How Google is championing UX with search results changes

Google recently announced its algorithm will take UX into account, so if your website isn’t optimized for a great user experience, get on the case now.

You have no idea how often I’m faced with someone “kindly” informing me UX is pointless and has little effect on either customer engagement or understanding of information.

Of course, the cynics always know better than me, a lowly pioneer in the field who should clearly keep schtum. And who am I to argue? Oh yes, that’s right: a pioneer in the field!

They’ll ask me:

“Why would I waste time on UX when I already know my users inside out?”

And, as I politely parrot one of many elevator pitches I have saved for such occasions, I’ll ask myself:

“Why am I wasting time listening to you when I know UX inside out?”

Sometimes, whether or not I plump for the best pitch, I’m met with bamboozlement. In these instances, it’s painfully obvious I need a little help to get my case across well, and I delve into my bank of successful UX examples. But here and there, even strong evidence falls short in the face of determined challenge.

Enter Google in 2020, with one of the greatest validations of the field I’ve ever witnessed. In May, while the apocalypse raged on, the tech behemoth announced its search results will begin taking UX into account from 2021 onward to:

“Make the web more delightful.”

This is a huge development! HUGE!

If I can’t convince someone that jumping straight into coding with zero in-depth research and testing is a terrible idea, then perhaps the looming threat of Google relegating their website from the first page of its search results can make them think.

Because this is what our good friends over at Google promise for poor quality websites. The poorer a site’s design, the likelier it is the search engine will push that site lower down its rankings — exactly where it belongs.

Today, at a time where competition is fiercer than ever and excruciatingly high standards of web design are ubiquitous, there’s no room for schoolboy errors like bad websites. And any organization offering one should, quite frankly, be mortified.

Internet surfers deserve a consistently pleasant experience when they hop online, a world in which they should discover nothing but intuitive, user-friendly journeys around their chosen pages. In fact, is it becoming a human right? One for another day. Right now, this isn’t always what awaits.

On its blog, Google states, in no uncertain terms, the importance of UX:

“Optimizing for quality of user experience is key to the long-term success of any site on the web.”

It’s such a belief that led the firm to develop Web Vitals, a neat parcel of quantifiable metrics measuring real-world user experience and capturing user-centric outcomes. These include loading speed, responsiveness and visual stability, on top of existing search signals like mobile-friendliness and safe-browsing.

Ultimately, Google designed the update to help web developers and site owners deliver even better user experiences than its previously fragmented set of metrics and tools allowed for.

Still, as much as Google sings the praises of UX, the tech giant underlines its commitment to ranking pages with the best information overall. UX is just one of many varying factors to consider, great content being of them, and the latter will always win over the former.

In other words, while UX may be crucial, it’s certainly not paramount.

This makes perfect sense though. Just as it’s nuts to have killer content users can’t unearth, it’s crazy to offer an inviting website filled with dull words, generic images and unengaging videos. By default, that would make the experience boring — definitely not what we want.

If you don’t agree, think of it in a different way:

Would you commission a highly skilled (and expensive) architect to design your palatial dream home only to kit it out with broken furniture?

If you say yes, I’ll eat your shoddy laminated hat rack.

Oh, you did say yes? Well then, I guess I’m just dealing with the sort of person I described at the beginning of this post: one perpetually unable to court the notion someone else might be better equipped to meet their users’ needs better than them.

If so, I’m afraid we can’t be friends. Ok, I suppose we can, but only if you don’t make me eat the hat rack!

In all seriousness, if even data obsessed Google can’t coax UX cynics over to what they perceive to be the dark side, then I’m dumbstruck. There’s probably no reasoning with folks who can’t see the benefit of basing products on research that involves the users those products are aimed at.

Such a crowd clearly doesn’t value satisfied customers who spread the word and come back time after time, encouraging growth and increasing profits. But, again, who am I to argue? That’s right, a pioneer in the field — one who has helped some of the world’s biggest brands succeed through the delivery of outstanding user experiences.

And now Google intends to do the same indirectly by championing an often-misunderstood field. When the new rules come into force next year, the stubborn few who refuse to toe the line will no doubt be left behind. However, as money talks, and Google search rankings really matter, I’m optimistic that Google’s promotion of UX will help drive a better internet experience for everyone.

At the bottom of this document, Google offers a handy list of ways you can begin measuring, monitoring and optimizing page experience to prepare for the change yourself. Check it out.

Whatever you do, do something. In an insanely competitive world out there, and it’ll only get worse. UX is vital if you want your brand to stay relevant. As designer Frank Chimero once said:

“People ignore design that ignores people.”

So true!