Posted 26.02.2025
By Susan Giles
SEO is dead – or so people keep saying.
For as long as search engines have been trying to improve their result pages, certain crowds have been saying the art of impressing through optimisation is unnecessary. Impossible even.
Those people are wrong. But over the last year, the shape of search engine optimisation (SEO) has shifted completely. Search engine result pages are barely recognisable from what they were three years ago, and earning a spot where you’re likely to be seen has got even more tricky. SEO had to change to keep pace… and it has changed into search experience optimisation (SXO).
But is this just a new name for an old concept? Or is SXO something entirely different that you need to consider as part of your digital marketing strategy?
The answer is… complicated. But it is important. So if you want to see the shape of SEO to come, join us as we unravel the tangles of SXO.
Search Experience Optimisation (SXO) brings together the principles of traditional SEO with those of user experience (UX). It goes beyond earning a place on the first page of the search engine result pages (SERPS) and extends to giving users an experience that convinces them to commit to your business.
It’s not enough to point potential customers towards a product or service that might meet their needs. You also need to help them identify what their needs are, show them the different ways they can be met, and then show them which option is the most suitable for them. You need to maximise user engagement across every touchpoint to make sure no customer is left behind.
And you need to do this as seamlessly as possible. Make the process simple, straightforward and stress-free and provide a positive user experience at every stage of their journey. That’s SXO.
So if you’re familiar with SEO, you might feel confused. After all, one of the golden rules of SEO is that search engines reward superior user experience, albeit indirectly. The art of creating content that pleases search engines hangs on writing for users and meeting their needs while some of Google’s own ranking factors (like page speed) also play a large part in UX.
So what is the difference between SEO and SXO?
With SEO you are optimising your website towards the traditional search journey. You’re aiming to score more organic traffic by appearing high in search engines. SXO goes even further. It covers the entire search experience (the entire search journey) whatever that might be for your user.
One of the biggest differences is scope. SEO focuses entirely on appeasing search engine algorithms – usually Google. With SXO you’re working to be discoverable in a range of online spaces including social media platforms such as TikTok, Reddit or YouTube. Places that people are increasingly using to fulfil their search queries.
However, it does go beyond that too. SXO is also about increasing user satisfaction to further increase the chances of your target audience committing to your business with purchases, engaging you for your services or following any other action that benefits your business (converting).
Of course, optimising your web presence to encourage users to convert has its own name as well: conversion rate optimisation (CRO). So how does that fit in with SXO and SEO? And even UX?
It probably feels like we’re just listing marketing terms now. And, if you’re not familiar with digital marketing and the meaning behind these words, it might feel like this idea of search experience optimisation is getting more confusing not less.
Honestly, the easiest way to think of SXO is as a thread that draws together all these marketing techniques.
It’s about creating a search experience that is fully user-friendly in every regard, from how people find your website to how they use it. Taking a completely user-centric approach in every aspect of your web presence.
And, as a result, improving your appearance in search engine rankings and increasing your conversions.
So why is all this necessary – particularly when ‘standard’ SEO should already be giving you great search engine visibility and driving plenty of organic website visitors?
While the concept of SXO has actually been around for many years, its relevance has exploded recently and that is because the way people are searching the internet has changed.
A decade ago, most users would turn to a search engine for an initial search. More than that, they’d turn to Google specifically. But in 2024, 45% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials said they preferred to use ‘social searching‘ on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube rather than Google.
This means that if you want to gain organic traffic, you need to look outside simply optimising for search engines – you need to optimise for social search. And while traditional SEO tactics do have transferrable benefits that please social platform algorithms, they won’t be enough on their own.
Other research by Gartner predicted that Google could lose up to 25% of its users as people turn to AI chatbots for search support instead.
These aren’t the only ways that search is changing either – even search engine result pages are constantly evolving.
The look of search results is changing, and securing a highly visible spot in organic search is getting more and more complicated. The introduction of AI overviews has taken up valuable real estate on search results pages, making it harder to get spotted through a standard ‘blue link’. Even earning a valuable Featured Snippet or People Also Asked (PAA) spot on the search results won’t guarantee you’re the first thing search users see.
But AI overviews do harvest their information from somewhere, and often link back to their sources. They pose, in themselves, a new optimisation challenge but also an opportunity. Handled correctly, they are a new starting point for a user journey that leads towards your website, rather than a block that stops people finding you.
The reason for the rise of SXO is clear, and not accommodating it really is self-sabotage.
Once you understand the ins-and-outs of what SXO is, the next question becomes how you optimise for it. Don’t be tempted to just build your pre-existing strategies for search engine, user experience and conversation rate optimisation – that won’t hurt but it also won’t give massive change.
Instead, you need to start with a mindset shift. You need to start thinking about a whole new target audience: searchers. You’re no longer just targeting people who are looking for the product or service you provide – you’re targeting people with a problem and offering a solution.
We’ve also taken a more in-depth look at how to optimise for search experience, if you want exact examples.
SXO takes the fundamentals of SEO like keyword research, valuable content, website usability and UX then supercharges them. You aren’t working through a check list to say your site is search engine friendly anymore. You need to understand what searchers are looking for, then provide it.
The plus side is that when they do, they’re more likely to buy your products as a result.
This means your SXO strategy is a growth of your SEO strategy, not a replacement. You still need to do in-depth keyword research, but you need to allow a wider net of search intent across your site.
You still need to offer a range of rich, informative but highly relevant content. Not just to impress search engines, but to ensure searchers can find the information they need without leaving your website (And finding your competitors).
You still need an in-depth understanding of user intent. Your site needs to provide the information your potential customers need and it needs to be easy to find and move between. Effective internal linking and straightforward site structure sit at the core of SEO and UX already but you need to fully understand how your users interact with your brand across multiple platforms to smooth out any and all possible friction in their journey.
As it turns out, SXO is not the death of SEO – it’s the next evolution.
It’s about looking at the entire user journey, from the first hesitant search to the full commitment of conversion. It’s about covering every step, every platform, and making sure your business excels at every single one.
It might sound new, unnecessary, or complicated but – in the end – it’s about doing what we’ve always done. Just even better.
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