Almost everyday (thankfully in the current economic climate) we get calls to the Digital Orchard office requesting our SEO services to help improve a business website’s search engine rankings. However, after briefly reviewing these sites, in many cases it becomes immediately clear that the site requires a complete usability makeover before it is optimized for search engine rankings.
Not what a cash strapped business owner looking for improved search rankings wants to hear but nevertheless, a fact. These business owners are typically running an SME and looking to purchase a service that will get them near instant visibility in Google. You just get us the traffic and we’ll take it from there is the assumption. However, SEO/SEM without good usability is akin to inviting people around to your house for dinner and serving them porridge. Despite your polite phone manner and cordial invite, they are unlikely to return for seconds.
A bowl of porridge, yesterday
The solution in this scenario is not to invite more people to your house for dinner and hope they come back, but to serve something a little bit more appetizing (apologies to those members of the ‘Porridge Appreciation Society‘ Facebook group. I am glad ye found each other though).
So I’m sure that by now you can see where I’m going with this rather weak analogy. While search engine optimisation and marketing are important, sometimes your internet marketing budget is better spent making your website more user friendly.
By identifying and fixing your website’s usability issues, you can sell more of your products and services with less traffic. Once you are able to increase your conversion rates, every euro spent on SEM & SEO will be more effective and have a much bigger impact on your bottom line.
Q. Which is more important SEO or Usability?
A. Usability, everytime.
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