Pubcon Florida 2019 Session: UX Tweaks for Rankings and Conversion

#PubconMary - @beanstalk
Dave - @ beanstalkim
“So, wait, you’re saying
USER EXPERIENCE affects
both RANKINGS &
CONVERSIONS?!”

Beanstalk Internet Marketing
www.beanstalkim.com
info@beanstalkim.com

John Mueller – July 10, 2018
On Pogo-Sticking
“… that’s something we look at across
millions of different queries, and
millions of different pages, and kind of
see in general is this algorithm going
the right.
But for individual pages I don’t think
that’s something worth focusing on at
all.”

Gary Illyes – February 7, 2019
On Dwell Time, CTR, Etc.
“… Dwell time, CTR, whatever Fishkin's
new theory is, those are generally
made up crap. Search is much more
simple than people think.”

Gary Illyes – February 7, 2019
On Dwell Time, CTR, Etc.
“… Dwell time, CTR, whatever Fishkin's
new theory is, those are generally
made up crap. Search is much more
simple than people think.”
John Mueller – July 10, 2018
On Pogo-Sticking
“… that’s something we look at
across millions of different queries,
and millions of different pages, and
kind of see in general is this
algorithm going the right way or is
this algorithm going in the right way.
But for individual pages I don’t think
that’s something worth focusing on
at all.”
VS

Gary IllyesJohn Mueller
VS

• Google MAY NOT Use UX As A
Signal Applied To Your Site
Specifically
• But Even If That’s True THEY DO
Use It To Rank their Results
• So It Just FEELS Like It’s A
Ranking Factor
(Because It Acts Just Like One.
Because It Is.)

John Mueller – February 19, 2019
On UX Playbooks
“But obviously if you make a good
website that works well for users then
indirectly you can certainly see an
effect in ranking. But it’s not that we
would say look at these UX Playbooks
and specifically use those as factors for
ranking.”

• Keep Users Coming Back
• Maintaining Authority
• There’s Money In It (A LOT!)
• Adaptation

• Users Will Choose The PATH OF LEAST
RESISTANCE
• Users Increasingly Are Demanding INSTANT
SATISFACTION
• Users Have Pretty Much NO PATIENCE
• User Loyalty Is About An
EXPERIENCE/RELATIONSHIP With Your Brand

In the 4th Quarter 2018:
• Parent Company “Alphabet” Revenue Hit $39.28 Billion
• Of That Google Ad Revenue Alone Was $32.6 Billion

“News Corp (owner of MySpace) tried
to guide MySpace, to add planning, and
to use “professional management” to
determine the business’ future. That
was fatally flawed when competing with
Facebook which was managed in White
Space, letting the marketplace decide
where the business should go.” - Forbes

• Machine Learning
• Mobile First
• Voice/Portable
• SERP Layout

Basically it turns
this …

Basically it turns
this …
Sundar Pichai
Google CEO
Into this …

Basically it turns
this …
Sundar Pichai
Google CEO
Into this …
7 of 88,110
Google Engineer
But more like …

Why did Google go
mobile first?
Because users did
…
And with them …

Their money.
Why did Google go
mobile first?
Because users did
…
And with them …

BECAUSE …

BECAUSE …
THIS Is Mobile
And This

And This

This is Definitely Mobile

But So Is This

OH AND …

This And This

WHY?

They’re educated.

They getting more
bold..
They’re educated.

They’re satisfied.
And most important
They’re educated.
They getting more
bold..

They have money.
They’re educated.
They’re satisfied.
And most important
They getting more
bold..

Are you?
Pay CLOSE attention to
opportunities in the
voice search space!

Test Site
https://search.google.com/test/mobile-friendly

Consider The User
Test Site

Test Site
Consider The User

Hire A Capable Developer
Test Site
Consider The User

Make It Fast
Get Help
• https://productforums.google.com/
• https://www.bing.com/webmaster/help/
• https://mobilemoxie.com/blog/
• https://wordpress.org/support/
• Your favorite tools support forums
Test Site
Consider The User
Hire A Capable Developer

• Featured Snippets
• Carousels
• Map Packs
• Knowledge Panels
• Filters
Google Has Been

• Tested event rich snippets
on desktop.

• More than doubled the
number of medical featured
snippets.

• Added check-in and check-
out times to hotel searches.

• Concluded an experiment in
the EU, stripping all images
and descriptions from news
results.

• Tested an image carousel
with refinement bubbles.

• Let business owners respond
to reviews directly through
Google My Business and
Google Maps.

• Expanded call-only ads with
more text.

• Added swipe to their image
results on mobile.

• Started showing videos in a
grid format on mobile.

• Added a trending
notification on people
results.

• Added a recently viewed
section to image results.

• Tested favicons in the top
stories.

• Tested icons and images in
the related stories section.

• Run tests on new layouts for
people also asked.

• Run tests on top stories
layout.

• Run tests on the layout of
their popular products.

• Tested a popular products
carousel.

• And tested the notorious
found of the web layout with
multiple answer sources and
no visible hyperlinks.

Was February
A big thanks to Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) for keeping us all posted on the updates and the screenshots.

In a nutshell this means:
1 - You need to pay attention
to how Google is changing
layouts to take advantage of
opportunities.
2 - You need to consider that
if Google is willing to put
that time in, what do they
expect of you?

