Plerdy's CRO/UX_Party February 2021 - Dan Taylor - SEO & UX

Google’s
Relationship with UX
Dan Taylor // SALT.agency

Head of Research & Development @ SALT.agency
• 2018 TechSEO Boost Innovation Award
• Search Engine Journal Author
• Search Engine Journal Top 140 (“18, “19, “20)
• SEMrush Top Author
• https://salt.agency
• https://hreflangchecker.com
• https://sloth.cloud
• https://dantaylor.online
These slides: https://dantaylor.online/plerdy
dantaylor.online // @taylordanrw

Today
Today we will be exploring Google’s relationship with user experience.
● An analysis of Google's patents and documentation with regards to
UX elements, including algorithms that reportedly targeted UX
elements.
● Everything Googlers have publicly said around UX and its
relationship to SEO.
● A summary of tests and experiments around UX,
● How Core Web Vitals ties into UX.
3

Why UX Would Matter
To Google...
Advancement beyond keywords and links.

“
User experience isn’t just about how
well presented a page is, how easy it
is to navigate, or content. It’s also
about how the user feels, and
experiences the satisfaction to their
query and intent - the
conversion/end goal is a product of
the happiness.
5
Me :)

“How Search Works”
6
CRAWL INDEX RANK
RENDER

The Rendering Process
As Google renders the webpage (via the WRS) it will also take into
account the page layout, content visibility, pop-ups, ads, and any other
items that require user interaction.
Design v Time To Query Satisfaction.
E.g. Accordions are good design features, but is adding additional clicks
a good thing for users?
Recommended: Jamie Alberico, BrightonSEO 2019:
https://youtu.be/bWmRGhmFtIU?t=23181
7

Metrics
Let’s stop talking about…
● Bounce Rate (Google Analytics)
● Pages Per Session (Google Analytics)
● Avg. Session Duration (Google Analytics)
Google does user metrics, but none of them are in Google Analytics. It
looks at CrUX, RUM, and SERP interactions over billions of user touch
points and actively runs experiments. + remember page load speed!
>> https://dantaylor.online/blog/is-ctr-a-ranking-factor/
8

Specific Scoring Mechanisms
We also know from patent analysis that Google have proprietary
methods and mechanisms for scoring how “successful” special content
result blocks, such as featured snippets, and ranking certain sites in
certain positions can be.
Patent: Scoring candidate answer passages (link)
Analysis: Quality Scores & Augmentation Queries (link)
9

“
So, when someone searches. Google may compare
the SERPs they receive from the original query
to augmented query results based on previous
searches using the same query terms or
synthetic queries. This evaluation against
augmentation queries is based upon which search
results have received more clicks in the past. Google
may decide to add results from an
augmentation query to the results for the query
searched for to improve quality scores and the
overall search results.
10
Bill Slawski

User Happiness
Search engines have evolved beyond keywords and links being primary
drivers for search ranking.
Whilst we use link-building/digital PR, meticulously planned content
hubs, and great branding to drive leads and sales, we’re actually working
to two individual goals:
● Initial user happiness
● User experience forecasting
And we also need to think about user enthusiasm...
11

A note on COVID & data
COVID, and changes in user-behaviour, will not have affected user-
experience data.
If anything, expectations of the web experience have increased as more
users have been forced to migrate offline journeys online.
Recommended: Rob Tannen > https://medium.com/@robtannen/no-
covid-19-is-not-skewing-your-user-experience-research-458e9ac15fba
12

Google Patents &
Algorithms RE: UX
Algo’s and patents we can relate to the overall
user experience of websites, and the impact on
SEO performance.

