Satisfy queries by putting the user first

Arnout says: “Put the user first.

It’s all about query satisfaction: how good are you at solving a user’s question? That’s it.”

How do you determine if you’re good at solving a user’s question?

“You can use session recordings and see users interact. You can measure engagement on the page. Are they scrolling or are they immediately going away? You can even just Google questions and compare your result to the results that outrank you. Do they do a better job at solving a user’s query? If that’s the case, do you deserve to rank?

For me, the answer is pretty clear. I’ve seen loads of companies who say that their content is as good but, if it’s generic advice that’s already out there, why should you be indexed? Why should you rank?

If you have something outstanding, like a nice video walkthrough, that can resonate way more. Google looks at user engagement and query satisfaction, so it plays a massive role. It’s the only way for them to properly scale machine learning ranking.”

Do you use Microsoft Clarity for session recordings?

“Yes, I do. I was using Hotjar on a legacy payment, so it was extremely cheap, but now they raised the prices, so I use Microsoft Clarity.

The main difference between the two is that Clarity is free. The tool is similar. Hotjar has some features like forms, questionnaires, etc. but, for recordings and heat maps, Clarity works perfectly.

There might be a limit to the number of recordings that you can get with Clarity, but I haven’t seen it. You can get a clear understanding of your users by looking at 100 sessions. If you create long-form content but users are only viewing a small segment of it, you know that something’s wrong. If they only see the initial page, and they don’t scroll to view the majority of the content, something is wrong.”

Can you measure the impact of improving UX with Microsoft Clarity?

“With Clarity, you have to watch all the recordings. If you want to properly measure that, you should use an analytics tool that looks at scroll data and stores events like when people start scrolling.

You can use a tool that puts a thumbs up or thumbs down at the bottom of the page, asking whether it’s what the user was looking for. If you get a lot of thumbs up, that’s good. You can start measuring that. You can see how many people scroll all the way down, and you can create all kinds of reports.

Microsoft Clarity is to get a grip on where you have issues. I would always use an analytics tool to measure how many people actually make it down the page – or to the elements that you define as being very valuable.

You can use GA4 for scroll tracking, for example, but any analytics system will let you track whether somebody scrolls to a certain depth (2/3 read, full-page read, etc.) that you have pre-determined.”

What kind of role does CRO play?

“In essence, CRO is about removing friction, and removing friction is very highly correlated with creating a better user experience.

If you have a product page that doesn’t have all the necessary information, adding that information removes friction. It creates a better user experience for that search. It is highly likely to convert better as well.

If the product page includes how it can be used, user reviews, a video, etc., that takes away a lot of the friction that normally exists in the process of buying something. A lot of CRO improvements are actually UX improvements.”

When you launch something new, how do you ensure that the UX is a lot better than your competitors?

“By looking at your competitors. Use them. A lot of the answers are within the SERP.

Start going through those websites – or, even better, get some of your target audience to use your competitor’s website and look over their shoulder. Stay unbiased and don’t help them. See where they struggle and what they like.

There’s a lot you can do by re-building something. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. It’s already out there. You can choose what works and then create the ultimate version of that.

You also want to have a good designer with a clear understanding of data and human behaviour. It’s not just about looking great, it’s also about accessibility and proper usability. This is difficult because there are a lot of awesome designers out there, but there aren’t a lot of awesome designers who also understand user behaviour, the psychology behind it, and friction.

Luckily, I know 1 or 2, which takes away a lot of the work for me. I leave it with them, and I just need to tweak it afterwards.”

How do you build good UX into a content strategy?

“It requires proper research. If you’re going to build a piece, you need to understand what kind of questions need to be answered in that piece. Then, you need to define what kind of UX elements should be in there.

Should there be a comparison table? Should there be a video? Should there be a how-to with bullet points? You need to understand the best way to convey your message. Then you can start to build all of it.

A lot of people have a single template that fits most of their content, then they just add an image. So many companies use AI-generated images but, if I can spot that, it tells me that you didn’t put the effort in. Unless it’s an article about how imagery made using AI has improved, you can’t do that.

It’s about the quality metrics, that all fit into UX, and the elements you can use to convey the message in the easiest way. People don’t like reading, so bullet points are often a lot easier. A lot of companies don’t use bullet points because they think that they need to put more words in. Actually, if you ask your users, they prefer bullet points, imagery, and comparison tables. They don’t really like reading.”

How do you measure the satisfaction of your users?

“You could use a pop-up survey with some kind of exit intent, but I’m not a big fan of pop-ups. It can be hard to directly measure user satisfaction, but you can look at what people are doing and whether or not your rankings improve.

A very simple way of looking at this is whether or not the user does another search. Yes or no. If they don’t, that is the clearest indication for a search engine that they have achieved what they set out to do. It’s not about scrolling, it’s about them not needing another search.

In the end, you might not be able to measure it, but the signal is still there. I’m not saying that everybody should measure scroll depth, but just having a thumbs up or thumbs down gives you an indication.

I don’t think we can measure it. I think the only company that can properly measure it in this case is Google. They own Chrome, which has a massive market share. We are all sending our usage details to Google, so they are the only ones that can properly assess this. We always have to work through proxies.”

How can SEO teams and UX teams work more effectively together?

“Look into the organisational structure. They should all be on the same team. They shouldn’t be separated.

If you look at the largest new companies, like Airbnb or Spotify, they all have teams where UX, SEO, and content are part of the same team. We have the same goal.

It starts with taking an interest. Start talking to the UX people and ask, ‘What are you building?’ Give them insights. Could they add a video? Is there a way to convey that message using imagery or a flow chart? What elements can you build that convey the message or explain that solution in a better way? It could be a before and after or a comparison table.

As an SEO, you should be giving this input and figuring out how to get the team on board with that.”

If an SEO is struggling for time, what should they stop doing right now so they can spend more time doing what you suggest in 2025?

“Stop just churning out content. You should not be producing purely AI content but, even if it’s AI-assisted, it’s not about making more. It’s very much about quality.

Stop churning out content and focus on less quantity, more quality.”

Arnout Hellemans is a Freelance SEO at OnlineMarkethink, and you can find him at OnlineMarkethink.com.