# Leverage Synergy Between SEO and UX To Boost Brand Visibility | Capterra > Explore how a well-designed user experience establishes a strong foundation for a comprehensive SEO strategy that will generate site traffic and increase conversions Source: https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-user-experience-affects-seo --- Small Business SEOMarketing # The Relationship Between SEO and UX Explained Written by: David J. Brin David J. BrinAuthor David is the Managing Partner for the Code Ninjas franchise responsible for the Baton Rouge, LA market, where he facilitates the education of youth in progra... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/david-brin/) and edited by: Carolyn Santa Maria Carolyn Santa MariaEditor Carolyn Santa Maria is a senior editor at Capterra. Carolyn has been working in content for more than five years as an editor. With her keen eye for detail, ... [See bio & all articles](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/carolyn-santa-maria/) Published July 19, 2024 11 min read Table of Contents - [What is SEO and what is UX?](#what-is-search-engine-optimization-seo-and-what-is-user-experience-ux) - [3 metrics that tell you how UX affects SEO](#3-metrics-that-tell-you-how-ux-affects-seo) - [Essential UX elements that can improve your SEO](#essential-ux-elements-that-can-improve-your-seo) - [SEO and UX metrics to measure](#seo-and-ux-metrics-to-measure) - [SEO and UX tools and services](#seo-and-ux-tools-and-services) - [Leverage SEO and UX to build brand awareness](#leverage-seo-and-ux-to-build-brand-awareness-and-grow-your-customer-base) ## Elevate your presence in SERPs through UX and SEO Capterra’s 2024 Elusive Online Consumer Survey reveals that more than one-fifth of customers (21%) typically make a purchase through their internet search engine when performing searches for products or services.[\*](#methodology) Because of this, brand visibility across search engines and an optimized shopping experience for users are _both_ priorities for small businesses. Optimizing your website and online content to outperform the competition in search engine results is a mixed discipline of ensuring that your marketing team is optimizing content to increase organic traffic. This is why, in the process of enhancing search engine performance and brand visibility, brand and marketing professionals should prioritize improving the interplay between SEO and UX. This approach will simultaneously enhance the experience of visitors and clients. ## What is search engine optimization (SEO) and what is user experience (UX)? **Search engine optimization (SEO)** is a combination of marketing strategies used in conjunction to achieve a common goal of increasing organic, unpaid site traffic by improving website visibility in search engine results. SEO is executed across three primary channels: - **On-page SEO** covers improvements to blogs, product and services copy, web content, and other material on your website. - **Off-page SEO** targets backlinks and other content about your brand located away from your website to support your SEO strategy. - **Technical SEO** encompasses site configuration, tagging, metadata, and other technical steps that improve search rankings by improving how well search engines can index your site. **User experience (UX)** is the overall feeling and experience a user undergoes when interacting with your website. The user interface (UI), website design, and site usability come together to shape the user’s perception of an efficient navigation experience, the site’s ease-of-use, and how much utility the site delivers. A well-designed user interface can create a positive user experience and over time, increase site traffic. Because search engine algorithms prioritize well-designed UX in search results, UX is often addressed alongside SEO in order to improve brand visibility. ## 3 metrics that tell you how UX affects SEO Google’s algorithm and the algorithms of other search engines are complex proprietary systems that assess a wide range of factors in order to determine which websites to deliver up in response to user search queries. One set of metrics that Google takes into consideration are Core Web Vitals, which are inextricably entwined with three aspects of the user experience.[\[1\]](#sources) ### Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) The LCP metric is concerned specifically with how quickly the main content of a page loads. Page load speed can be impacted by a number of factors, and it’s important to ensure your website development team focuses on minimizing delays related to on-page factors in order to maximize LCP. ### Interaction to Next Paint (INP) Tools that measure INP track latency in all relevant website interactions to determine how responsive a page is to users’ behaviors throughout their visit. Using tools to track interactions in the field by real users, you can determine what page elements are slowing down the user experience, how a slow interaction relates to page load, what types of interactions are having the most negative impact on INP, and other valuable data points. ### Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) Modern websites are built to offer dynamic and interactive experiences to users, while remaining adaptive to provide visual experience based on the device used to access the site. This often involves page elements shifting based on user behavior and if well-executed, provides the user with a seamless navigation experience. However, if page element shifts are excessive or cause portions of the page to become hard to access, it can frustrate users and decrease the CLS value of the page. The CLS value of a page is a measure of not only how often content shifts, but also the distance that content moves from one position to another on the page as well.  ## Essential UX elements that can improve your SEO Addressing specific UX elements to improve the Core Web Vital statistics has the dual benefit of supporting any efforts by your marketing team to boost and maximize the SEO of your website. ### Page speed The page load speed can be assessed by a combination of the time to first byte loaded (TTFB), time to load interactive elements (TTI), and how long it takes for the first content to load (FCP), which when combined, provides the total load time. An additional factor to consider that is relative to load time is that search engine algorithms are largely prioritizing the mobile-first version of your website due to how prevalent mobile device use is in performing search queries.  