When SEO kills Usability

Using some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques without proper consideration of a positive user experience is the fast way to kill usability.

I’ve noted this as have others, including Google’s Chief of News, Josh Cohen, who was quoted in a Poynter. org article about SEO and user experience as saying:

“Focus on creating a more engaging experience for the users so that they spend a longer period of time per visit. Make sure the user experience comes first, not the search engine visibility.”

Josh Cohen, Senior Business Product Manager, Google News

The issue is one of quality, or lack thereof.  SEO can be used for good purposes, by making it easier for search engines (and thus people) to find the high-quality content they seek.  SEO can unfortunately also be used for bad purposes, to manipulate the search engines to find and artificially rank sites that actually have low-quality, or worse, no content.  When SEO is applied in this dubious manner, to trick search engines, it is often accomplished by using techniques that create bad usability.

Here is the formula I like to use to define the results for usage of SEO and usability:

• SEO + Bad Usability = short visits = Bad ROI
• SEO + Good Usability = long visits = Good ROI

Ultimately, if your site is anything other than a massive advertising link farm, the positive SEO and usability your website content provides defines the number and quality of the visits, and thus the amount of revenue gained, not how many visits you can have.

This reminds me of a Tweet Nick Finck posted…

SEO Practices that Kill Usability

There are many ways certain SEO practices can kill usability, but the three most common ways I’ve seen include:

• Creating pages with minimal amounts of meaningless keyword-stuffed content
• Creating pages with massive amounts of keyword-stuffed content
• Creating pages with zero amounts of content

All of these can kill usability, because the techniques used to influence SEO create a quality of the experience that is so lacking.  This causes website visitors to want to run, not walk away, from the site.

Example 1 – Creating pages with minimal amounts of keyword-stuffed content

Let’s say you’re interested in buying a new printer, you’ve not bought one in a while, so you’d like to know the latest information about how to buy a printer.  You’d probably expect to learn about how to find the latest models, how to evaluate features, and how to compare pricing.

Starting on Bing, you might type in the search term:

How to buy a printer

On Bing’s resulting search listings you’ll find many potentially promising sites.  Having high expectations for finding good quality information you might click on some of the links in the search results, including the link for eHow.com.

Bing - How to buy a printer results

You are then taken to the eHow.com page for how to buy a printer which promises to inform you about choosing the machine that’s right for you.

However, what you actually receive in the way of your hoped-for rich high-quality content and good usability on the eHow.com page may not meet your expectations.  Right in the middle of a massive scrolling page of ads are 6 steps for finding a printer.  There are a total of 231 words of helpful advice about how to buy a printer in the body copy.

If we visually highlight the actual page content to separate it from the ads we are left with a minimal amount of content that provides a poor user experience and from a task standpoint does not achieve good usability.  There is little to no useful content, and thus the user experience and poor usability do not come close to matching expectations.

Included in the advice in the steps are such meaty content as:

“Step 2 – Decide between ink-jet and laser printers. How you’ll use the printer will guide your decision.”

eHow How to buy a printer

This example clearly demonstrates that the SEO practice of providing just enough keyword rich content (16 uses of the word ‘printer’ and variations in the body copy alone) with no regard to the quality of the content leads to bad usability, and a page filled with hundreds of ads.

SEO and Usability Rule #1 – Don’t skimp on the content!

Achieve good SEO and usability by providing your users with high-quality, useful and usable content

Example 2 – Creating pages with massive amounts of keyword-stuffed content

The opposite of minimal content is maximum keyword-stuffed content, which is an example of using SEO to stuff so many keywords into the content that the page ranks higher in search results, at the expense of usability.

For this example, let’s assume you are interested in buying a used car, and want to research more information on how to do it.  In this case you might type in:

How to buy a used car

In Bing’s listings of results are sites including the top one, carbuyingtips.com.

