Photo © Flickr user LVCHEN, flickr.com/photos/yungyeh
I’m a UX Designer – and I’m an SEO: Working Together to Heal the Rift
Between Customers and theMarketers Who Love Them
Erin Hawk (Team UX at REI): @erinhawkJonathon Colman (Team SEO at REI): @jcolman
Slideshow available for download:http://slidesha.re/ux-seo
IA SU
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IT WIN
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ION TITLE
Let’s learn about you with a quick survey…
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Our question: Can UX and SEO be like chocolate and
peanut butter?
Photo © Flickr user jamieanne, flickr.com/photos/jamieanne
Top 5 UX design myths about SEO
Photo © Flickr user LVCHEN, flickr.com/photos/yungyeh
Myth: SEO is SPAM.
Photo © Flickr user OCReactive, flickr.com/photos/ocreactive
Reality: SEO is relevancy marketing.
Photo © Flickr user jmsvuk, flickr.com/photos/jmsvuk
It’s just one tool in your belt.
Yep, it’s this one.
Photo © Flickr user herzogbr, flickr.com/photos/herzogbr
Source: The Atlas Rank Report: How Search Engine Rank Impacts Traffic
High search rank correlates with high traffic and conversion.
Myth: Design is forpeople, not robots.
Photo © Flickr user mringseis, flickr.com/photos/mringseis
Reality: Search engines are consumers of your content, too.
Photo © Flickr user H Brown, flickr.com/photos/heathercbrown
…and people rely on robots as wayfinding agents.
Photo © Flickr user ebatty, flickr.com/photos/ebatty
Tip: We prefer City O’ City coffee at 206 E. 13th Ave.
Myth: SEO seems filled with secrets
and mysteries.
Photo © Flickr user JK Mallory, flickr.com/photos/41499497@N06
Reality: So is any discipline… when seen from the outside.
Photo © Flickr user Alegrya, flickr.com/photos/alegrya
SEOs are not gurus; they’re just practitioners. Like you!
Photo © Flickr user mrbenjamin, flickr.com/photos/25199042@N06
…and SEO works best whenit’s built-in to the experience.
Photo © Flickr user Jonesemyr, flickr.com/photos/47557199@N03
Myth: SEO is about text, not design or IA.
Photo © Flickr user jcolman, flickr.com/photos/jcolman
Let’s look at a product page…
Text is clearly an important part of
the experience for humans and search engines.
…but how did theyfind that product?
Design and architecture affect humans and search engines.
Reality: SEO is all about IA, taxonomy, ops, analytics, infrastructure, relationships… UX!
Photo © Flickr user temposmodernos, flickr.com/photos/50806803@N08
SEO
Myth: I can rely onadvertising for traffic.
Photo © Flickr user s.urich, flickr.com/photos/urichsj
Reality: Paid Search CPC increases ≈30% each year.
Does your ad budget?
Reality: If SEO isn’t at least 50% of your traffic, it’s still growing.
Top 5 SEO mythsabout UX design
Photo © Flickr user LVCHEN, flickr.com/photos/yungyeh
Myth: You can’t trulymeasure “experience”.
Photo © Flickr user undoneclothing, flickr.com/photos/undoneclothing
Reality: UX has many tools for measurement.
Photo © Flickr user Winter Bicycles, flickr.com/photos/22538785@N05
Photo © Flickr user mickwatson, flickr.com/photos/mickwatson
Myth: You can’ttie UX to profits.
Image by Dr. Susan Weinschenk © Human Factors International, Inc., http://www.humanfactors.com/ROIposter.aspVideo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O94kYyzqvTc
Reality: Oh yes you can!
(Roughly $76,000/month!)
40
Myth: Search solves allyour navigation issues.
Photo © Flickr user refmo, flickr.com/photos/refmo
Reality: Users often don’t know what they don’t know.
Photo © Flickr user zert.sonstige_2008, flickr.com/photos/32552054@N04
And that’s OK!
Marcia J. Bates: The Design of Browsing and Berrypicking Techniques for the Online Search Interface http://gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bates/berrypicking.html
…because learning and refining is part of their experience.
…which is why we need to support both browsing and searching.
Myth: I alreadyknow our customers!
Photo © Flickr user coblat, flickr.com/photos/coblat
OK, so which one am I?
Photo © Flickr user MeFind, flickr.com/photos/mefind
Reality: You don’t know Jack. Or Jill! Until you talk to Jill. And
other Jills who are like her.
Myth: The user’s feelings don’t matter.
Photo © Flickr user wishardofoz, flickr.com/photos/wishardofoz
Which one of these people will come back?
Or recommend you?
Photo © Flickr user lunaciel, flickr.com/photos/lunaciel
Reality: Satisfied customers are loyal, long-term
shoppers and referrers.
Actually, the user doesn’t matter.
Photo © Flickr user yubyungman, flickr.com/photos/yubyungman
Photo © Flickr user largeprime, flickr.com/photos/largeprimenumber
Reality: Search engines can’t buy anything from you.
Group exercise:Can UX and SEO work together?
Photo © Flickr user usnavynvns, flickr.com/photos/usnavynvns
Scenario: This is a product users like. REI ranks well for its name.
And it drives traffic.
When customers click on the search result, they get a “Product Unavailable” page.
Guess what? We have a newer version of this product in stock!
But it’s located at a different URL that does not rank well in search.
What would YOU do?
Team UX:What would you do to reduce bounce rate on the old jacket and improve conversion for
the new version?
Team SEO:What would you do to
improve findability and drive traffic to the new version of
the jacket?
Split into two teams…
Photo © Flickr user Colin_K, flickr.com/photos/colinkinner
Nice work!This stormtrooperdemands that you
hug it out.
Photo © Flickr user balkov, flickr.com/photos/balakov
So... Can we make UX and SEO be like chocolate and peanut butter?
Photo © Flickr user jamieanne, flickr.com/photos/jamieanne
Photo © Flickr user let5ch, flickr.com/photos/letscher
Photo © Flickr user Rajiv Patel, flickr.com/photos/23679420@N00
Photo © Flickr user Noel C. Hankamer, flickr.com/photos/nhankamer
Want more SEO/UX tools?Get 90+ hand-curated articles and resources at:
www.delicious.com/seo_ux_
Graphic © Flickr user Jesse Fletcher, flickr.com/photos/jaxsilver
Erin Hawk:UX @ REITwitter @erinhawk
Jonathon Colman:SEO @ REITwitter @jcolman