Page load speed bridges the gap between UX and SEO in that the goal of search engine optimization is to increase traffic to your website in order to ultimately increase leads and improve conversion rate optimization (CRO). Websites with a fast page load speed are more likely to be served up to consumers searching for your products and services and will help drive more qualified traffic to your site. ### Accessibility Website accessibility entails a wide range of UX-focused user interface enhancements to ensure your website can be viewed and used by as wide a range of visitors as possible. Aside from positioning your brand as inclusive and ethically dedicated to appealing to a diverse audience, there are legal considerations as well due to the requirements set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This necessitates making your site accessible for those with impairments and other disabilities. The largely accepted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards are set forth largely by the Word Wide Web Consortium’s (or WC3) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Currently, the WAI is currently working on WCAG 3, which outlines website design and UI standards that help maximize the UX for as wide a user base as possible.[\[2\]](#sources) In addition to laying out best practices for the visual navigation elements of your website, WCAG 3 is also concerned with technical SEO elements around making sure your website has the proper heading tags and navigation elements built in throughout the site. A cohesive and consistent page navigation with the proper heading tags makes your website infinitely easier for search engines to crawl, index, and prioritize in search results. ### Mobile friendliness While we discussed above the relationship between mobile-first design and page load speed and the benefits brought about as a result, mobile friendliness plays an additional role in improving SEO. With consumers largely prioritizing search on mobile devices and Google adapting its algorithm accordingly, businesses can no longer consider it optional to create a mobile-first, adaptive version of their website in order to guarantee their site functions well on a wide range of mobile devices. ### Effective CTA buttons To improve the impact of UX and SEO on organic traffic, the customer journey must be meticulously planned and crafted so that customers clearly understand what to do at each step along the way. Call-to-action (CTA) buttons are like signposts in the customer journey and play an essential role in the user experience. Once your inbound marketing funnel guides any qualified leads to education- and information-focused landing pages, the embedded CTA buttons on those pages can be leveraged to lead them to carry out a variety of necessary tasks. Those tasks might include: - Filling out a form for future contact - Providing an email address for future follow-up - Requesting more information from your business - Making a direct purchase CTA buttons help drive behaviors that improve click-through rates and reduce bounce rates. These metrics are used by Google to determine how well your site is engaging with visitors. A strong performance signals to the search engine that your site has an effective UX and your rankings in SERPs will reflect your efforts. ## SEO and UX metrics to measure One of the challenges in SEO is qualifying the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, given the wide array of activities and disciplines in play. The interplay between UX and SEO helps marketing experts bridge this gap, as tweaking specific elements of the UX can have a direct measurable impact on user behaviors. These metrics can help reveal what results your team can expect over time from their search engine optimization efforts. While not a comprehensive list, we’ve collected four high-level metrics that best reveal the interplay between UX and SEO.  ### Website traffic Search engine optimization, for all of its complexities, is at its core primarily concerned with boosting qualified, organic traffic to your website. With the goal of increasing brand visibility and recognition, pairing UX enhancements with your SEO strategy provides the ability to attribute traffic to those campaigns and gauge their effect on organic traffic through targeted and intentional changes to the overall customer experience. Google will read the resulting increased interactions on your page as signs that your site is a trustworthy and valuable resource for those searching for relevant keywords, products, and services, and will increasingly prioritize your site in search results. ### Bounce rates UX enhancements are designed to keep users active on your site long enough to engage with your content and to be enticed by well-crafted CTAs. When visitors don’t remain on your page and navigate away before converting or taking the actions you need them to take, Google considers this as a “bounce.” A high bounce rate can be an indicator of a number of issues on your website, such as a poorly executed site UI/UX, a confusing customer journey, slow page loading times, and other factors that will have users seeking answers elsewhere. ### Time on site The more time you are able to keep a potential customer on your webpage, the more likely they are to engage with your content and CTAs. Time on site is a way of measuring the duration visitors spend navigating through your site before navigating away. Making the UX pleasurable, engaging, and meaningful will help increase time on site and help reinforce your brand’s expertise and value to visitors, increasing conversions and revenue over time. ### Impressions and clicks SEO and UX aren’t focused on paid advertising tactics, so two of the most important metrics you can track to gauge the success of a campaign are impressions and clicks. All of the other metrics that are focused on behaviors once leads have reached your site (including profitability and return on investment) follow behind a very simple requirement: Your website must first appear in search results in order to be clicked upon. The user experience starts as early as the first impression when a customer sees your optimized listing appear in search results. Tracking this value is important to ensure you’re presenting your site in a way that is enticing and engaging to potential customers. From there, you need to assess the effectiveness of your listing and messaging by tracking how often someone clicks on your link from Google by tracking traffic sources. In conjunction with one another, these two metrics reveal whether your audience targeting is effective and whether you need to tweak your Google listing in order to improve your clickthrough rate.  ## SEO and UX tools and services  SEO campaigns are complex and multifaceted affairs, requiring a range of disciplines in order to ensure your website has been properly optimized to fully engage and guide leads through the customer journey. Tracking the necessary metrics can be a daunting undertaking, so much so that by 2027, 80% of enterprises will be using automated key performance indicators (KPI) and objectives and key results (OKR) tracking to measure and improve the value of user design.[\[3\]](#sources) In order to remain competitive, small businesses must empower their marketing teams to explore software solutions that will support SEO campaigns and help maximize the user experience: - [SEO software](https://www.capterra.com/seo-software/) - [User experience software](https://www.capterra.com/ux-software/) ## Leverage SEO and UX to build brand awareness and grow your customer base Over 60% of brand leaders feel their C-suite has unrealistic expectations for the impact of brand investments, and over 80% agree their capabilities need to change in order to successfully carry out their organization’s brand strategy in the future.[\[4\]](#sources) Search engine optimization and user experience are critical tools every small-business owner should be leveraging in order to build brand awareness and visibility. While exploring the metrics and relationship between SEO and UX here as they relate to your business’s overall marketing strategy, you can learn more about these marketing strategies from Capterra’s community of professionals:  - [UX Design Outsourcing: Know Benefits and How To Choose the Right Provider](https://www.capterra.com/resources/ux-design-outsourcing/) - [How To Measure the ROI of Your SEO Strategy](https://www.capterra.com/resources/calculate-roi-of-seo/) - [How To Do SEO Yourself: A Beginner's Guide](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-to-do-seo-yourself/) * * * **Survey methodology** \*Capterra’s 2024 Elusive Online Consumer Survey was conducted online in April 2024 among 5,585 respondents in the U.S. (n: 500), Canada (n: 500), Brazil (n: 497), Mexico (n: 470), the U.K. (n: 499), France (n: 271), Italy (n: 496), Germany (n: 496), Spain (n: 359), Australia (n: 497), India (n: 500), and Japan (n: 500). The goal of the study was to learn about how today's online consumer shops. Respondents were screened to have shopped online several times a month or more often. Sources 1. [Web Vitals | Articles](https://web.dev/articles/vitals#core-web-vitals), web.dev 2. [WCAG 3 Introduction | Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/), WC3 3. [How to Measure the Value of User Experience Design](https://www.gartner.com/doc/4133499?ref=solrAll&refval=411180544&), Gartner 4. [Drive Growth by Aligning Brand, Customer Experience and User Experience](https://www.gartner.com/doc/4467499?ref=solrAll&refval=411180544&), Gartner * * * Looking for SEO software?Check out Capterra's list of the [best SEO software](https://www.capterra.com/seo-software/) solutions. ### Was this article helpful? * * * ## About the Authors [### David J. Brin](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/david-brin/) David is the Managing Partner for the Code Ninjas franchise responsible for the Baton Rouge, LA market, where he facilitates the education of youth in programming, game design, and STEM education fundamentals. A lifelong learner, David combines a passion for strong business practices and solid marketing strategies honed throughout his 20-year career in the food and beverage industry with his desire to share those best practices with other business owners to create content for Capterra. When... [### Carolyn Santa Maria](https://www.capterra.com/resources/author/carolyn-santa-maria/) Carolyn Santa Maria is a senior editor at Capterra. Carolyn has been working in content for more than five years as an editor. With her keen eye for detail, technical experience, and cross-team collaborative expertise, she has developed new content types, briefs, and processes for a variety of different projects and teams. She has edited a large variety of content, including research reports, white papers, eBooks, email marketing campaigns, and many other types of technical papers. When she... ### RELATED READING - [Marketing ROI: Prioritizing Your Next Sales and Marketing CRM Investment](https://www.capterra.com/resources/marketing-roi-strategies/) - [How Integrating Email Automation With CRM Systems Boosts Customer Engagement](https://www.capterra.com/resources/integrating-email-automation-with-crm-systems/) - [How to Develop an Omnichannel Marketing Strategy for Customer Engagement](https://www.capterra.com/resources/crm-omnichannel-marketing-strategy/) - [CRM cloud vs. on-premise: Which is better for your business?](https://www.capterra.com/resources/crm-cloud-vs-on-premise/) - [CRM Data Management Explained: From Clean Data to Customer Insights](https://www.capterra.com/resources/crm-data-management/) - [Capterra Sales and Marketing Trends 2026: CRM and AI Adoption Requires Strategic Implementation and Integration](https://www.capterra.com/resources/sales-and-marketing-software-trends/) - [Email Marketing Trends: What SMBs Need To Know To Boost Campaign Performance](https://www.capterra.com/resources/email-marketing-trends/) - [Exploring Different Types of Video Content and Their Benefits](https://www.capterra.com/resources/types-of-video-content/) - [What Are the 8 Types of Digital Marketing?](https://www.capterra.com/resources/types-of-digital-marketing/)