Search Engine vs Search Experience Optimization
How does SEO work?
In SEO, search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, Duckduckgo, Yahoo, and others design their ranking factors to determine how websites and their pages rank for search queries in SERPs.
Search engine optimization is actually from 2 phases or perspectives: the search engine perspective and the webmaster’s perspective.
However, SEO focuses on search results, and how webpages are positioned in the SERPs.
With the help of the complex algorithms, a suitable and relevant answer to the search queries of the users is identified using specific keywords or key phrases.
The algorithm relies on the page’s title and other metadata, subheadings, and keyword density to determine what a particular page is all about.
Content marketers, therefore, exploit these determinants of web ranking and optimize, sometimes, over-optimize these variables to rank higher on search engines.
Content marketers and SEO experts insert their main keyword in the title, mention it many times within the content body, tags, and meta description of their webpage, and viola, the page rises in SERP because it’s assumed to be relevant to the search term (the said main keyword).
What is Search Experience Optimization and How it Works
The user may come across results that are irrelevant to him and is not satisfied with the search result.
To meet the expectations of search engine users, the search engine algorithms are now tweaked to add score points to webpages that users stay longer after clicking through the search results.
The search engines also take note of the user coming back to the search result to find better information after clicking through to a webpage initially.
Therefore, modern-day internet marketers and SEO experts need to focus on the users’ satisfaction and provide answers to users’ queries.
Make your content worthy of users’ wants and make it easy to consume by the readers, the UX would be improved, and your ranking on the search engines would improve at the same time.
Take note, that search experience optimization (SXO) does not change the fundamental concept of search engine optimization SEO, but rather, it is an evolution of SEO, enhanced with search engine users’ experiences.
Conclusion
Search Experience Optimization (SXO) is a mix of search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience (UX).
With SXO, it is now more about understanding the search intent of the users rather than the search engine ranking factors.
The areas of context and relevance of a search result are combined and the accessibility and design of the website must also fit.
The different verticals of online marketing are thus converging to one point.
In the past, SEOer didn’t have much to do with the user experience and the conversion rate but that is now changing with the current development.
