SXO: The Overlooked Love Child of SEO and UX

SEO, UX, SXO… Is this just another pile of acronyms invented to confuse anyone who grew up before the internet? Stop right there. These are far from useless abbreviations. In fact, you should pay attention to them, because they shape your everyday life online whether you know it or not. And they’re not going away anytime soon.

Think we’re bluffing to get you to read this? Trust us: in a few minutes, you’ll feel like you’ve learned something. Like why you need to take care of your UX, for example. Relax, grab a seat, and we’ll explain everything, including what user experience (the famous UX) actually means. See? You’ve already learned something.

Digital Marketing: The Customer Acquisition Channel of Choice

Remember when running a few radio spots was enough to grow your customer list? That era is fading. Radio ads still reach some prospects, but they’re slowly losing ground. Or rather, they’ve stopped gaining it.

Meanwhile, competing acquisition channels are racing down the influence highway in brand-new sports cars. And when you’re on the road, the view is nice, but what really matters is where you end up.

Radio also has a weakness that has always worked against it and isn’t about to change: measurement. How many businesses can say exactly how many prospects came from a radio spot? Radio waves don’t come with analytics.

There’s a second big issue: audience. With a radio campaign, it’s hard to reach only your target audience. Think of all the people who have no interest in your product but sit through the spot anyway. With digital, you become an Olympic archer. With digital, you hit the bull’s-eye.

We’re not putting radio on trial. It remains a useful, complementary channel. Our point is that digital marketing gives you precise data on everything that happens: on your website, on your social media accounts, and across all your online campaigns.

Like it or not, digital has been the strongest advertising channel for years now. Its reach has simply outgrown the competition. Sorry, traditional media.

OK, So What Does SEO Have to Do With It?

We’ve looked high and low for a branch of digital marketing more exciting than SEO, and it’s about as easy to find as the performance stats of an ad wedged between two songs on the radio (OK, that one was a cheap shot). With all the objectivity in the world. Or not. It depends on your point of view.

Either way, SEO holds a special place in any marketing strategy. That’s not up for debate. Not just because it doesn’t require paying for every click, but because it gets brands and businesses on Google’s good side. And trust us, Google has a lot of pull.

Probably a lot more than your favorite radio host introducing the next commercial break. May radio forgive us: we’re grateful every day for the entertainment it brings to millions of people.

But that’s exactly the problem. Radio is entertainment, while search engines are seen as places where people ask real questions with a clear goal. If not always, then very often. Remember: on the radio, you sit through the ad. Online, you go looking for it. Most of the time, anyway.

So SEO is an advertising asset that isn’t advertising in the strict sense, but behaves a lot like it. It leaves pure advertising to its fraternal twin, paid search (PPC), a famous sibling it upstages from time to time, and vice versa. Behind the scenes, organic search quietly helps paid search in ways you might not expect: better landing pages and stronger content tend to support your ad performance too. Take care of your SEO, and you take care of your paid search.

Want to grow your organic search traffic? It’s what our SEO agency loves to do.

Great, but What Does SEO Have to Do With User Experience (UX)?

We’ll admit we thought long and hard before asking this question. Not because it’s too complicated, but because the answer seemed too obvious. OK, we’re kidding. We just wanted to show we know our stuff. So let’s explain SEO and UX with a specific example: radio. Yes, our old friend finally comes in handy (sorry, couldn’t resist).

When a brand wants to run a radio campaign, it hires a media agency (or the agency pitches the brand) to produce the spot.

The agency’s job is to make sure the spot meets the technical standards and requirements of the channel it will air on. That means format, length, music licensing, and appropriate language.

In short, everything that makes a spot fit for broadcast. To make our radio comparison crystal clear, we’ve written a conversation of the highest caliber. Pay attention, because we’re pretty proud of it.

• “Hey, buddy, you’re the digital marketing expert at Référenceur. How do I get my website to show up on Google?
• Easy. The radio station gives your media agency specific technical requirements so your spot can air properly.
• Wait, what are you talking about? Google isn’t a radio station. It’s a search engine.
• I know, but do you follow the logic? For your website, Google sets the SEO requirements that a digital marketing agency like ours works with so your site shows up properly in search results. Well, I’m stretching the truth a bit: Google doesn’t publish a complete list of its ranking factors. Clever, right? That’s why, to get results, we rely on our curiosity and, above all, on more than 15 years of experience in the field.”

This legendary conversation between our two imaginary friends wasn’t meant to entertain you (well, maybe a little). It was meant to draw a parallel between these two channels. But as nice as it all sounds, one very important idea is missing. Let’s pick up our epic conversation where we left off (yes, now that we’ve started, we’re going all the way. Hang in there).

• “OK, I get your radio example. But is it really that simple to reach my customers on Google?
• Actually, no. I forgot to tell you something important. If your radio spot is bad and annoying to someone who’s waiting for their favorite song to start, you’re going to fail.
• Not the radio again. That’s so last century!
• Sorry, old habits die hard. But don’t worry, Google stole the spotlight long ago. The student surpassed the master. My point is this: if your SEO is in good shape and your site ranks well, but it’s ugly and hard to use, you’re going to crash and burn. One click, and visitors are gone for good. It’s harsh, but it’s reality.
• So what am I supposed to do?
• Take care of your user experience (UX), so visitors have a good time on your site. A time they don’t want to cut short.”

Don’t worry, the far-out conversation is over. We just have one last point of the utmost importance, and it’s about SXO.

The What? SXO, Ladies and Gentlemen!

What on earth is that? It’s simply the most exciting marriage of the decade: the union of SEO (search engine optimization) and UX (user experience). SXO stands for search experience optimization. Two gems destined to meet, stirring up passion all over the world.

The growing interest in SXO isn’t a coincidence. Google is watching closely. For years now, it has been factoring user experience into how it ranks pages. Bottom line: if your site is ugly and frustrating, go directly to jail. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. It’s blunt, but that’s life on the street.

Google rewards content that is genuinely helpful and pages that offer a good experience. Its page experience documentation points site owners to Core Web Vitals (loading speed, responsiveness, and visual stability), mobile usability, HTTPS, and pages that aren’t buried under intrusive pop-ups. You could almost say that SXO is a kind of SEO 2.0. Or the other way around. We’re not sure anymore. Just remember this: it’s time to take care of the welcome and the service. You can have the best view in the world from your hotel room, but if the rest doesn’t measure up, you’ll never get five stars.

Great content, sentences that would make J.K. Rowling blush, and solid technical SEO are no longer enough on their own. You also need to make it all attractive and easy to use, so future customers want to trust you. A performance-driven web design approach is the natural partner of good SEO. And if visitors arrive but don’t convert, start with why your website isn’t generating leads.

Ready to Win Over Your Visitors?

Around the office, we’ve even thought about renaming the company: “Référenceur, your digital marketing and seduction agency.” Catchy, right? Because in the end, it’s all about winning people over. Not sure your website can compete in search results? Think your visitors aren’t getting the experience that will actually make them take action?

We can help you win them over. Référenceur is a French-speaking digital marketing agency from Belgium and Luxembourg, and we work with U.S. businesses remotely, through video calls, shared screens, and monthly reporting. Request a free assessment.