SXO – a combination of two important strategies

The combination of Search Engine Optimization and User Experience has contributed to the creation of a completely new operating strategy. It focuses on both increasing the visibility of a website and improving conversion. Fine-tuning your site for SEO and user experience is the most effective way to get your audience to respond the way you want. Usually, it is the purchase of products, which is why SXO is especially eagerly used by sales platforms.

How does this strategy work? The site ranks high in the search results, and this generates organic traffic. Users who pass to it see that it is intuitive and tailored to their needs. This encourages you to stay longer and even come back frequently. According to SXO, the website must be refined not only in terms of factors important from the perspective of search engine robots. It is also supposed to be useful for recipients, so responsive, fully legible, and it should load as soon as possible.

The SEO elements that make up the SXO strategy are mainly:
– technical optimization (including correctness of the HTML source code),
– key phrases,
– content,
– metadata,
– headers
– internal and external linking.

The user’s experience while using the website plays an equally important role. The UX factors are:
– clear site navigation,
– refined CTA formulas,
– aesthetic and modern look of the site,
– functionality and adaptation to the needs of users,
– loading speed.

When traditional SEO proves to be insufficient

As every SEO agency emphasizes, the strategy aimed at ensuring the website’s good position must be analyzed and modified on an ongoing basis. This is due to the constant changes in search engine algorithms and the need to adapt to them. Traditional SEO focuses on increasing the visibility of your website, this is the main focus of your activities. Although many companies can achieve their business goals in this way, it is not enough for everyone. The mere refinement of key phrases, meta data and similar issues is sometimes not enough to keep users on the site and persuade them, for example, to buy products. That’s why the SXO strategy has emerged.

Search Experience Optimization is the successor to SEO. In recent years, there have been significant changes in Google’s algorithms, as a result of which user experience has started to have a more significant impact on the position of the site. 2021 was the year when the implementation of new ranking factors began, focusing on the convenience of website visitors:

– LCP – Largest Contentful Paint, i.e. the largest rendering of content. It measures the time it takes for the largest (by default the most important) element of your website to be loaded.
– FID – First Input Delay, delay on first operation. It measures the time that must pass until the first interactivity of the website (from the moment of clicking on a specific element to the reaction).
– CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift, or visual stability. This is a reference to the traffic that occurs on the site once it is loaded. LCP, FID, and CLS are indicators that are part of the Core Web Vitals collection.
– Responsiveness – adapting the website to mobile devices.
– Security – Google checks if the website uses the HTTPS protocol.
– Presence of interstitial ads – it is recommended to avoid them as they limit access and make the content inaccessible to users.

This shows that Google wants pages to be adapted not only to robots, but above all to the needs of the recipients. The SXO strategy includes activities in the field of SEO, UX, but also analytics, content marketing, CRO and web development. All this to ensure the highest possible conversion and help the company achieve all the business goals it has set for itself.

Why is SXO needed?

SXO makes users go to a website through organic search results and then perform the desired action. They are effectively encouraged to do so by positive experiences resulting from refining the website in terms of the needs of the recipients. Search Experience Optimization is most often referred to in the context of increasing product sales. However, it is worth remembering that a call to action placed on the website may also persuade you to perform another action, e.g. subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a form, set up an account on the website or watch a video.

The main goal of the SXO strategy is to increase conversion, but implementing it brings the company several other benefits as well. Belong to them:
– increasingly better visibility on Google,
– lasting bond with clients,
– gaining trust and creating the image of an expert,
– standing out from the competition and gaining an advantage.

As you can see, SXO allows you to combine two very important aspects influencing success on the Internet – positioning and adapting to the needs and requirements of customers. The combination of SEO and UX is very effective. Even when the site is perfectly polished in terms of user experience, it will not guarantee the company’s success if it is difficult to find it in the search engine. It also works the other way around. A well-positioned website that is neither readable nor responsive at the same time will not increase profits to such a large extent. According to the SXO assumptions, the website should be clearly visible, but also encourage users to stay there for longer.

SXO not only for e-commerce

Since SXO is used to improve positioning as well as increase the number of page visits and conversions, it is used in particular in the e-commerce industry. This is due to the fact that it is mainly focused on sales. A highly visible platform that provides users with a positive experience is conducive to shopping. For potential customers, every detail is important, from a clear menu through quick product search to the possibility of making an easy transaction via a mobile device.

