In the Beginning Was the Word… aka What Is UX Writing and How Does It Impact SEO?
UX has been gaining increasing popularity both in the field of design and marketing. Also in the SEO world, the factors influencing user experiences when browsing websites are becoming more and more important. UX is a very broad concept that is constantly subcategorized even more. One of these subcategories is UX writing – what is it and what does it have to do with SEO?
Table of contents:
- UX vs UX Writing
- UX Writing – What Is It?
- What Is a UX Copywriter?
- UX Writing and UX Copywriting – Are They the Same?
- UX Writing and SEO
- Best UX Writing Practices
- What is UX Writing? The Takeaway
UX vs UX Writing
We’ve talked about UX on multiple occasions. If you want to learn more about the basic aspects of user experience and discover how UX affects SEO, check out our previous articles.
When talking about UX writing, which is one of the components of UX, it’s necessary to mention a general definition of this broader concept.
The term user experience, or UX for short, refers to the experience of the user during contact with various types of products – especially the interactive ones. People specializing in UX strive to make sure that using a given application, system or website satisfies a particular recipient at each stage of his/her contact with the product.
Why do we talk about it? SEO specialists can encourage users to visit your website, but it’s a well-designed UX interface that will guide them through each stage and increase the likelihood of conversion.
Writing is not your cup of tea? Leave that to us! SEO Copywriting is our specialty – find out yourself!
UX is usually associated with improving website usability, information architecture, or visual aspects. However, refining the form alone won’t bring as good results as taking care of the language layer at the same time. And this is when UX writing comes in handy.
UX Writing – What Is It?
Simply put, UX writing is about designing all kinds of quality content that a user encounters while browsing a website. Speaking of content, we don’t mean only extensive texts that can be found on pages like “Company history” or “About us”.
UX writing refers to the whole content that appears on a website. It includes seemingly irrelevant pieces that are crucial when it comes to user experience. These small pieces of content are referred to as microcopy, and they mostly help the user navigate the site. They can include:
- texts on buttons, in the menu, contact forms, etc.
- error messages,
- CTAS,
- payment instructions,
- stock messages,
- consents to marketing activities,
- and many more.
The already mentioned longer pieces of content, meaning those that usually come to our mind first, are the so-called macrocopy. They are, for example, articles and descriptions of products or categories. Actually, when talking about UX writing, this type of content isn’t mentioned frequently. Usually, copywriters work on such texts. They have different objectives than UX specialists. We’ll discuss the differences in the subsequent part of the article.
Microcopy is usually done by a person designing the page. However, more and more companies see the need to hire specialists whose qualifications include not only a good command of the language, but also knowledge of the principles of user experience and UX writing.
What Is a UX Writer?
UX writers are specialists increasingly demanded on the job market. Nevertheless, since they have rather interdisciplinary skills, finding a good candidate isn’t a piece of cake.
UX writers are people who should be able to easily write, effectively use the language, and create content that is both linguistically and substantively correct. At the same time, these skills should go hand in hand with extensive knowledge of user experience.
The UX messages placed on your website should depend primarily on the recipients of your content. What does it mean?
Every person with at least minimal knowledge of user experience knows that the key to success is to put yourself in the customers’ shoes. To write good texts, you should think about recipients’ needs, behavior, and preferences. This applies also to content creation.
Simple, understandable, well-written messages improve users’ experiences with the website. They make browsing more intuitive, faster, and efficient. Accurate and clear information reduces the likelihood of errors or situations when the recipient feels confused, disoriented, or simply annoyed and leaves the site.
UX Writing and UX Copywriting – Are They the Same?
When looking for information on UX writing, you may also come across the term UX copywriting. These two are often used interchangeably. However, most professionals point out that there are slight differences between UX writing and UX copywriting.
While UX writers focus on making the website user-friendly, UX copywriters try to e.g., tell compelling stories that would encourage potential customers to finalize transactions.
So, it can be stated that UX writing is more about design, and UX copywriting is about marketing. UX writing isn’t about building a story. It’s about guiding the user through the website in the direction that will help you achieve your business goals while making sure that the process is a positive experience. But why is UX writing helpful when doing SEO?
UX Writing and SEO
The changes Google is making in terms of UX are one of the key components of a trend we’ve been observing for quite a long time. This trend will surely continue to become even more important. Algorithm updates and ranking factors that have been gaining in popularity are related to users’ experiences with websites. If you want to learn more about UX rules in SEO, check out our previous post.
UX writing combined with SEO can bring tangible benefits to your website. After all, the carefully crafted language layer won’t matter until potential customers encounter your page. And this is when SEO plays a major role in the process.
Once the user enters your page, quality messages can keep them there for longer and guide them through individual stages of the shopping path. So, how should you create website content to ensure that it’s both SEO and user-friendly?
Best UX Writing Practices
Your entire website content should be refined both linguistically and visually. UX writing focuses primarily on the first issue, but UX writers can also graphically or typographically highlight the most significant elements of the linguistic message. What are the most important rules you should follow when creating various types of website content?
Conciseness and Simplicity
Website content should be understandable, clear, and transparent. There is no room for inaccuracies. Don’t make users guess what you mean. Short, slogan-like messages that won’t mislead people are more likely to appeal to your potential customers.
Adapt the language to the target group. Spare your recipients specialist terminology they won’t understand, but remember not to make your texts too colloquial. Check who you’re writing for and analyze who visits your page.
When it comes to the form of communication itself, it’s recommended to use the active voice, and write in the present tense.
Highlight the Most Important Elements
Proper text formatting is an extremely important factor that streamlines comprehension. Nowadays hardly anyone reads articles from the introduction to the takeaway, so it’s worth ensuring that users can easily find information that’s of interest to them.
The internet and mobile devices have shown us a completely new way of dealing with texts. Nowadays, we don’t read articles, but rather scan them to find the most important information. Highlighting specific passages makes the task easier. You can underline fragments or make specific words or sentences bold and italic. It’s also a good idea to use infographics, bullet points, or charts.
Dividing the text into paragraphs helps to organize the content and makes it easier to understand. The above-mentioned elements can be implemented in both macro-and microcopies.
Consistency Is the Key
Creating all kinds of website content is actually about formulating messages that are in line with the communication strategy. This means that they should be consistent with the brand’s tone of voice, i.e. unique way of communicating with the audience, used on other channels such as social media.
Consistency is one of the key factors in user experience. It plays a huge role also in UX writing. Thanks to it, your texts will be coherent and understandable for users. This applies both to linguistic aspects and text formatting. If you address recipients using second person singular, keep this form throughout the entire text.
If you’ve decided to implement unique CTAs, try to always use a similar style. Consistency is a very important aspect when it comes to UX.
What is UX Writing? The Takeaway
Trends indicate that UX will be getting more and more important for Google. This means that UX writers will also play an increasingly vital role in the market. The ability to create clear, transparent, and appealing content that is intuitive, and easy to understand is invaluable in terms of UX and SEO.
Who knows, maybe UX writers will soon become indispensable members of SEO specialists’ teams?
