Customer Experience has become quite the buzzword in business today.
Consumers today are more aware of what is expected and where else they can go besides you. Customer Experience (or "CX") is the subject around stages, boardrooms and business articles. It's the same with SEO.
We know that more and more, Google is prioritizing customer experience to rank websites. It makes sense if you think about it. Anyone doing a search is Google's customer. The more satisfied they are with how Google serves them, the happier they will be.
What kind of an experience does your website provide?
The best customer experience websites include the following characteristics:
1. They Are Fast-Loading
Have you ever Googled something, clicked on one of the listings and then hit “Back” because you stared at a blank screen for three seconds? That slow page load resulted in lost business for the company. The quick “bounce” hurt its Google ranking as well. Google will not be as quick to send people there in the future.
You want to make sure your site loads quickly. You can keep a nice trim site by using smaller images, fewer plugins, and minimal javascript. If you don’t know what those mean, your web developer will and they can help.
If you’re not sure if your site is fast there are several free site speed tests that can be found with a simple search. Google offers one, including recommendations to improve your speed.
2. They Have Site Security
Web encryption has been around for years but it wasn’t until 2018 that it became obvious which sites were secured and which ones weren’t. While an explanation exceeds the scope of this book, the difference between an unsecured site (HTTP://www...) and an unsecured site (HTTPS://www…) make a difference in your score.
Google announced in 2015 that it would favor sites that use HTTPS over those that don't. While site security is most critical for e-commerce and has little benefit for a chiropractic site, no member of the public wants to be warned that a chiropractor’s site is “Not Secure” when they are browsing.
3. They Are Mobile-friendly
Every year people spend more and more time on their mobile devices and tablets. The problem is that many websites still aren't designed to account for different screen sizes and load times. A mobile-friendly site changes its layout from desktop to tablet and phone. The design moves to a vertical configuration, bringing on a different display of content and pictures.
4. They Have Engaging Content
Your words matter. People read words. They read more words when they find the information interesting. The more they read the words, the more Google realizes that you have provided something valuable.
Video on its own is powerful. It keeps people engaged. When they are engaged, they stay on your site longer. When they are on your site longer, Google takes note that you have a helpful site and then improves your ranking for the next person to find you.
This is one of the reasons why SEO experts insist that a high-ranking page should have video embedded on it.
What kind of video? It doesn't matter. Just make sure it is relevant and excellent. Of course, a more personal video from you or your company would be preferred over someone else's video.
You can do a lot with limited time and budget. Take out your phone (which has a better camera on it than most Hollywood films in the late 90s), get a $65 in gear (tripod, light, and lapel mic) from Amazon and talk about what you just told your last customer. It was likely great advice and they are not the only one struggling with it.
SEO may seem complicated but it is becoming very simple: Just give people a great experience and you'll be promoted.
There you have four things you can do to improve the Customer Experience on your site. When you do this, you'll have better conversions, more clicks on your call to action, and a better ranking on Google.