Bing - How to buy a used car

Clicking on carbuyingtips.com takes you to a page filled with huge amounts of content, presented in a massive scrolling page of car buying content, displayed in varying types of visual styles that lack usable organization.  Go ahead and start scrolling down the screenshot, I’ll be down below there waiting for you…

From an SEO standpoint this is the equivalent of throwing everything in, AND the kitchen sink! The usability of this page suffers from massive amounts of semi-organized content designed perhaps to overwhelm search engines, and any humans that are brave enough to try to read and digest the information.

It’s not a surprise that this page comes up in top position for the results, just based on the sheer weight of the content all by itself.  The problem however is it’s a rather unpleasant task to try to read, assimilate and comprehend all the content, leading to poor usability and a disappointing user experience.

SEO and Usability Rule #2 – Don’t stuff the content!

Create positive SEO and usability by providing your users with visually organized, easy to read, easy to comprehend, and thus easy to use content.

Example 3 – Creating pages with zero amount content

Using the same search results for “how to buy a used car,” another site shows the third bad SEO example of providing zero keywords in the content of the page when the website visitor clicks through to it.

As is demonstrated below, clicking on the “Howtobuyanything.com” link takes the visitor to a page that has absolutely no content on that page about the specific searched-for topic.  This leads to bad usability due to the frustration of not finding the content that was promised.

How to buy anything

From an SEO standpoint this is using a keyword shell-game to achieve results in the rankings, but in the meantime providing the website visitor with absolutely none of the searched-for keywords and content.

Duping unsuspecting website visitors by using SEO to promise a page with content, but then not delivering said content on the page leads to bad usability and a negative user experience.

In the above example the website would have been much better suited to provide content about the used car buying guide.  This would more closely align with the user’s expectations and thus provide better usability, through a more positive user experience.

SEO and Usability Rule #3 – Don’t make false promises!

Achieve good SEO and usability by providing your users with the content you promised them.

Conclusion: When SEO Kills Usability

Unsuspecting website owners may not realize the significance of the way bad SEO practices can kill usability, but kill it, it does.  The reality is the owners of these and other such websites would be much better served by improving their usability and user experience, which would lead to better SEO.

This strategy of providing quality content and good usability will over time provide a greater benefit than resorting to bad SEO tactics to temporarily attract visitors.  That’s because the vast majority of visitors who are duped to come to these bad sites, finding terrible usability and poor content will immediately leave anyway.  So the question is, why would anyone spend money on bad SEO techniques that kill usability, only to receive a 1 or 2 second visit and bad ROI?  Was it really worth the expense?  I doubt it.

Instead of SEO killing usability, work on quality content, a good user experience and helpful SEO tactics.  This will in the long run help your website take care of itself in the search rankings.  That way, your website wins, your visitors win, and you win with increased ROI.

5 Steps to an Uber user experience job description

I’ve seen plenty of consulting and full-time positions in the past few years for User Experience experts.  However, I’ve never seen two job descriptions for user experience that are the same.  And unfortunately I’ve seen plenty of job descriptions that actually include conflicting information, or have confusing descriptions for what user experience practitioners actually do.

UX Job Descriptions drive me nuts

There’s good reason for this.

It’s fashionable for companies to use the term “user experience,” but nobody has a clear, simple and standardized definition of what it actually is.

User Experience is not a common or well understood job, such as Accountants or Bookkeepers, that have well defined and broadly known duties.  Worse, many of the Associations that a typical user experience professional may belong to, that hiring managers may refer to for job information, have overlapping or confusing descriptions for the practice.

The reality is UX is a bucket for all types of job duties, everything from information architecture to usability testing to visual design can be defined as “user experience.”  But each of those is actually quite different skill sets that may or may not be suitable for a particular UX role.

So if you are interested in hiring a user experience expert, but don’t know exactly how to write the job description, here’s 5 steps that can help you:

#1 – Determine your firm’s user experience goals

Instead of trying to determine what skills (IA, usability testing, research, etc.) the position should have, start by determining what goals this position must accomplish.  The goals should directly align to the business’ success metrics, and if possible should be quantifiable based on goals typically tracked by the business.