E-commerce is an industry that is constantly developing, and the businesses operating in it should respond to changes in order to be successful. The implementation of the SXO strategy facilitates the achievement of the intended goals, as it is a response to the constantly growing expectations of customers. Comprehensive, multi-dimensional optimization of an online store ensures results both in the short and much longer term. In the case of platforms that have already been visible on Google, it is not uncommon for a sudden increase in conversion to occur very quickly. A nice looking, fast loading and clear website will gradually generate more and more sales and profits. There is also a high probability that people satisfied with the transaction will return to the store, becoming loyal, regular customers.

However, it should be remembered that SXO can also be successfully implemented in many other industries. This solution is recommended to anyone who wants to stand out from the competition and have higher financial results through good visibility on the Internet and improving user experience. More traffic to the website results in a high conversion rate, which may or may not be in the form of product purchases. Sometimes it is signing up for a subscription, submitting a form, ordering a phone call with the company, downloading an e-book, etc. According to the definition, conversion is a specific activity performed by the user that is desired by the company and brings it closer to achieving its business goal. Therefore, SXO works well not only in e-commerce, but also in service industries. More and more often, bloggers or people running content websites decide on such a strategy.

Important support for business

The combination of SEO and UX strategies is considered to be extremely effective. SXO is a very important support for business, conducive to its development. Thanks to it, users can easily find exactly what they are looking for on the Internet, and then perform actions on the website that meets their expectations. The implementation of Search Experience Optimization allows you to get rid of the doubts whether the website is adapted to Google’s algorithms and at the same time fully valuable for the recipients.

The use of the SXO strategy allows you to refine every important detail. Compared to SEO, it does not only focus on optimizing the website for search engine robots, because they do not increase conversion. It is necessary to realize that the users, their feelings and needs play an important role in this matter. Companies wishing to be successful on the market should show potential customers that their satisfaction is the most important.

Of course, SXO will not make every user visiting the site perform the desired action. Nevertheless, this strategy makes it easier to reach people from a well-defined target group and encourage them to stay on the site for longer. This increases the likelihood that the company’s offer will arouse interest and translate into profit. The implementation of SXO enables adaptation to the new requirements posed not only by Google, but also by internet marketing itself. It is worth remembering that there are still changes in this area that you need to adapt to in order to build your competitive advantage.

An effective website must effectively combine these two areas. You should take care not only to attract a potential customer, but also to encourage him to make a purchase, leave a contact, watch a webinar or other activity that has been planned and envisaged to achieve the business goal. SXO – Search Experience Optimization comes in handy, i.e. the concept of a comprehensive combination of SEO and UX, data analytics and conversion optimization. This means that thinking about positioning should take place simultaneously with remembering about building a positive user experience, based on web analytics, in order to optimize conversion on the website.

The first step in implementing good SXO practices is to conduct a comprehensive website audit in this regard. A professionally conducted SXO audit will show all the fields that are worth looking at to probably improve the website’s results.

But let’s start with a brief introduction to what user experience and website positioning are more specifically.

UX – User Experience

UX, or user experience, is what the user feels while browsing the site. It cannot be denied that even very similarly designed pages can evoke various impressions – UX deals with how to refine a website in such a way as to make browsing easier and more pleasant for the user, and at the same time increase the conversion rate. Due to the multifaceted nature of User Experience, it is in fact a mix of many areas – from psychology and its derivatives, through web testing, to issues related to technical optimization of the website.

A component of UX is UI – User Interface. These are all the elements of the website or application, along with their arrangement, by means of which the user communicates with the program. In this context, we most often talk about GUI – Graphic User Interface, i.e. a graphic representation of this communication.

When analyzing and designing UX, the user is put first – his needs, skills, habits and digital qualifications. The website addressed to teenagers will look and work differently, and differently to seniors – both in terms of the interface (color combinations, font selection, graphics), and in terms of the structure of the user path and shopping funnels.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Website positioning activities are aimed at making a given website appear higher in the search results of Google, Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines.

By entering a specific phrase into the search engine, we hope that we will find what we are looking for quickly. Regardless of whether we mean a specific product (preferably at the lowest available price), a service, information, contact details or a meme from years ago. We are committed to achieving our goal as quickly as possible. Recently, Google has become fixated on making its search engine “precisely execute the user’s intentions,” which means that the positioning algorithm is committed to delivering qualitative results. This was due to the fact that over 60% of Internet users do not find an answer to their question after first entering the website from the search results. Clickbaits only make things worse, and this is what Google is struggling with with almost daily algorithm updates.