Patents
In single patent format, Google hasn’t directly addressed or created a
binary metric or system for determining what is - and isn’t - a positive or
negative user experience.
However, over the years they have revealed a large number of models,
algorithm updates, and scoring systems to enhance their search results
and rank websites providing a better user experience (and query intent
satisfaction) higher.
Oftentimes, we’ve focused on the more tangible elements of algorithm
updates, but with hindsight and a wider view, we can see how they’ve
been working towards better user experiences on the web.
14

Panda 2011
Panda was about content? Right?
Yes. And No.
Panda (2011) was the first update to start moving websites towards a
better standard of user experience.
The aim was to demote websites with thin/low value, spammy,
copied/stolen, and just poor content. As a tangible way of processing
this, we started adding minimum word counts and thought of things
like TF*IDF and LSI (neither of which are used by Google).
15

Hummingbird 2013
Hummingbird was designed to better help Google understand the
intent and context behind searches (step in semantic search).
As users looked to enter queries in a more conversational manner, it
became essential to optimize for user experience by focusing on content
beyond the keyword with a renewed focus on the long-tail.
This was the first indication of Google using natural language processing
(NLP) to identify black hat techniques and create personalized SERP
results.
16

EAT Concept Introduced (2014)
The concept of EAT first appeared in Google’s QRGs back in 2014, but has
seen a rise in popularity and exposure since 2018.
Google E-A-T guidelines were established to help marketers tailor on
and off-page SEO and content strategies to provide users with an
experience containing the most relevant content from sources they
could trust.
● Create content that shows expertise and knowledge of the subject
matter.
● Focus on the credibility and authority of websites publishing
content.
● Improve the overall quality of websites – structure and security.
● Earn off-page press coverage on reputable sites, reviews,
testimonials, and expert authors (enthusiasm generation). 17

Mobile Changes, AI/ML
The mobile update, and switch to mobile first indexing are also a sign of
changes being made by Google to improve their experience of the web.
By matching the devices users use regularly as part of their crawling,
rending, and indexing processes they can rank websites that drive the
best experience.
Similarly, advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence
allow Google to better serve content that matches ambiguous queries.
18

Core Web Vitals
The Page Experience Update being rolled out in May 2021 is a directly
statement on rewarding websites that generate a positive user experience,
measured by LCP, FID, and CLS.
Evolution, not revolution.
● It’s unlikely that a large % of SERPs will see changes - however, SERPs
that get the most eyes (most searches) will likely see the biggest impact.
Query level/SERP level.
● You should be monitoring and paying attention to who ranks for your
most valuable keywords, and if they’re making improvements, use it as
the business case to push through yours.
19

Page Experience Update (May 21)
Mobile-friendliness, safe browsing, HTTPS, and intrusive interstitials –
The Google Page Experience Signal.
LCP – Largest Contentful Paint – improve page load times for large
images and video backgrounds.
FID – First Input Delay – ensure your browser responds quickly to a
user’s first interaction with a page.
CLS – Cumulative Layout Shift – Include the size attributes on your
images and video elements or reserve the space with CSS aspect ratio
boxes and ensure content is never inserted above existing content,
except in response to a user interaction.
20

Core Web Vitals
Useful resources:
Visualising LP level & session level CWV data in GA:
https://salt.agency/blog/web-vitals-data-visualising-guide/
Layout shift GIF generator (Chris Johnson)
https://defaced.dev/tools/layout-shift-gif-generator/
21

Googler Statements on
SEO & UX
Algo’s and patents we can relate to the overall
user experience of websites, and the impact on
SEO performance.

Google’s UX Playbooks
Google have publicly stated that they do have UX playbooks internally,
however these are put out by the Ads (not search) team, and are a
chronicle of UX best practices.
These playbooks are confidential, but a version was leaked towards the
end of 2018. Search Engine Journal covered this here.
These UX factors can however have an indirect impact on ranking
performance (John Mueller, Feb 2019).
23

“
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.
24
John Mueller, 2019

Soft Ranking Factors
There are some user experience (UX) factors that are called soft ranking
factors. Page speed and HTTPS are examples of soft UX ranking factors.
Yet though they are ranking factors, they are considered less impactful
than regular ranking factors.
In the example of HTTPS, Google have gone on record during
Webmaster Hangouts and said that “HTTPS does not directly affect
ranking, but can be used as a tiebreaker”.
A soft ranking factor more or less means that it is a minor factor in
comparison to known ranking factors such as links.
25

