Transcript: Ask the UXperts: Why Strategy an UX are Inseparable — with Amanda Stockwell

Yesterday we were fortunate enough to be graced a second time by the presence of Amanda Stockwell in our Slack channel. This time she was helping us to unpack that confusing and elusive (some would even say non-existent) subject – UX strategy.

To put things into perspective, when we talk ‘strategy’ we’re talking about product strategy.

Amanda’s session was about the importance of having a solid strategy and why it plays such a crucial role in a good user (or customer, or human) experience.

If you didn’t make the session because you didn’t know about it, make sure you join our community to get updates of upcoming sessions. If you have follow up questions for Amanda, you can ask them here.

If you’re interested in seeing what we discussed, or you want to revisit your own questions, here is a full transcript of the chat.

Transcript

 

hawk

2016-11-15 23:59

OK, let’s get rolling

hawk

2016-11-15 23:59

A quick overview for those of you that are new to these sessions

hawk

2016-11-15 23:59

First up, I’ll introduce @amandastockwell who will in turn introduce the subject

hawk

2016-11-16 00:00

Then I’ll throw it open to you for questions

hawk

2016-11-16 00:00

If things get busy, I’ll queue questions in another channel for Amanda, so don’t worry – we’ll get to you

hawk

2016-11-16 00:00

And I’ll post a full transcript up on http://uxmastery.com tomorrow

hawk

2016-11-16 00:01

If you want to keep the conversation going afterwards (or need other support), join us at http://ift.tt/1qs7rt7

hawk

2016-11-16 00:01

So… first up, a huge thanks to you for your time today Amanda – we’re fortunate to have you back for a second time!

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:01

Thanks so much for having me!

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:02

And thanks everyone who joined! Hello from the US

lynne

2016-11-16 00:02

Hi from Vancouver

hawk

2016-11-16 00:02

For the formal intro:
Amanda is President of Stockwell Strategy, a UX research practice focused on lean research methods and integrating user knowledge with business goals to create holistic product strategies for businesses large and small.

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:02

Hi from Melbourne :smile:

danielle

2016-11-16 00:02

@hawk a picture frame, same pantry items and lost some water from the toilet cistern. Could’ve been worse!

hawk

2016-11-16 00:02

She has spent most of the last decade focused on finding innovative ways to understand end users and embed that knowledge into overall process. She’s lead teams that provide research, design, and UX strategy services and frequently writes and speaks about her experience.

hawk

2016-11-16 00:03

You can find her on Twitter at @MandaLaceyS or on our forums

hawk

2016-11-16 00:03

I asked her to join us today to talk strategy, because it’s a topic that can be pretty confusing when it comes to UX

hawk

2016-11-16 00:03

People often ask us how they should go about ‘putting together a UX strategy’ but I’m not convinced that such a thing exists

hawk

2016-11-16 00:04

So Amanda is here to help us unpack that, and talk about how UX and product strategy inform each other

hawk

2016-11-16 00:04

So @amandastockwell – over to you for a better intro to the topic than mine :wink:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:05

Ha alright, thanks @hawk and all! To begin, I’d actually like to take a step WAY back and define what I mean when I say UX

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:05

Some people think that means wireframes or IA structures or visuals

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:05

has joined #ask-amanda-s

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:05

But when I say UX, I mean every experience that a person has interacting with a company/brand/service

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:05

From the first time they hear an ad about it to the first time they visit a website to interactions they have with staff if they return something

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:07

So in my mind, in order to help design for a great experience, you have to understand all varying goals the people you’re serving have at different points in time and how to best serve them

ashleamckay

2016-11-16 00:07

@hawk @bec7 it’s sunny in Canberra but that pollen is killing me! Haha

matthewkast

2016-11-16 00:07

So would you consider UX and CX one in the same?

melissa_eggleston

2016-11-16 00:07

has joined #ask-amanda-s

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:08

yes and no. I think they are inextricably linked

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:08

So is UX only limited to Users of the product / service or even the internal stakeholders, employees of the organisation?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:08

People traditionally think of CX as the portion of interactions that have to do with service interactions, like if someone helps you at a physical store, or if you need to call with an issue

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:09

and I think part of having a great overall experience means that those experiences need to be good

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:09

but I think CX is defined too narrowly to encompass all of what I mean by UX

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:09

Also to be fair – “user” is really open to interpretation. I’ve recently been joking that I’m going to say HX – human experience

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:09

any single person who interacts

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:11

“users” typically means the people who use your product or service but I think when I’m talking about creating a good experience, I don’t stop there

philsmithson

2016-11-16 00:11

agree on the HX thing, that’s what I’ve been saying! I try to avoid this discussion around definitions of UX vs CX completely :slightly_smiling_face:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:11

I also think about the people who will be providing service, setting things up, etc.

