Why search experience is vital for e-commerce success

Happy female tourists phone users walking in old town alley an using smartphone. GPS maps, concept.

Spinning up an e-commerce site has never been easier, little wonder then that it is predicted that retail e-commerce sales are going to top 6.3 trillion US dollars round the world this year. So in this furiously chaotic bazaar that is t’interwebs, e-commerce brands have to do much more than just try and drive traffic to their site. When times were simpler maybe it was ‘build it and they will come’ but digital shoppers have a staggering array of brands and marketplaces to choose from, all vying for their attention and hard-earned cashola.

We believe the only route to success is through search experience optimisation (or SXO because digital loves a three letter acronym). “What is search experience optimisation?” I hear those of you who haven’t bounced away cry.

Here’s a quick rundown.

Key components of search experience optimisation

If you think about a person’s journey to buying something on a website there are basically three main areas brands need to be concerned with:

Getting the right people to the site.
Providing an easy and compelling experience on the site that helps them get exactly what they need.
Ensuring that key steps on the journey are geared towards that all important outcome: conversion.

Which map onto the three components of SXO:

SEO, in all its multifaceted glory – from technical SEO to on-page content and beyond.
User experience (UX) – making sure that the look and feel of the site is geared towards user needs and providing an engaging, hassle-free experience.
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) – making sure all the elements that influence conversion are working to drive sales.

With Google focusing more and more on user experience in recent years SXO is the natural next step for brands that want to grow.

There is a virtuous circle emerging. A site that is well optimised for SEO, technically sound, hits all those Core Web Vitals and loads effortlessly, and offers helpful content that aligns tightly with user needs and intent will have strong visibility and attract high quality traffic. If said site offers a compelling UX that makes it enjoyable and easy for people to find exactly what they want then its performance signals positively to search engines “this site is good for users”, further boosting its overall performance. And e-commerce sites that have good conversion metrics also signal positively.

These three disciplines support each other, and we’d argue they are becoming more and more interdependent, relying on each other in the same way that the brain requires a heart to pump blood to it, and the heart requires lungs to purify the blood, and the heart and lungs need that brain to be controlling things so that they can function properly. If any part is underperforming or missing, it could be game over quite soon.

So it is with the three components of search experience optimisation.

Benefits of search experience optimisation for e-commerce brands

So that’s what we’re talking about when we say SXO. But is it worth it? These are the benefits we’ve seen with this approach.

Enhanced visibility and traffic – Performing well in search takes much more than keyword optimisation, and has done for some time. Search experience optimisation ensures that you not only rank better but that the quality of traffic you receive is higher.
Improved user experience – When you focus on site navigation, content, page structure, mobile optimisation and all the other factors that influence UX it’s no surprise that you get better user experience and more satisfied customers.
Increased revenue – High quality traffic + a great user experience + highly converting site = more sales. It’s pretty simple. Though not easy to achieve.
Competitive advantage – Focusing on search experience as a holistic discipline means you’ll be right where your customers need you, regardless of the stage in their journey, which helps you stand out and steal a march on competitors.
Positive brand perception – If your brand creates engaging, useful content, and offers incredible user experience customers are more likely to have a positive brand experience, resulting in happier customers and great brand perception.
A more robust search performance – Of course one can never tell what Google and other search engines are going to roll out in the next update. But ensuring you are creating content and a site that performs well in more user-centric metrics makes your site likely to take less of a hit when that next Google-quake comes.

How to deliver the best search experience

Work with us, of course.

But in all seriousness: do.

Joking aside, building the best search experience for your customers isn’t an easy thing, and probably can’t be distilled into 3/5/7 easy steps (if it could then everybody would be able to do it with ease).

Perhaps the hardest part is that initial step of not focusing on one discipline to the exclusion of others, and seeing search as a holistic practice. With SEO, UX, and CRO all pulling in the same direction with a customer-centric lens in place the search experience you deliver will keep customers coming back, helping you sell more and ensuring your site performs well in search.

Ready to improve your search experience? Contact us and we’d love to show you how we can help.