The owner of the website counts on the fact that the website will be visited by Internet users, and then they will make purchases (e-commerce), leave leads (service industry) or read the materials contained therein (content websites). Good website positioning can significantly improve sales results. Often, the profitability of running a given business depends on the visibility in the search engine. Thus, the user hopes for quick access to the right content, the search engine hopes to ensure it, and the website owner hopes that his site will be found and visited.

The results of displaying in search engines are not set randomly – the constantly improved algorithm is responsible for the ranking. This one takes into account about 200 factors during the overall analysis of the website and direct links to it. What is it about?

On-site SEO

Google places great emphasis on content and its presentation. On-site SEO means changes that can be implemented directly on a positioned website. They can be divided into two categories – content modification and technical layer.

As mentioned above, Google wants pages placed high in search results to meet the user’s needs. Ideally, the content on the page is well optimized and contains specific keywords surrounded by intermediate words – long tails and LSI. However, it is not about a random juxtaposition of phrases, but about a substantive and structured text on a desired topic. In order to properly present a given issue, the content on the subpage must be properly organized – incl. divided into paragraphs and supplemented with headings (H1, H2, H3).

It is also very important how the text is displayed and how quickly the page loads. Most users, when they have to wait more than a few seconds, will simply go back to the search results and select a different page. Therefore, the website loading time cannot be overestimated. The algorithm also takes it into account and checks it in particular according to Core Web Vitals guidelines.

Gone are the days when the Internet was only browsed on computers. Today, web developers have to deal with thousands of different devices, technologies, designs and resolutions. The website must look good on every hardware, should not generate errors, and ensure the correct display of many fonts or graphics. The Google algorithm is able to detect errors in the presentation, therefore the correct responsiveness is one of the keys to positioning.

Internal linking is also important, i.e. placing links to other subpages of a given website. Correctly solved, it not only increases users’ engagement by encouraging them to click, but also significantly facilitates navigation for web robots. Another important aspect is the so-called canonical links, thanks to which, despite different real URLs (for example in online stores), Google robots see this as one variant. This prevents duplication of subpages.

Off-site SEO

Extensive, comprehensive on-page content and technical perfection are very important, but not enough to position your page for more popular, frequently searched phrases. The algorithm assumes that if a website has many links, it is valuable for users – after all, when we find interesting content, we sometimes share the link with friends ourselves. Off-site SEO involves gathering multiple links from other pages that Google determines to be strong. It is important that the link structure is appropriately varied – next to the dofollow links containing keywords, there should also be links without keywords and sometimes with the nofollow parameter. Link profile diversification is sometimes referred to as link pillowing.

SXO audit – what is it?

The first step to improving your SXO is to conduct a comprehensive SXO audit. Specialists will thoroughly analyze various aspects related to positioning and UX, draw conclusions and propose necessary changes on the website. Many of the nearly 200 ranking factors of Google’s SEO algorithm relate directly to the UX on the page – for example, building pop-ups.

SXO audit – what is analyzed as part of it? The scope of activities includes, among others:

SEO audit and recommendations
– domain history,
– website performance and construction,
– keywords and their potential,
– visibility against the competition,
– link profile,
– the current condition of SEO on the website,
– website mobility and usability,
– Core Web Vitals parameters,
– SEO content on the website,
– meta tags, snippets,
– Google My Business card,
– crawl budget,
– search engine analysis, filters and sorting,
– and other!

Analytics audit and GSC
– correct basic configuration,
– the impact of organic traffic on conversion,
– traffic quality, click-through rate.

SEO – recommendations of actions depending on the type of website and industry
– Meta tags (title & description),
– On-site and off-site linking,
– SEO content (including headers),
– Rich snippets,
– Positioning the Google business card,
– Website optimization,
– Monitoring and optimization of activities,
– Keyword research with potential,
– and other!

UX and CRO – actions
– Analysis of the purchase path and cart from listing to order fulfillment,
– Analysis of the contact form,
– UI & UX analysis of main subpages,
– Widget and pop-up analysis,
– Heatmaps of clicks and depth of scrolling,
– Payment system tests,
– Support for the SEO department in designing changes.