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:11

ha glad I’m not the only one @philsmithson!

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:12

So in that case, even a CEO or an auditor of the company is UX focused resource/designer? I would not want to call a term ‘UX Designer’ no one can design User’s Experience one can only measure it.

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:12

sorry, can you clarify the question?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:13

I *think* what you mean is should every single person be focused on creating a good experience

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:14

You meant UX is about everything that one experiences while interacting with a Co/brand/service so in that case even a CEO or anyone in the company is a designer?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:15

So I wouldn’t say everyone is a designer, but I would say that creating a good experience should be the focus of everyone at a company – devs need to make sure things load quickly, customer support reps need to answer questions quickly, competently, and in a friendly way, sales people need to make sure they are reaching out to people in a meangingful way

melissa_eggleston

2016-11-16 00:15

UX is everyone’s job to some degree!

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:15

I would say everyone who is focused at creating a ‘good exp’ is a designer

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:16

Think about something like this – have you ever lost a bag while traveling and then thought, “gah, I HATE airline x”? Maybe the bag got lost because a baggage loader slacked off, or maybe it got lost because the tracking software was broken

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:16

Designer is not just the one who uses tools, they encompass larger role, being a strategist

philsmithson

2016-11-16 00:16

I think we’re all designers to some extent, whether we’re creating an interface, providing a service or sending a report to the boss. We have to empathise with the person on the receiving end and make sure what we deliver matches (or surpasses…) their expectations.

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:16

do you care? I don’t. All I know is that my experience was bad

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:16

@philsmithson: :+1::skin-tone-3:

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:16

How does UX, CX, HX work in with service design?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:17

I guess you could say everyone is a designer but I think that has messy implications. The baggage handler could “design” how well they pay attention but they may not have much say in crafting how the system works

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:18

So, CX is usually focused on interactions between paying customers and service providers (i.e. you call an airline to rebook a flight)

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:18

UX is typically thought of as how well the interface works when you go on to a website to book a flight

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:18

If they improvise on their task, make sure they don’t loose any baggage and ensure they are effective, they are designers/ strategist

desertcoder

2016-11-16 00:19

@amandastockwell : Question – my UX team is given a roadmap from product management with objectives over the next 6 months, 3 years, etc. There’s a struggle between UX and product management in determining when user research can start before features are “baked” enough to begin writing user stories and developing the prototype. It seems the UX leads are always “strategizing” about what can be built, when and how it intersects with other products – but it’s difficult to make decisions when management is passive about what should be included in a release. Is this what product strategy means?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:19

There’s a piece of it that we haven’t discussed as much, which is the employee experience. Extending the airline example, this would be the interactions say a gate attendant has with the reservation system at their desk

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:20

Service design usually encompasses CX and employee experience – very similar to what I’ve dubbed Human experience

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:21

@desertcoder great question!

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:21

There you go… this is the most important. Let’s not forget employees are equally responsible in creating positive experiences ,:+1::skin-tone-3:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:22

first I want to say I hear you on those struggles and there is not one easy answer. When I say product strategy, I don’t think there should/has to be a separate set of managers defining this

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:23

I know this doesn’t always happen, but I think product strategy is most successful when people who are closest to the people interacting (whether that’s ux researchers, ux designers, etc.) work closely with more business-minded folks to come up with the plans for how to best serve people

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:24

I think the most successful product strategies are often born out of UXers because we’re often the ones who get to actually talk to and observe people and we see problems to solve

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:24

Sorry Amanda, but there is no such thing called ‘UX Designer’

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:24

which I find is at the core of creating a successful product strategy – how do you solve a problem or fill a gap for someone

lynne

2016-11-16 00:25

I love the concept of the employee experience – this is important and too often overlooked. But who is responsible for it? The company that produces the reservation system the gate attendant is using, or the airline?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:26

that’s why I think you can’t separate product strategy from UX or CX or HX or really any of the experiences ha

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:26

ah that’s where it gets tricky

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:26

To be totally honest, a lot of times employee experiences get overlooked because of that exact problem and because some companies don’t see it as a worthy investment

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:27

I think it’s up to the airline to ensure that the employees have tools that they need to work efficiently

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:27

But unless they build it themselves, it becomes the responsibility of the software provider to make the reservation system a good experience

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:28

And they aren’t always in sync

melissa_eggleston

2016-11-16 00:28

But ultimately it falls back on the airline who hires the software provider. It’s their employees.

