What is SEO?
If you’re into content marketing, the acronym SEO should not be new to you.
SEO simply means search engine optimization, and it’s the arts and science of making your website and web pages rank on search engines.
However, search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have evolved and they now focus on searchers’ experience more than the ranking factors that determine your website’s position in SERPs.
Therefore, SEO which simply means search engine optimization is now search experience optimization, your focus should now be ‘to satisfy your visitors’ not just ‘to rank higher on search engines
What is Search Experience Optimization (SXO)?
Search Experience Optimization (SXO) simply means making your website, contents, and each webpage of your website satisfying for your audience, including those that come from the search engines.
Optimization is about search experience of your visitors from the search engines more than just the search engine algorithm itself.
Although, the search engine algorithm and ranking factors are designed toward satisfying searches or better customers’ experiences on your web pages.
To have better SEO now, it’s search engine optimization and user experience optimization (SEO + UX) = search experience optimization (SXO).
Why Search Experience Optimization?
Before now, search engines were only concerned with the relevance of the search results to the search queries, later on, they focused on the search intents.
However, now, the searchers’ experiences are the most reliable factor to determine a quality webpage that’s fit for certain search queries.
Therefore, the classic search engine optimization has now become the user-focused search experience optimization for content marketers.
Why is SXO now important for Modern-day Content marketing?
The truth is, that search engine optimization (SEO) or ranking factors have some loopholes.
While most search engines are trying hard to discourage dark practices or what’s commonly regarded as black hat, gray hat SEO, or other hat colors, some spammers still find their way.
To improve users’ experience on the search engine pages, there’s a need to study the behavioral pattern of search users, this birth SXO.
The common goal of SEO + UX = (SXO) is to provide a better search and website experience.
If this combination is right, visitors to your website can be turned into customers more easily, thus generating growth and sales for your business.
Only if you understand the search intents of the queries of your users, you can optimize your pages accordingly and thus improve your ranking.
Search engine users expect relevant answers to their requests, and search results are presented more specifically to get the most satisfactory answer possible to the searcher.
Therefore, when you optimize your website, you have to understand better what the needs of each user are and which websites match the search queries.
SXO thus adapts to the so-called “Experience Economy” and is of high relevance for your company, so that you remain relevant and competitive through a positive customer experience.
Conclusion
Search experience optimization is the enhancement of search behavior and experience, and for search engines, it means giving priority to the search users’ experience to ultimately determine SERP position and rank of webpages.
Experience optimization is the new game, and it’s the process of understanding better various behavioral patterns of search users.
If you want to rank higher, you’d need to work towards improving the experience of your website’s visitors, either coming from a search engine, type-ins, or social media.
