Donna My client had a website with A LOT of text animations and image movement. I was told that with the with Google algorithms focusing on user experience that people do not like all that movement. I do not see any information about that on google. 5 👍🏽523 💬🗨📰👈
Micha As someone who has chronic vertigo, I can tell you there are sites I can't/won't visit because their active animations make me dizzy. Many people with epilepsy and other chronic conditions also need to be careful about active animations. Not everything triggers dizziness or a seizure, but it's a good idea to avoid automatic animations. Let the user decide when to activate things. 💟👍🏽5 Truslow 🎓 Things like that typically won't affect Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (unless they are done with a lot of javascript and ajax – but even that can be okay…) Where it will have an effect is conversion rates. Best thing to do is test it. One trick I like to do is grab $50 off my dresser and head down to the local bar for happy hour. I find someone who looks like they might be someone who would be somewhat interested in what the site has to offer and buy them a drink in trade for a few minutes of their time. (Typically, I do this for mobile testing – so I want them to use their own phone, but in your case, you might want a laptop since you're testing the whistles and bells that tend to be more of an issue on bigger screens). Don't tell them exactly what you're trying to do, but start them on the home page and tell them they're looking to find something – maybe some information you know is on the site or one of your flagship products, etc. Then step back and watch. It's not so much about what they do, but how they react and what they say. Watch their face. Are the flashing graphics and things that go "ping!" drawing them toward the goal – or distracting from it. You can learn a LOT by running a half dozen little test things like this. (I love it for mobile testing because my emulator only goes so far and our team only has so many different phones to give it a look – this lets me see the site – and the people using it – on another handful of devices we never would have had access to.) Then of course, if budget allows, you can do A/B split testing. Make a toned down version and your whistle-n-ping! version – then split the traffic and see which converts better. In your case though – since it's a sitewide experience, that might be cost prohibitive, though. As I said earlier – I wouldn't worry too much about this as an SEO issue though. If those things are actually helping conversions – then even if it does hurt rankings a bit, it may be worth the trade. You can make up those rankings in dozens of other ways – and still have the bonus of the things helping to drive conversions. If they are distracting, though – it doesn't matter if it hurts ranking – it hurts conversions, so kill it. 💟👍🏽4
Nathan » Truslow This is so cool! Love the "bar test"! Brenda LOL, you'd have to catch them at just the right time of their "Bar Experience", though. LOL LOL. Truslow 🎓 lol Yep. That's why happy hour works. They're fresh out of work, so probably not drunk. And if they ARE already drunk, then they would be drunk when using the site anyway, so… it's valid test data, regardless. 😉
Ammon 🎓 I think some folks have been confused about 'cumulative shift' in Core Web Vitals (CWV) and mistaken the context of 'images causing movement'. This is just one more reason why ALL SEO users should know the basics of coding.
Kutcher » Ammon But if many/most "web developers" these days barely know coding, how can you expect SEO users to know coding? Hmmmm 🤔1 Ammon 🎓 » Kutcher To me it has ALWAYS been the job of an SEO to know enough coding to be able to advise web devs on best practices with a specific slant toward what search engines can render, and general accessibility. Always. Kutcher » Ammon Agreed, and yet when we start with "we need to add schema" and the only way people know how is via a plug-in… 🤭1 Ammon 🎓 » Kutcher And when the plugin does it badly, as extra code, rather than as wrap-around tagging of in-page content… Yeah. Kutcher » Ammon Exactly. But it also speaks to the understanding that the SEO might actually have about their job. They don't understand, at a micro-level, how the thing is being implemented, which translates to a macro-level lack of comprehension.
Roger >>>people do not like all that movement It's not an issue unless the JavaScript necessary for creating those special effects slow down the rendering of the web page and how fast the page becomes interactive (First Input Delay). What you need to do is review the PageSpeed Insights scores for the home page and any important inner pages and pay attention to the feedback the tool provides about what might be slowing down the web page, if anything. If the JS necessary for powering the special effects slows down the page, then get rid of it. What matters is getting your message across to the site visitor and making a sale or whatever your goal is. Always focus on the goal and make sure that everything on the page works together to help you achieve that goal. https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/ PageSpeed Insights Shubham Keep it simple. Google algorithm does focus on user experience, but don't go too deep into it without the appetite of understanding the purpose of the algorithm in the first place. If you like the animations & find them friendly, your client's users will like them too. Think like end-users, you don't need to focus on the algorithm if you focus on the users first. Algorithms are just catalysts, nothing more.