For example: An eCommerce company that sells products online to new and existing customers might have the following goal:

“The user experience leader’s goal will be to help increase eCommerce sales by 5% annually through optimization of the UX for new web site visitors and existing customers.”

#2 – Define the user experience expert’s place in the firm

Often, job descriptions I’ve seen typically do not specify clearly where in the organization the user experience expert will operate.  They fail to communicate where his or her boundaries are.

Yet this is important information because it can help prospective candidates mentally map the position to their prior experiences and skills, to see if they qualify for the position.  And more importantly, it can help the hiring manager clearly identify if the prospect has the requisite past experience in this type of function.  If there are no boundaries, and the user experience expert has the ability to interact with all divisions that should be made known as well.

For example: A medical devices firm with products for physicians might have the following boundaries:

“The user experience expert will report to the SVP of research and development, and will interact with R&D, manufacturing, operations and product managers to conduct user research, testing and optimization of new and existing devices.”

#3 – Identify expertise and skill sets the user experience expert should possess

This is a tough one, because many job descriptions I’ve seen conflict in terms of expected expertise and tools used.  I’ve seen plenty of “visual design” type expertise descriptions (create visual design guidelines and standards) coupled with a requirement to know and practice coding, like Javascript, AJAX or other programming languages.  This seems to me to be at odds with typical practitioners, who may come from a more graphical and design background, or psychology trained background, or a more software development and coding background, but usually not all of them.

If the company’s focus and goals are about improving the UI and visual aspects of the UX, then expertise and skills that map to visual design user experience practitioners should be used.  If however the company is more focused on user interaction and functions of applications, then potentially UI or coding skill sets may be necessary.

A hiring manager should carefully research what they think they may need, based on the goals and boundaries, but be open-minded to differences in expertise and skill sets among candidates.

For example: A company seeking user experience improvements of internally and externally focused applications may identify the following skill sets:

“The user experience expert will utilize wireframes, html-mockups and simple prototypes to test and recommend improvements to internally and externally focused applications.”

#4 – Indicate desired management level / expertise

Many larger sized firms already have user experience groups, but many mid and small sized firms do not.  It’s important to indicate whether this role is entrepreneurial, i.e., a single user experience position that must do the work plus manage processes and vendors, or is managerial, thus responsible for managing the work of an already existing user experience team. If the company desires to grow a UX team, then this too should be noted, and experiences at building staff and processes should be mentioned in the job description.

For example: A firm looking for a “sole proprietor” hands-on UX expert without an already existing staff may indicate:

“The user experience candidate will act as the single practitioner for all UX work for the firm, and will perform all activities as well manage 3^rd party vendors in conducting UX research and optimization.”

#5 – Explain any development process experience needed

Some firms use Agile or SCRUM methods to develop applications, and if so this must be noted.  The methods used for ‘traditional’ user research, such as with contextual inquiry, field research or 1-on-1 usability testing sessions may not work as well in Agile environments where iterations come in weekly batches.  Methods of user research used may need more speedy yet less deep methodologies of research, and expertise in conducting same.

For example: A firm that uses Agile methods to develop mobile apps may require:

“The user experience candidate will operate in an Agile development environment and will be expected to deliver UX feedback on a weekly basis.”

Conclusion – How to write a user experience job description

There are plenty of other, more traditional aspects of a job description that should be included for user experience practitioners.  These include, but are not limited to any need to interact with other virtual team members spread in geographically diverse areas, any need to interact and deliver analysis to senior executives, and education requirements or specific software usage requirements.

Coupled with the 5 tips above, a user experience job description can be written in such a way that both the hiring manager and the candidates will have a clear understanding of the duties and requirements for the job.

Sources for more user experience job description information:

• UPA, What Are 5 Things You Wish Recruiters Knew About User Experience?
• Kenneth M. Berger, User Experience Job Resources
• WikiPedia.org, User Experience Design
• Mashable.com, 10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design
• About.com, How To Develop A Job Description

Guest Blog – Susan Weinschenk and Top 10 Attributes of a Usable and Persuasive Web Site

It’s my distinct pleasure to post this guest blog for you by Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., author of the book “Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click?”

