UX - Behind & In Front of the Curtain (State of Search 2018)

@beanstalkim #stateofsearch @beanstalk
Mary & Dave Davies
Beanstalk Internet Marketing
www.beanstalkim.com
@beanstalk
@beanstalkim info@beanstalkim.com

What Is UX?
User experience (UX) is a person's entire experience using a
particular product, system or service. It includes the practical,
experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human–
computer interaction and product ownership.
Additionally, it includes a person’s perceptions of system aspects
such as utility, ease of use and efficiency.
User experience may be considered subjective in nature to the
degree that it is about individual perception and thought with respect to
the system. Source: Wikipedia.org

Why Is UX Important To Google?
• Keep Users Coming Back
• Maintaining Authority
• There’s Money In It (A LOT!)
• Adaptation

Keep Users Coming Back
• 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

Maintaining Authority

There’s Money In It (A LOT!)
In the 2nd Quarter 2018:
• Parent Company “Alphabet” Revenue Hit $32.7 Billion
• Of That Google Ad Revenue Alone Was $28.1 Billion

Adaptation
“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

Where Can We See Google
Focusing on UX?
• Machine Learning
• Mobile First
• Voice/Portable
• SERP Layout

Machine Learning

How Does It Impact SEO?
Basically it turns
this …

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

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

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

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

Thi
s
And This
And This
And This
And This
It’s Not “MOBILE” … It’s “PORTABLE”

Voice Searchers Are All Around Us!

And Who Are They?
They’re educated.

They’re
convenience driven.
And Who Are They?
They’re educated.

They’re satisfied.
And most important
And Who Are They?
They’re educated.
They’re
convenience driven.

They have money.
And Who Are They?
They’re educated.
They’re
convenience driven.
They’re satisfied.
And most important

The Searchers Are Moving Fast
Are you?
Pay CLOSE attention
to opportunities in
the voice search
space!

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

They’ve …
• Tested using a rounded box to
group results from the same
domain.

• Tested using a sticky header.
They’ve …

• Added price insights to travel SERPs.
They’ve …

• Tested expandable featured
snippets.
They’ve …

• Added the ability to view
previous posts.
They’ve …

• Added location scores
and tabs to hotels.
They’ve …

• Added posts to some branded
queries.
They’ve …

• Launched a cameos app to allow public figures to
answer questions.
They’ve …

• Added dataset
schema to get more
direct data into the
SERPs.
They’ve …

• Added Q&A, FAQ and
How To features into the
SERPs.
They’ve …

• Tested image icons in related
searches.
They’ve …

• Added a “You Recently Viewed”
search panel.
They’ve …

• Tested new design variants for
hotel search results.
They’ve …

• Added a comparison carousel
into the SERPs.
They’ve …

And That …
Was August

What This Means For You …
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?

How Would Google Determine The
Success Of A Site?
Essentially… Machine Learning.
A Rankbrainesk system tasked with
watching what happens post-click.
There are fundamentally 4 options…

Post Click Option 1
User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Short Period
Of Time – Clicks On Next Results

Post Click Option 2
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.

Post Click Option 3
User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Short Or Long
Period Of Time – Adjusts Query Slightly

Post Click Option 4
User Clicks Results And Then Back In A Short Or Long
Period Of Time – Adjusts Query To A Completely
Different One

What Are Some Ways To Tell
Google We Are Rocking Our UX?
• Titles & Descriptions
• Navigation
• Useful Content
• Digestible Content
• Broken Links
(Fix Them!)
• Page Speed
• Human Testing
• 404 Pages
• + MUCH MORE That
We Don’t Have Time
To Cover 

Titles & Descriptions
• This Is Your First Impression
• Tell Google & Users That You Are
What They Are Looking For
• Find Problems (Use A Tool Like
Screaming Frog)
• Test/Adjust Your Titles & Descriptions
• Mooch Off Your Competitors 😉

Navigation
• Don’t Lose Your Visitors To
Navigation Exhaustion
• Clear Direction & Fewer Choices
• Breadcrumb Navigation
• Logical Journey (In & Out)
• Where Are You Taking Them?

Useful Content
• 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 In Google
Suggest (www.answerthepublic.com is also great!)
“Content is not king, usefulness is king.” - Duane Forrester

Digestible Content
• Wealth of Information = Poverty of Attention
• Break Up Content Into Logical Blocks & Pages
• Use Accordion Style Content Boxes & Tabs
• Break Up Text With Images That Connect With Users
My Cat

Broken Links
• Major Frustration Factor
• Missing Out on Link
Weight
• Fix Internal - Xenu
• Fix External - Google
Search Console (Crawl
Errors Report)

Page Speed
• Probably The Single Most
Important Thing You Can Do From
A UX Perspective
• Google: 2 Seconds Is The
Threshold For Ecommerce Website
Accessibility.
• Begin A Users Journey Without
Frustration

Human Testing
• 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 

Here’s An Example…

404 Pages
• Any Visitor To This Page Is
Annoyed
• Be Friendly & Apologize
• Offer A Way Out
• Humor Can Go A Long Way …

+ MUCH MORE

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

But It All Matters!
• 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
• Google Does Not Want To Be Another
MySpace Story
• As Google Adapts So Must You

Creating A Good User Experience
Checklist …
• HTTPS
• Portable Data
• Page Speed
• Broken Links
• Titles & Descriptions
• Navigation
• Useful Content
• Digestible Content
• Links To External Sites
• Calls To Action
• Avoid Frustration
• Human Testing
• Engaging Imagery
• Contact Page
• 404 Pages
• Connect/Tell Stories
• Make Sharing & Following
Easy

Minimum Tools You Should Have
• Screaming Frog / Sitebulb
• SEMRush / Moz *
• Majestic / Ahrefs / Search
Console
• Lucky Orange / CrazyEgg
• PageSpeed insights
• Google Tag Manager
• Google Optimize
• Answer The Public

@beanstalk
@beanstalkim
www.beanstalkim.com
info@beanstalkim.com

UX - Behind & In Front of the Curtain (State of Search 2018)

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