Search experience optimization is extremely crucial to the success of a internet site, for a number of factors. Some of the SEO (search engine optimization) and CRO (conversion rate optimization) efforts we utilize on our pages will not be perceptible to the user, so any effect they might have on the top quality of the search experience is subtle and indirect.
Most, nevertheless, are perceptible, even if somewhat subtly so, and if not performed effectively, can have detrimental effects, not only to the user, but also to the high quality of the SERPs (search engine results pages) and to the web site.
The fact that poorly executed optimization efforts can adversely affect all 3, need to be an attention-getter. So too, should the fact that well orchestrated efforts will have beneficial effects on all three. That indicates that we have reached a milestone… indeed, we’re on the cusp of an entirely various sort of relationship between users, search engines and SEOs.
For the very first time ever, SEOs and search engines really share a widespread objective, and a frequent motivation – the high quality of the user’s experience. Significantly lip service has been paid to the concept, but when all was said and carried out, most SEOs had been after only one thing… rankings. They’d seek higher rankings at the expense of the SERP quality, at the expense of the user, and at the expense of the internet site owner.
That is now changing.
Recent developments of new methods of indexing and retrieving data indicate that we are acquiring closer to a genuinely semantic web. Microformats and RDFa technology now make it reasonably basic to provide a wealth of website info to the search engines, that can aid not only in serving up the most relevant results for every query, but also in showing the user sufficient information to facilitate their search procedure.
This, coupled with the refinements of the search engines’ capability to index and analyze pages at an increasingly semantic level, has dramatically improved the high quality of search query responses.
The visitors arriving at web sites will now be far more targeted to the site’s niche, which offers the site with a much more convertible audience. If an efficient conversion strategy is employed, the internet site will reap the benefits, by lower costs… hence, improved profit margin.
Finally, the user, the search engine and the web site owner are united in a widespread purpose – to supply the user with the finest achievable search experience, from beginning to end.
Search experience optimization encompasses the whole process, from entering a search query, by way of selection of the most relevant resource, navigation of the page to the desired objective, and finalizing the transition from searcher to customer.