• Titles & Descriptions
• Navigation
• Useful Content
• Digestible Content
• Broken Links
• Page Speed
• Human Testing
• 404 Pages
• Engaging Imagery
• Mobile Friendly
• Avoid Frustration

• This Is Your First Impression
• Tell Google & Users That You Are What
They Are Looking For (BUT DO NOT LIE!)
• Find Problems (Use A Tool Like
Screaming Frog)
• Test/Adjust Your Titles & Descriptions
• Mooch Off Your Competitors 😉

• Look At Competitor
Ads (Use Spyfu To
See Where The Big
Budgets Are Being
Spent)
Fun Cheat/Trick For Titles & Descriptions Ideas …

• Don’t Lose Your Visitors To Navigation Exhaustion
• It’s Not About Less Clicks, It’s About A Clear Path
• Clear Direction & Fewer Choices
• Breadcrumb Navigation
• Logical Journey (In & Out)
• Where Are You Taking Them & Why?

• Think Of Content That You Actually
Read/Engage With
• Don’t Focus On Keywords - Write For
People First
• Find Ideas For Useful, Searched For
Content – 2 Great Places For That Are …
“Content is not king, usefulness is king.” - Duane Forrester
I cannot believe you
are still quoting me
on that!!!

Google Suggest

www.answerthepublic.com

• Wealth of Information = Poverty of Attention
• Break Up Content Into Logical Blocks & Pages
• Use Accordion Style Content Boxes & Tabs
(Where/When It Makes Sense)
• Break Up Text With Images That Connect With Users
My Cat

• Major Frustration Factor
• Missing Out On Link Weight
• Fix Internal - Xenu/Screaming
Frog
• Fix External - Google Search
Console (Crawl Errors Report)

• Probably The Single Most Important Thing You
Can Do From A UX Perspective
• 47% of Users Expect A Site To Load In 2
Seconds, 40% Will Leave After 3 Seconds
• Begin A Users Journey Without Frustration

• Don’t Trust Your Designer, Your Best
Friend, Your Boss or Your Mom
• Tools/Resources To Help You
www.fivesecondtest.com
www.usertesting.com
www.luckyorange.com

“But my site is doing well & people like it!”
• There is always room for
improvement
• “Good Enough” is NEVER
GOOD ENOUGH!
• Your baby just might be ugly … sorry 

I bet his
babies
aren’t ugly
though.

• Many Visitors To This Page Are
Annoyed/ Frustrated
• Be Friendly & Apologize
• Offer A Way Out
• Humor Can Go A Long Way …

• 90% of Information Transmitted to the Brain Is Visual
• Articles With Images Get 94% More Views
• 10% Of Heard Info Was Retained After 3 Days VS 65%
If The Same Info Was Paired With A Relevant Image
• Use Original Images Whenever Possible
• Use Images To Draw The Visitor Into The Experience

• User’s & Google’s Versions Of Mobile
Friendly Are Not The Same
• Chrome Developer Tools – Device
Mode
• Tools Are Helpful But First Hand
Experience Is Better
• Mobile Users Are Looking For QUICK
Info And EASY Actions

bit.ly/STmobilestats
Mobile Use Is Steadily Growing And There’s Too Much
To Cover Here On The Stats So Go Visit …
These Guys Approve
Of This Message

• Purpose is a Quick Answer/Information Source
• Create Content Specifically For This Purpose
• Authority Signal to Users
• Immediate Jump to Top of Page
• Can Lead To A Click-Through
• If Not You Then Who?

But It’s Evolving …
This Was 2017 …

This Is Today …

• Link Loops Make Me (& Everyone Else)
Crazy
• Be TRUTHFUL In Titles, Descriptions & Ads
• Offer Easy Ways To Share & Save
Information
• Get To The Point & Provide Easy Access To
Desired Quick Action Items

They Do It Just Like You Do
(OK … Maybe A BIT More Sophisticated)

In Internet Explorer It Looks Like …
But It’s Still There

How Would Google Determine The
Success Of A Site?

User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Short Period Of
Time – Clicks On Next Results

User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Long Period Of Time –
Clicks On Next Results
• While the action is similar the user cannot be
viewed as dissatisfied.
• They may be shopping around or seeing
additional information or opinions.

User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Short Or Long Period
Of Time – Adjusts Query Slightly

User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Short Or Long Period
Of Time – Adjusts Query To A Completely Different One

Definitely:
• PageSpeed
• HTTPS
• Mobile Friendly
• Broken Links
• Titles &
Descriptions
Maybe:
• Click Through Rate
• Bounce Rate
• Time On Site
• Social Sharing
(A Google patent filed Aug 2016
suggests this may be used as a signal
for results fed to users based on their
network’s user behavior in future)

• Google Is Steadily Adding UX Based Signals To Its Algorithms
• Gaining Higher Rankings With A Poor Converting Site Won’t Allow For
Your Maximum ROI
• There’s Zero Harm In Creating A Good Overall User Experience
• There’s So Much To Gain In Creating A Good User Experience

“User experience is dynamic as it is
constantly modified over time due
to changing usage circumstances
…”
• User Experience Is Adaptation
• Adaptation Is About Survival
• As Google Adapts So Must You

• HTTPS
• Portable Data
• Page Speed
• Broken Links
• Titles & Descriptions
• Navigation
• Useful Content
• Digestible Content
• Page Speed
• Mobile Friendly
• Avoid Frustration
• Human Testing
• Engaging Imagery
• Contact Page
• 404 Pages

• Screaming Frog / Sitebulb
• SEMRush / Moz
• Majestic / Ahrefs / Search
Console
• Lucky Orange / CrazyEgg
• PageSpeed insights
• Google Tag Manager
• Google Optimize
• Answer The Public

Thanks So Much For Sharing This Hour With Us!

Pubcon Florida 2019 Session: UX Tweaks for Rankings and Conversion

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