24 Aug 2020

The new impact of UX metrics on SEO

In Q2 of this year Google announced that new metrics called “Core Web Vitals,” or automated sets of signals related to user experience, will soon impact your site’s SEO ranking (Source: Google Blog). These will be combined with existing user experience criteria, such as page load time and mobile-friendliness, to better measure and reward sites with higher quality user experiences through higher SEO rankings. In recognising that many businesses are preoccupied with responding to the effects of Covid-19, this update will not roll out until 2021 and Google will provide a 6 month notice before their algorithm is updated.

We believe user engagement will improve as experiences on the web get better, and that by incorporating these new signals into Search, we'll help make the web better for everyone.

Sowmya Subramanian, Senior Director Of Engineering Google Search

The Web Vitals cover the following areas:

  • Site Load Time, measured by what they call “Largest Contentful Paint,” or how quickly the site’s main content has been loaded.
  • Interactivity, measured by what they call “First Input Delay,” or site responsiveness of a user first interacting with the page (their first “Session” you could say).
  • Visual Stability, measured by what they call “Cumulative Layout Shift,” or the amount of what they deem to be unexpected layout shifts or visible page content

Source: Google Webmaster Central Blog

Source: Chromium Blog

Now UX not only impacts a user once on your site, but whether or not they’re likely to get there in the first place.

Michael Reiss, Senior Strategist Catch

Google clarified that while promoting a best in class user experiences is important, this should be coupled with high quality and relevant content. Both of these factors will be considered when calculating a site’s SEO ranking. Companies need to be confident that their SEO Strategy, such as meta-data tagging and keywords included in copy, is up to date.

While these metrics provide great starting points for considering your site’s user experience, there are many other quantitative and qualitative measures you should adopt as well. This includes activities such as running site surveys, creating a heuristic evaluation, and conducting usability tests and user interviews. It’s great to improve your site’s search rankings, but if you don’t deliver a good experience once a user lands on your site, what’s the benefit of ranking higher? This is particularly important as we know 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience (Source: SWEOR).  

Google’s announcement is a great way to spark a larger conversation about the importance of user experience and an up to date SEO Strategy among your team, department, or broader company. If you need help starting these conversations, or are ready to get to work, get in touch.

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28 May 2020

Hiring during lockdown

On March 11 we packed up our desks as we prepared to work remotely, not knowing when we’d return to the studio. Even with a well established flexible working policy there was a learning curve in terms of figuring out how to focus at home, conduct our daily standups, and run client workshops, but one of the most challenging new experiences we’ve had to adapt to was hiring fully remotely.

Our clients have kept their foot on the gas, they understand that now is not the time to reduce spend on the way they are perceived online, with the whole world now operating digitally in the new normal. So with more work rolling in, we needed to add new talent to Catch.

A month into lockdown Catch welcomed new team members across both our Creative and Client Services teams.

So what have we learned from the process? We spoke with our hiring teams to collect the below recommendations for remote hiring and onboarding.

The interview process

“At this point you may be used to having video calls and are more comfortable with this format than candidates are. Understanding and acknowledging this at the beginning of the call will help break the ice and help make everything run smoother”

Becca Bendelow, Delivery Lead

Ask candidates to prepare a presentation of answers to general questions about themselves and their work experience. This is a great conversation starter and allows them to take the lead of the interview so it doesn’t feel so one sided. It also helps you understand how they present their thoughts and would potentially communicate with a client.

The onboarding process

Usually new hires can lean over to their neighbour and ask questions, or you can stop by their desk and check in. The challenge now is finding a balance between allowing them to work independently and making sure they’re managing everything without being with them in person.

  • Set up a new hire Trello board, breaking out steps into specific tasks with due dates and including pre-booked meeting invites for check ins, taking the pressure off of them to schedule a meeting whenever they have a question. This also helps embed them in your process, becoming aware of typical timelines and stand ups.
  • Arrange for new hires to have one on one calls with a variety of team members, helping them feel comfortable reaching out when a work related question comes up.

While the end of lockdown is currently uncertain, we do know that our ways of working may never go back to what we once considered “normal.” Whether it’s full time remote work, flexible policies, or anything in between, we all have a new outlook on what it means to work from home.

At the time of writing this article, the Catch studio in London is due to reopen, adhering to Government guidelines, on Sept 1st.

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