all products. You can now get the product type, package, and quantity info in exactly the same way for every HOTH product.

We’d love your feedback

Our service is about more than providing stellar SEO, SEM, and digital marketing results. It’s also about your experience using them, and now it’s better than ever.

Over the coming months, expect to see even more updates– more changes that make working with The HOTH a seamless process for business owners and agencies.

Have you had a chance to use your new HOTH dashboard yet? If so, we’d love your feedback. It helps us make things better for you.

The post A New Way To Manage Your Orders appeared first on The HOTH.

Every HOTH X campaign gives you access to our Campaign Report on any device. With the Campaign Report, you can monitor your current rankings, monthly traffic, view progress of your high-priority keywords, and discover brand new keywords that you could be ranking for.

Over the last 6 months, we’ve been taking your feedback and reworking our reports to make them easier to read and more effective, and now we’re ready to show you what we’ve done.

We just rolled out an upgrade to the report and added features to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for. From a new UI design to updated graphs, this article will cover all the new features.

New Design Focused on “At-A-Glance” Metrics

The first and most obvious change is the revamped UI design. We worked hard to give the data more room to breathe and make it easier to read.

One of the biggest things that we hear from clients is they want to see their main stats right upfront.

Each section starts with “at-a-glance” metrics that give you a quick overview so you immediately know the status of your campaign.

Quickly Find What You Need With New Navigation

We reorganized the report to better convey our process and make it easier to find what you need.

• Rankings lets you know how your domain is doing in terms of traffic, keywords, and backlinks.
• Progress focuses specifically on what we’re working on to improve your campaign. You’ll find a list of your high-priority keywords with ranking and positioning information. You’ll also find a section where you can find all your order reports.
• Keyword Research will have all the sections dedicated to finding more keywords to add to your arsenal.

Search and Sort Your Data

Tables in SEO reports can easily become loaded with information and overwhelm any reader.

We added a couple of features to help you find the right information quickly.

If you know what keyword you’re searching for, or what words it may contain, you can use our new search feature to narrow down the list of results:

You can also sort each column by ascending and descending order! This is especially useful when you need to check your top or bottom ranking keywords to assess what to work on next.

Click on the keyword difficulty column to see which keywords are easier to focus on or sort by volume to get a better idea of what people are searching for. You’re in control of the data now.

Interact with your Graphs

We switched to a more modern data-visualization library that allows us to do more with each data set.

Each graph is now fully responsive, better performing, and more interactive. The new library will also allow us to add more features like major Google updates annotations and zoom functionality on graphs to let you make the most of each data set.

More To Come

We’re hoping this update puts a smile on your face and gives you a reason to check back on your report. If you haven’t used it already, give HOTH X a try and get access to the Campaign Report because this update is only the beginning!

The post Brand New SEO Campaign Reporting for HOTH X appeared first on The HOTH.

Here’s a summary of what you can expect to find in the new design.

Never Miss An Order Review

Know exactly what needs your attention as soon as you log in. We’ve added an Action Item panel that lists the five most recent orders that need review. You can click on the “See All” to jump to a filtered order list that shows you all orders that need your attention.

Know Exactly When Your Orders Will Renew

No one likes surprises, especially when it comes to renewals. If you have a subscription with any of our products your upcoming renewal dates will show up on the welcome dashboard. Click on “See All” to view a list of every subscription.

Find The Right Product For You

We want to make sure that browsing our products is as easy as possible, so we redesigned our product list. Each product has a category label to let you know whether it’s a managed service or if it’s better suited for content creation, link building, or any of our other categories. We also added icons to our best selling products.

Access Your Orders From Any Screen Size

Best of all, we’ve optimized the new welcome dashboard to work with any browser on any device. So you can check on your orders from anywhere!

What’s Next?

Like I mentioned before, this is only the beginning. We are slowly rolling out the new design to all the main sections of our portal. We’re currently working on the Orders Dashboard to make it easier to find and keep track of your orders. So stay tuned!

The post Say Hello to Your New HOTH Dashboard Experience appeared first on The HOTH.