How does user experience (UX) influence SEO rankings?

User experience (UX) significantly impacts SEO rankings primarily because it affects user engagement and behavior on a website. A good UX creates an intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable interaction for users, which naturally encourages them to engage more with the content provided on the site.

When users find the interface user-friendly and the content relevant, they are more likely to spend time on the site, explore multiple pages, and interact with the content, which can lead to lower bounce rates. Bounce rates refer to the percentage of visitors who leave the site after viewing only one page. High bounce rates can signal to search engines that the content may not be engaging or relevant to user queries, potentially leading to lower rankings.

Additionally, when users engage more deeply with a website—by leaving comments, sharing content, or revisiting the site—search engines perceive the site as valuable, which can enhance its authority and relevance in search results. Thus, the correlation between good UX and positive user behaviors directly influences SEO outcomes.