Why having your website tested by others is important

Your website looks good, works fine and the content is all finished. Time to go live, right? Not quite. Many website owners skip an important step: having their website tested by other people. This is not only useful for finding errors or improving usability, but also plays a major role in search engine optimization, or SEO.

In this article, we explain why testing your website by others is essential if you want to be found well in Google. We discuss the benefits, how to approach it and what you can learn from it. And all of that in simple language.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Simply put, it means: ensuring that your website is easily found in search engines such as Google. The better your SEO, the higher your website will rank in the search results. And the higher you rank, the more people click on your website.

SEO revolves around many different components. Think of:

• Good texts with the right keywords.
• Fast loading times.
• A mobile-friendly design.
• Clear structure of your website.
• Reliable links to your website.

But there is one thing that is often overlooked: the experience of real users.

The role of user experience in SEO

Google not only looks at the technology of your website, but also at how visitors experience your site. User experience (also called UX) is therefore an important part of SEO.

Google wants to show its users the best and most relevant websites. If people come to your site and immediately click away, Google sees that as a bad sign. That can have negative consequences for your position in the search results.

That is why it is important that your website:

• Is clear.
• Is easy to use.
• Loads quickly.
• Does not cause frustration.

And how do you know if that is the case? By letting other people test your website.

Why you are often blind to your own website

You have probably worked on your website for hours, maybe even weeks. You know where everything is, what each button does and where visitors should click. But that is precisely the problem: you know your website too well.

New visitors see your website for the first time. They don't know the structure yet. They don't know where to look for certain information. What makes sense to you can be confusing to someone else.

By letting others test, you’ll discover things you never would have thought of.

What others might discover that you’re missing

Here are a few examples of things testers might find:

• Confusing navigation – you might think your menu is logical, but a tester might have a hard time finding a specific page.
• Unclear buttons or links – your button says “Learn more,” but what does it say?
• Slow loading time on mobile devices – you’ve tested your site primarily on your laptop, but testers use other devices.
• Poor readability of your text – you write in a way that you like, but others find your text too long or too difficult.
• Technical errors or dead links – testers can discover errors that you didn’t notice yourself.

What Google says about user experience

Google has increasingly emphasized user experience in recent years. In their own guidelines, they state that they value websites higher if they perform well in terms of usability. They even have special statistics for this, such as:

• Core Web Vitals: measures loading speed, interactivity and visual stability.
• Bounce rate: how many people leave your site immediately.
• Dwell time: how long visitors stay on your site.

You can read more about this on the official Google Search Central page.

How to have your website tested by others

1. Ask people around you

Ask friends, family or colleagues to view your website and give feedback. For example, have them complete these tasks:

• Find the contact page.
• Search for a specific product or article.
• Sign up for the newsletter.

Ask afterwards: em>What did you find easy? What did you find confusing? What would you do differently?

2. Use test groups with real users

You can also hire testers or use platforms such as:

• UserTesting.com
• Testbirds.com

3. Use online tools

There are tools that automatically check your website for speed, usability and errors. Examples include:

• Google PageSpeed ​​Insights
• Hotjar
• Crazy Egg

What do you do with the feedback?

Feedback is only valuable if you do something with it. Make a list of the comments you have received. See which points come up more often. These are the most important.

Example:

• Multiple testers indicate that they find the menu unclear? Time to reorganize your menu.
• Someone reports that a button doesn't work on mobile? Fix it ASAP.
• Testers say a certain text is too complicated? Write it more simply.

By making improvements step by step, you make your website increasingly user-friendly. And that ultimately leads to better SEO results.

The effect on your SEO

When you start working with the feedback from testers, you will see this reflected in various SEO results:

• Visitors stay on your website longer.
• They click through to other pages more often.
• Your bounce rate goes down.
• You may even get more backlinks.

Also read this article from Google about E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) — four characteristics that Google considers important finds.

Summary

Having your website tested by others is not a luxury, it is a must. Especially if you want to take SEO seriously. Others see things that you overlook. They help you make your website clearer, more user-friendly and more attractive. And that is rewarded by Google.

Key points in a row:

• Google looks at how users experience your site.
• Poor user experience = worse SEO.
• Others see errors and areas for improvement that you do not see.
• You do not have to do it on a grand scale: ask friends or use a test tool.
• Incorporate the feedback step by step into your website.
• SEO results improve once your site works better for real visitors.

By having your website tested and optimized regularly, you will stay ahead in the search results. And that is ultimately what it is all about: being found by the right people.

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