Yahoo Pushes Usability Closer to SEO
Today I decided to visit some SEO blogs that I hadn't really had the opportunity to read for a while. One of my forgotten favorites is the SEO by the Sea blog written by Bill Slawski. Bill wrote a great article on a new Yahoo patent that attempts to measure a page's usability and use that measurement in the overall ranking of Web sites. Without trying to say I told you so (even though I did..lol ;), I did say in my first post of the year that, "I really think that 2008 is going to be the year that you see the study of Web site Usability move to the forefront of Search Engine Optimization." And I believe that this is another important step that moves us in that direction.
If you read this patent, it really is all about determining whether or not the page is "cluttered" and how that might affect usability. Certainly the study of usability encompasses much more than just how cluttered a page is. But I believe more and more of these types of mathematical models that quantify known relationships between measurable data and user experience will continue to evolve. And rather than trying to reverse engineer each one of them as SEO people like myself are prone to do, it makes more sense just to focus on building the best possible site with the user in mind at all times.
The good news of patents like this one is that going forward, Web sites that are user focused will be rewarded as it relates to their search engine rankings. As search engines develop more sophisticated algorithms that bring more continuity between SEO and Usability, good usability will be directly attributable to high search rankings. SEO professionals at all levels will have to pay more attention to usability which should have a very positive effective on the overall quality of optimized Web sites. And that will only increase the value of SEO services and the community as a whole. So if you are an SEO, now is the time to start studying good usability principles!
It makes me feel very lucky to work with a team of usability experts who can answer my questions. :)
Have a great week.
Catfish
If you read this patent, it really is all about determining whether or not the page is "cluttered" and how that might affect usability. Certainly the study of usability encompasses much more than just how cluttered a page is. But I believe more and more of these types of mathematical models that quantify known relationships between measurable data and user experience will continue to evolve. And rather than trying to reverse engineer each one of them as SEO people like myself are prone to do, it makes more sense just to focus on building the best possible site with the user in mind at all times.
The good news of patents like this one is that going forward, Web sites that are user focused will be rewarded as it relates to their search engine rankings. As search engines develop more sophisticated algorithms that bring more continuity between SEO and Usability, good usability will be directly attributable to high search rankings. SEO professionals at all levels will have to pay more attention to usability which should have a very positive effective on the overall quality of optimized Web sites. And that will only increase the value of SEO services and the community as a whole. So if you are an SEO, now is the time to start studying good usability principles!
It makes me feel very lucky to work with a team of usability experts who can answer my questions. :)
Have a great week.
Catfish
posted by Catfish at
9:54 AM
1 Comments:
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