Guide to usability, the key to an easy, effective and useful site
Having a usable website is not only beneficial for users, but also for our goals and results. Putting the user at the center by now has (or at least should have) become a mantra to follow in every aspect of digital marketing and SEO, both because people are the ultimate recipients of our content (and optimization efforts) and because Google, at least in its intentions and statements, is increasingly trying to bring out pages that make the user experience efficient and satisfying. And this is where usability comes in, an element that relates to the effectiveness, efficiency and, indeed, overall satisfaction felt by people browsing the site and web pages: in a nutshell, it is the factor that determines whether a site visit will be pleasant and productive or frustrating and brief. So let’s delve into what “usability” of a website really means and how we can measure and improve it.
What is website usability: definitions and explanation
Simply put, usability is the ability of a website to be used easily, efficiently and satisfactorily by users to achieve specific goals. A usable website is intuitive, unobstructed, and allows desired activities to be performed with minimal effort.
It should be specified that the concept did not originate with the Web, but is much earlier: at a general level, usability is a quality attribute that refers to the ease of use of user interfaces of various types. More precisely, it is a set of factors and elements used to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and overall satisfaction of the user in his or her interactions with products or systems, including software, devices, applications and, indeed, websites.