One of the less talked about areas of SEO is scanning for barriers. SEO experts will sometimes discuss the ways in which the hidden pathways of your site can be cleared for the search engine spiders. There are other barriers which are of just as much importance to your site and should be looked at as part of your search engine optimisation plan.

These barriers are visual barriers. Visual barriers are the aspects of your page that halt the user’s eye at an inappropriate point. Visual barriers can have a big effect on how users interact with your site, and can sometimes result in users exiting before you want them to. The way you deal with visual barriers also has an affect on your site’s SEO, because it affects the placement of keywords and the flow of information on the page and therefore ultimately it can influence your SERPs.

Your consultant should consider the barriers on your site, but it can help to understand the process yourself. When scanning for visual barriers on your site, it’s a good idea to experience the site as a user would.

• Let your eye experience your pages as for the first time. It can help to spend some time noticing how your eye naturally scans a new page on the net. Take a few minutes to browse some sites you’ve never been to before and notice how you look at the page. Take note of where your eye travels first, then second, and what paths across the page you take. Do you scan left to right, or does your eye jump from spot to spot?

• Open your site in a browser, and scan it like a first-time user. Follow the patterns you noted in your experience of other sites. Does your title jump out at you, or hide? How much time, down to the half-second, do you spend looking at each area of the page? Where does your eye travel over the page? Note the points on the page where your eye pauses, but don’t analyse them quite yet. Make sure to note the terms and concepts that jumped out at you.

• Analyse your findings. Examine the notes you’ve made and see whether the points at which your eye stopped were appropriate. For example, if you paused for two seconds after encountering an unimportant graphic, the image represents a visual barrier. Similarly, if your eye travelled in a way that felt uncomfortable or very different from what you’re used to, then the barriers on your site could be forcing users to scan the page in an unhelpful way.

The most common barriers on a page are images, white space, headings, highlighted text and the page fold. Each of these can be used in a way that’s beneficial to your site. Think of it like the flow of water in a fountain. Rocks and statues can be used to guide the water in pleasing lines. They can also block the water, making the overall effect awkward.

You can talk with our experts at SEO Consult about barriers and your site.

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