My Quick Guide to Web Usability & SEO. Includes: - What is Web Usability? - What is SEO? - Benefits of good Web Usability - Web Usability leads to SEO

1. Quick Guide to Web Usability & SEO www.patwalsh.co.uk email@patwalsh.co.uk
QUICK GUIDE TO:
WEB USABILITY & SEO
Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1
What is Web Usability? .............................................................................................. 2
What is SEO? ........................................................................................................... 2
Benefits of good Web Usability .................................................................................... 3
Web Usability leads to SEO ......................................................................................... 3
Long Term SEO Through Web Usability Improvements ........................................................ 4
Web Usability & SEO Resources .................................................................................... 4
Freelance IT & Testing Specialist .................................................................................. 5
Introduction
Within this Quick Guide, I aim to cover the basics of Web Usability and Search Engine Optimisation
(SEO) – what they are, how they are linked, how one leads to another and – most importantly of all
– how they can help to improve a website.
Since training with Webcredible in 2007 (on Web Usability, Usability Testing and Writing for the
Web) I have been interested in these areas and how website owners can use Web Usability
techniques to improve their websites, both in terms of usability and SEO, for very little outlay in
time and money.
© Pat Walsh 2013 IT & Testing Specialist Pat Walsh IT Services

2. Quick Guide to Web Usability & SEO www.patwalsh.co.uk email@patwalsh.co.uk
What is Web Usability?
Web Usability refers to the ease-of-use and user-friendliness of a website, from the user’s point of
view. Other factors also include effectiveness, efficiency and ‘learnability’ of the website.
This applies to all areas of a website, including:
 Navigation – can a user find their way around the website easily?
 Tasks – can a user perform a task such as buying a product easily?
 Content – can the user read and understand the website content easily?
 Standard Features – is there a useful Search function? are Links clearly defined?
 Products – can the user find information on products? is enough product information
available?
 Company Information – is there an About Us link? can the user contact the Company easily?
The above is just a small subset of all the possible Web Usability factors of a website.
What is SEO?
In essence, SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – is the process of optimising a website’s position in
search engines such as Google, Bing etc.
Why SEO is important to your website
 There are around 100 billion searches per month on Google
 Search drives traffic to your website, more than ever before
 The higher your website appears on the Search Results page, the more likely it is to be
visited
There are several approaches to SEO, including
 Optimising your website’s content and architecture
 Building links with other sites, to enhance your website’s credibility
 Adding and maintaining a blog relevant to your website’s area of interest
 Also vitally important is to continually refine your SEO approach, as Google et al continually
update their algorithms and rules and also as Social Media expands in scope and type
Why optimising your website’s content and architecture will improve SEO
 Search engines such as Google use crawlers / web crawlers / spiders / robots to visit websites
such as yours, to index what the website contains
 These crawlers use the textual content of your website to decide what the website is about,
with certain content such as Titles and Headings given more weight and importance
 These crawlers also use the architecture of your website to move around your site, so the
better the architecture is designed, the easier it is for the crawler to move around from page
to page and index your site. At this point its vital to note that over-reliance on Flash or graphics
in your website will lead to the crawler not being able to properly index or navigate your
website.
© Pat Walsh 2013 IT & Testing Specialist Pat Walsh IT Services

3. Quick Guide to Web Usability & SEO www.patwalsh.co.uk email@patwalsh.co.uk
Benefits of good Web Usability
Business
 A website with an efficient ordering system is more likely to attract business from customers
and thus generate higher sales
 Users will buy more products if they can find them easily on your website
 Providing effective product information will lead to more sales
 Interesting and readable content on your website will lead to users staying longer on your
website and thus more likely to buy from your website
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
 A well organised website will be easier for users to navigate and – for SEO – helps the search
spider analyse your website
 Effective use of keywords helps your users find the information they want and – for SEO –
keywords play a major part in search engine algorithms and search engine results
 Good use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) improves the layout and consistency of navigation of
your website and – for SEO – enables the search spider to actually index your content, rather
than coding
Users
 New users are more likely to stay on the website and are thus more likely to become customers
 Existing users are more likely to keep returning to the website and provide more business
Web Usability leads to SEO
You may have heard the buzz about SEO and it definitely plays a part in getting your website
noticed, by trying to get your website first in the search engine results lists e.g. at Google.
The good news is that implementing good web usability on your website leads naturally to SEO,
for reasons such as:
 Use of concise and accurate headings helps users find information on your website and – for SEO
– helps the search crawler analyse your website
 Good use of CSS (cascading style sheets) improves the layout and consistency of navigation of
your website and – for SEO – enables the search spider to actually index your content, rather
than coding
 Effective use of keywords helps your users find the information they want and – for SEO –
keywords play a major part in search engine algorithms and search engine results
© Pat Walsh 2013 IT & Testing Specialist Pat Walsh IT Services