I’ve been an avid reader of Susan’s blog “What Makes Them Click” and Susan has graciously agreed to post one of her articles here.  I think you’ll enjoy this article, as well as find it very informative.

Susan is the Chief of User Experience Strategy for Human Factors International (HFI). Her clients call her, The Brain Lady, and that is also her Twitter name @thebrainlady.

Enjoy!

The Top 10 Attributes of a Usable and Persuasive Web Site

By Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D.

Susan Weinschenk

Whether you spend a fair amount of time online, or you are responsible for the design or content of a web site or web application, the list below should be of interest to you.

What are the most important attributes of a web site that make it both usable and persuasive? Why do some web sites succeed in making us click while others result in abandonment?

1.The organization of the information at the website (the information architecture) fits the visitor’s mental model –

Is the website organized the way the visitor thinks? For example, if the visitor comes to a website looking up reviews of computer monitors is there a category called monitors? Or is the information on monitors part of the “Peripherals” category. Do the visitors really think of “peripherals” when they come to the site?

Web designers and content managers are often too close to their own information and need to make sure that the categories and organization of the web site match what most visitors have in their heads when they arrive at the site.

Usable and persuasive sites are designed for the visitor’s mental model.

2. Less is More –

Have you ever heard about the “magic number” 7 plus or minus 2?–the idea that people can remember or deal with between 5 to 9 things at time? Well, that’s a myth. Research shows that the real magic number is 3 or maybe 4.

Research shows that people can only deal with about 3-4 items of information at a time. Anything more than that they are not really seeing or paying attention to.  People will tell you they want more choices, but the research on decision-making is clear that too many choices means that we don’t choose at all.

Usable and persuasive sites provide 3 to 4 clear choices at a time.

3. The top third of the page, in the center, is “prime real estate” –

Where information is on the page does matter. The top third is the part of the page that people see first. Contrary to what some people say, the very top left is NOT the place people look first. The web has come to be much more of a TV model (top middle) than a book model (top left in countries that read left to right and top to bottom).

Smart designers pay attention to what is in this top third of the page. They make sure it is attention getting, meaningful, and speaks to the emotional/unconscious part of the brain, not just the logical /conscious part.

Usable and persuasive sites make good and careful use of the prime real estate.

4. Use visual and cognitive distinctions –

There is a lot going on at a typical web site page these days. There are images, and major category navigation bars. There are links to information about the company or individual who owns the site. There might be a place to go for help, a top banner with a shopping cart and a footer with more information. Then there is the main content on the page, and maybe there is advertising.

The list goes on and on.

In order to make sure the visitor knows where to look the site design has to use both visual and cognitive distinction.

Visual distinction means that a certain part of the screen uses different shapes, sizes, colors or fonts to look different.

For example a navigation bar has a green background, and a border around it. It is a rectangle and it is vertical. The top navigation bar on the other hand is horizontal, is on the top right of the page, is a set of links without a background color or a border. It looks visually different than the left navigation bar.

It’s not enough, though to use JUST visual distinction. The different parts of the page must also be cognitively distinct.

Cognitive distinction means that the items that are in different locations belong together with other items in that location, and are distinctly different than the items in other parts of the screen.

For example, the items in the green left navigation bar refer to different products I can buy. The items in the top right navigation bar without color are where I go to make changes to my account, get help, and ask for support.

Usable and persuasive sites use both visual and cognitive distinctions.

5. Engage all 3 brains –

In my book Neuro Web Design: What makes them click? I talk about the idea that we don’t have just one brain, we really have 3:

• The new brain is the logical/conscious brain
• The mid brain governs emotions
• The old brain is interested in scanning the environment and asking, “can I eat it?” “can I have sex with it?” “will it kill me?”

Engaging the old brain means that you are speaking to issues that are important to the basic self, such as food or security/danger or sex. Since most sites aren’t about food or sex, this leaves danger messages such as security, feeling safe, the idea that we are getting something for FREE or some other trigger that grabs the attention of the old brain.

