Designing A Website; The Dual Functionality Of SEO And Usability

Many businesses believe that their SEO or search engine optimisation efforts will yield almost instant results. Maybe with some of the more unscrupulous SEO methods this could be possible but if following a methodology that attempts to comply with the search engines rather than hoodwink them, the process will undoubtedly take a little longer. However, there is important factor that must be remembered should a website be successful; no matter how high it ranks in search engine listings, if the human user does not enjoy the website experience the site is bound to founder.

This is a problem for many SEO specialists who are asked to produce results quickly by clients. Understandably a business rarely wants to hear that its website is poorly made and not conducive to selling products or services. Unfortunately it is often the job of the optimisation specialist to inform companies that their website will have to be improved should the high rankings result in increased trade and hence profits.

To use a common analogy having a website that is brilliantly optimised but poorly designed is like having a bar that has been effectively advertised but when customers come through the door it neither has the staff nor the stocks to deal with the custom. In the industry the generally used term is 'usability'; it refers to the experience that the human user has when visiting a website.

Naturally businesses would not prefer to have the time or expense of re-designing a website; unfortunately it is a prerequisite of online trade success. Like SEO the design of a website requires a bespoke approach to the market or industry, it must be conducted with careful consideration of both technical advisors and business managers. It is only when great usability is combined with efficient SEO that a website will experience true success in online business.

The purpose of the optimisation process is to bring customers to a website; it is not the purpose of this process to ensure these visitors buy products or services. Conversion rates are highly important to online business and if a company can convert even half of its visits it is doing well. High conversion rates however can only be secured with good design and usability; if the customer cannot find their way around a website their chances of buying an item are severely diminished.

This usability is in some cases hard to quantify. One website designer may feel that their design is simple to use and effectively displays the products. This however may not be the case; it is only through effective testing that the usability of a site will be ascertained. While the human user is ultimately important the automated user, e.g. the search engine spiders should not be forgotten, hence it is important for your SEO team to be aware of any changes being made to the website, if they are not changes may be made that will harm rankings considerably.

Catering for the needs of both automated and human users is the name of the game. While it is important to keep the search engine algorithms happy it is equally important to create a site that is able to present products or services effectively, subsequently increasing sales. It is hoped that this article has set out the importance of this dual functionality in successful websites; it is only by subscribing to both that online business success will be attainable.

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