UX - A Soft Ranking Factor?
Soft ranking factors also tie in with what we know about how Google
measures SERP interactions, and how they impact rankings.
During a 2019 Webmaster hangout, when asked the question of a
website ranking first, that was both very fast and “keyword optimized”,
but didn’t satisfy the user query/intent adequately, John Mueller replied
with:
“The user wouldn’t be happy.”
Soft factors, can outweigh more rigid factors if perceived user
satisfaction isn’t high.
26

The Impact Of Brand (Authority,
Enthusiasm)
Brands are the solution, not the problem… Brands are how you sort out
the cesspool. - Eric Schmidt
We actually came up with a classifier to say, okay, IRS or Wikipedia or
New York Times is over on this side, and the low-quality sites are over on
this side. - Matt Cutts
Brand is important, but it’s not the be all and end all. If you have a strong
brand, and users expect/know to see your brand associated with certain
products and services, a lot of your SEO can not be 100%.
You need to generate brand enthusiasm.
27

UX & Page Design
Effects On Speed
Having a quick loading page, doesn’t mean
sacrificing good design and user-experience. Good
web experiences can be built fast.

Speed = User Experience
There’s always a study that shows that improving page load speed by X,
led to an increase in sales of Y.
We oftentimes focus too much on tools, such as Lighthouse, and we
don’t actually experience our own websites like a user would. We focus
too much on speed as being a ranking factor, and not as a business
objective.
If you went to a restaurant, and service was slow, you’d have a negative
experience. This is the same online.
29

“
there have been studies by Akamai
who found that two seconds is
actually the threshold for e-
commerce site acceptability.
Meaning that that’s what users like
to shop with. At Google, we aim for
under a half second.
30
Maile Ohye, 2010

“
(if) we’re seeing an extremely high
response-time for requests made to
your site (at times, over 2 seconds to
fetch a single URL). This has resulted
in us severely limiting the number of
URLs we’ll crawl from your site.
31
John Mueller, 2015

So, what should I do as
a marketer/SEO?
What do I take to my C-suite as the strategy for
the next 5 years?

User Happiness
Search engines have evolved beyond keywords and links being primary
drivers for search ranking.
Whilst we use link building/digital PR, meticulously planned content
hubs, and great branding activities to drive leads and sales, we’re
actually working to two individual goals:
● Initial user happiness
● User experience forecasting
33

Stop focusing on “the funnel”
All too often, we talk about “the funnel”, and how we have top-of-the-
funnel keywords, bottom-of-the-funnel keywords, and how their intent
may/may not relate to the user journey stage/intent.
● The funnel is too rigid.
● The funnel suggests that once the user has converted, then it’s job
done.
● We don’t ask “what next?” enough, as we focus too much on the
ROI of SEO and other marketing activities.
34

Bow Tie Funnel
Left-side of the bow tie; ROI &
CPA - how can we attract users
to the brand, and convert them
- experience forecasting.
Right-side of the bow tie; LTV &
Churn - how can we best
address existing user needs and
prevent competition turning
them - user happiness.
35

How many variables can you control?
36
Pre-Conversion
Post-Conversion
Number of variables you can
control.

Moving beyond intent
Experience Forecasting
How can you rank for terms, and
provide content that not only
matches the user query, but
helps the user better understand
your product/solution so they can
accurately forecast their
experience.
User Happiness
Once they’ve converted, let’s keep
the customer engaged. What’s
next?
What are the post-conversion
queries they may have? What
other problems?
Shut the door.
37
Recommended: https://dantaylor.online/blog/gearing-your-seo-strategy-to-generate-user-
happiness/

Real World Example. Chess.
38
Jul 20 Aug 20 Sep 20 Oct 20 Nov 20
US Search
Volume
547,000 520,000 499,000 634,000 1,300,000
100% growth in search interest just for [chess] both month-on-month,
and year-on-year…
Why? The Queens Gambit aired on Netflix.
So, the left-side of the funnel is very strong, and the number of potentials
has doubled. Your strategy on acquisition should already be established,
now you should be working harder than ever to retain them.

Plerdy's CRO/UX_Party February 2021 - Dan Taylor - SEO & UX

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Plerdy's CRO/UX_Party February 2021 - Dan Taylor - SEO & UX