How Usability Can Affect Ranking

When designing a website, so many things need to be taken into consideration. One major aspect that can easily get overlooked is “usability.” Usability refers to the user-friendliness of a website and how easy it is for a visitor to perform a particular task without getting confused or leaving the site.

So, you’ve designed what you think is a visually appealing, professional looking website, but when a new visitor accesses the site, they can’t seem to find what they need and they quickly leave and head back to the safety of the search page.

Google can actually tell when a person clicks on a page, and then quickly returns back to the search page. This action produces a high “bounce rate” for that website. In Google’s algorithmic eyes, this means that the user did not find the information needed about the topic they searched for or could not easily navigate that page; usability is low and down drops the website’s ranking.

A few ways to keep a website’s usability up is to make the site mobile friendly, quick to load, and easy to navigate. If a person clicks on a website but can’t download all the content, or it takes too long, they will leave the site. If the website is confusing and not easy to navigate through the content, they will leave the site. Overwhelming the user with too many options on a website can also be detrimental. The average internet user wants to find credible information, immediately, and without distractions.

Need help streamlining your website and improving usability? Call i3 today and let us do the work.