4. Quick Guide to Web Usability & SEO www.patwalsh.co.uk email@patwalsh.co.uk
Long Term SEO Through Web Usability Improvements
 It could be said that SEO is a moving target, as Google and the other major search engines
constantly upgrade and update their search algorithms to flush out the various tricks of short
term SEO providers.
 A focussed SEO campaign will more than likely improve your website’s search engine
positioning. However, unless usability has been addressed, this will likely only be a short term
improvement, until the search engines tighten up their search algorithms again.
 Improving your website’s usability will be an SEO asset that will never be lost, as usability is a
necessity for your website, not an SEO trick or workaround.
Web Usability & SEO Resources
Web Usability Resources
 My Web Usability & SEO glossary
 Usability 101:Introduction to usability (by Jakob Nielsen, Usability Guru)
 Usability glossary (PDF, 904 KB at usability.gov)
 Wikipedia entry for web usability
 Webcredible’s web usability and user experience (UX) resources
 International Standards on Usability (at usabilitynet.org)
 Internet World Stats (useful source of statistics on internet usage)
 IBM Ease of Use Guidelines
 justaddwater.dk – Usability & Web Standards Blog
SEO Resources
 My Web Usability & SEO glossary
 SEOmoz SEO Blog
 SEO Blog at SEO Book
 Google’s Webmasters content
 Google’s Webmaster Central Blog
 Search Engine Land
 Search Engine Watch
© Pat Walsh 2013 IT & Testing Specialist Pat Walsh IT Services

5. Quick Guide to Web Usability & SEO www.patwalsh.co.uk email@patwalsh.co.uk
Freelance IT & Testing Specialist
I’m based in the London area and can work with you on projects of
all sizes, onsite and online.
I specialise in App Testing, Website Testing, WordPress website WordPress Websites
creation and customisation.
WordPress Website All In One
My website provides full details of the range of services I provide Package
and can be found at www.patwalsh.co.uk
This package includes the essential
Contact me at email@patwalsh.co.uk or give me a bell at 0786 Website elements, for the All In
835 1399 to get in touch and discuss your requirements. One price of £499.
Including an initial Kickoff Meeting,
Details of Recent Projects I have worked on and Client Testimonials Theme Selection advice, built in
can be found at www.patwalsh.co.uk/about SEO, Web Usability, Social Media
sharing, Training, accompanying
Or connect on Twitter @PatWalshLondon Documentation plus, of course,
your completed website.
Full Details At:
WebAllIn1London.patwalsh.co.uk
Website Review & Report
This service focusses on your
existing website content. I review
your website for SEO efficiency,
App Testing Website Testing Web Usability, Social Media and
other important areas, then provide
Releasing an App? New Website or Web App? professional feedback in the form
of a comprehensive report on your
I provide a full range of iOS I provide a full set of Website website, plus an Action Plan for
App and Android App Testing Testing Services on all major improving your site. Currently
Services. I have tested within platforms – Windows, Mac OSX, priced at £149.
a wide range of sectors, Linux – and browsers – Chrome,
ranging from Retail Apps to IE, Firefox, Safari. Full Details At:
Streaming Movies. WebReviewLondon.patwalsh.co.uk
© Pat Walsh 2013 IT & Testing Specialist Pat Walsh IT Services