Engaging the mid brain means that you are using photos or pictures or stories that talk to the emotional part of the visitor.

Engaging the new brain means that you have taken care of all the rational/logical reasons why someone would want to continue at your site.

Usable and persuasive sites engage all three brains.

6. Make text easy to scan –

In general, people don’t like to read online. Devices such as the Kindle are an exception, since they don’t use regular LCD screens. Most websites are still being viewed on regular laptops and monitors, and these are still hard use for blocks of text.

With some exceptions (for example, people who have subscribed to the NYTimes Reader software application), people will not read large blocks of text online. In place of these large blocks web sites should be concise, and use headings, bullets, and small paragraphs to break up text.

Usable and persuasive sites make text easy to scan.

7. Use progressive disclosure to show people what they need when they need it –

Lots of people come to a web site. Some know what they want, some are browsing. Some have lots of knowledge about what the site contains and some are new to the topic.

The best tactic therefore is to use “progressive disclosure.”

This means showing a small amount of information and then having the visitor click for more information. Then there is some more information and they can click again for more.

Have you heard that the user should be able to get to what they want in 3 clicks or less? That’s another myth! As long as the clicks make sense people are willing to “follow the scent” to get to their information.

Usable and persuasive sites use progressive disclosure.

8. Use grouping to show what things go together and limit clutter –

With all the information and pictures and videos and ads that are on screens these days it’s easy to forget that a screen can be visually overwhelming, especially to someone who is new to the page. There is a whole science behind designing screens and pages so that they use grouping to reduce clutter.

There can be a lot of material on the page as long as the things that go together are placed together, and that there is a little more space between separate groups than there is within items inside of a group.

Web sites that minimize the number of unique margins by lining up labels and fields and columns well can have lots of information and still not appear cluttered.

Usable and persuasive sites pay attention to the grouping of information and limit clutter.

9. Build in the features and functionality that make the site become a habit –

Research shows that over time people will tend to focus on one or two web sites for a particular task. For example, they will go to one or two websites for news, one or two web sites to shop, one or two web sites for entertainment. So what makes them choose to come back over and over to one or two sites and let the others fall away?

Sites that build in features that encourage use to be habitual are the winners, for example, e-commerce sites that make it easy to re-order (Staples), or offer one-click buying (Amazon). Or sites that aggregate all of your financial information together in one place (Mint) or allow you to not only send a twitter message but also monitor the twitters on particular topics (HootSuite).

There’s a limit here though. It’s not about having lots of features, it’s about having the one or two “can’t live without it” features that make the site become a habit.

Usable and persuasive sites choose and outperform in one or two killer features and functions.

10. Create a buzz in a specific market –

Don’t forget the power of social validation. I have a whole chapter on this in my book on “Neuro Web Design: What makes them click?”

People listen to what other people say, especially if they are uncertain about what to do.

So if there are 5 different sites that you can use to upload your photos, but one of those sites is talked about amongst your twitter group, is written about at the blogs you read, and advertises how many members they have, then that is the site you are most likely to check out and stick with.

Usable and persuasive sites know who they are aiming for, and do the marketing and publicity to make sure that have buzz among a certain cohort.

Conclusion: Top 10 Attributes of a Usable and Persuasive Web Site

So that’s the current top 10 list. Try evaluating your favorite websites against the list and let me know what you think. What sites do you use that match several of the items on the list?

If you liked this article check out Susan’s blog: www.whatmakesthemclick.net for more information about Neuro Web Design.

About the Author:

Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., is the author of the popular blog “What Makes Them Click? Applying Psychology to Understand How We Think Work and Relate.”

Susan has a Ph.D. in Psychology and 30 years of experience as a usability, user experience, and human factors consultant for Fortune 500 companies. She is the author of several books in the field, and her most recent book, published by New Riders is, “Neuro Web Design: What Makes Them Click?” She is Chief of User Experience Strategy for Human Factors International (HFI). Her clients call her, The Brain Lady, and that is also her Twitter name: @thebrainlady.