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:28

Yep, fair enough. also, hey melissa!

melissa_eggleston

2016-11-16 00:29

hey friend!

desertcoder

2016-11-16 00:29

@amandastockwell : Question – do you follow a tried-and-true Strategic Plan when working with your clients?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:29

That scenario I just described isn’t ideal, but often the overall company feels they can wash their hands of it if they hire an outside firm

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:29

On the strategic plan – it totally depends! A lot of my clients are interested in my experience with Agile and Lean

matthewkast

2016-11-16 00:29

This airline talk is reminding me a lot of this http://ift.tt/2aVPZiL

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:30

which means that built into any and all plans are plans to iterate ha

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:30

I’m not dogmatic about plans though. I find that flexibility serves me and my clients better

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:30

When they wash hands of.., And that’s where the CEO or decision makers play the role of designer or strategist

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:31

@desertcoder did that answer your question?

desertcoder

2016-11-16 00:32

@amandastockwell : I’m trying to understand what steps are used to help clients strategize on a new product.

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:32

Do you have any advice for breaking companies out of a cycle/thinking about engaging with their customers mainly through campaigns? (I work in a creative/advertising agency so getting people to look at a bigger picture can be a bit of a challenge)

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:33

ah ok. So, I do have a suggestion for that. I like to use a handful of tools that come from Lean Startup and Lean UX movements – I have a template that I use to help new product definition that includes doing proto-personas, assumption mapping, and hypthesis forming

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:34

But I still never make much of a long term plan because the whole think about lean startup thinking is that you define your biggest, riskiest assumption, figure out a way to test it, and then reassess

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:35

In terms of the the creative/advertising – that’s a tough nut to crack. Do you have ability to talk to the people working on the products/services you represent?

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:35

most of the time, yes we do

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:37

Ok, so in that case, I’d recommend doing regular check-ins or design jams to make sure that the work you’re doing is in sync. I used to do this with an internal team of marketers, UI minded people, product responsible people, and researchers – every week or so we’d review what we were all working on, what personas each effort was serving, how it mapped to our overall business goals, and what we could share with each other that may be helpful

desertcoder

2016-11-16 00:37

Thanks, Amanda! That makes a lot of sense.

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:38

We are doing that with a client currently and it’s proving quite successful. I think looking at larger business goals is a good suggestion, as I think our scope is currently seen as limited to our immediate task.

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:38

sure thing! there’s tons more reading on Lean Startup thinking if you’re interested. David Bland, Melissa Peri, and Laura Klein are the awesome ones off the top of my head

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:39

@holliedoar Yah it can definitely be hard, but one thing you could try is tracking your specific tasks to overall goals and proving out ROI when you can

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:39

when someone realizes that what you do makes/saves lots of money they usually start to include you on more and more :slightly_smiling_face:

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:40

fingers crossed! thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:40

sure thing!

hawk

2016-11-16 00:40

Now might be a good opening if someone else has a question!

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:41

Can you please specify some of the ‘strategies’ you have suggested in your real projects.

holliedoar

2016-11-16 00:41

I’d be interested in hearing more about your strategic approach as well :slightly_smiling_face:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:42

sure – so as I mentioned, I always begin with an intro that is based on learning what my client is trying to do, what they know about their people already, and what their biggest issues/assumptions are

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:44

I typically use the following conversations/tools in those discussions; Vision statements, Headline workshops, Proto-persona workshop, User outcome assumption and business outcome assumptions mapping

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:44

the sailboat exercise

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:45

the pre mortem

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:45

Depending on where my clients are, we may leave that conversation in vastly different states

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:45

If they aren’t sure who is or could use/be involved with their systems, then I start with user research

jellybean

2016-11-16 00:46

What are headline workshops and the sail boat exercise?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:46

If they feel like they understand the people involved and their issues, we typically design an experiment to test those hypotheses

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:48

The headline workshop/exercise is an exercise to get all the stakeholders aligned on direction and overall impact – it’s super simple. You basically ask everyone to imagine that the product/service has launched and they need to write a newspaper headline for what they hope to accomplish

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:48

but sometimes it’s a bit easier for people to wrap their brain around rather than just “tell me your vision”

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:50

the sailboat exercise is similarly simple – you ask people to imagine that your product is a boat and you want to imagine the things that would help move you along in the right direction

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:50

that is the “wind in your sails”

bkesshav

2016-11-16 00:50

So is strategy limited only to understanding business goals, objectives and understanding User personas, needs? As a strategist can we recommend technologies and suggest to simplify the function and not just experiement with the form?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:50

and then you imagine the things that would slow you down, the currents

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:51

and the thing that would drown you – icebergs

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:51

It’s again, a way to visualize what success and failure look like

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:53

Good question – I think that strategy can definitely involve suggestions to function. Like maybe there doesn’t need to be an app for that. I think it can involve discussions on technology but in my mind, strategy is about defining the problems to solve and approaches to solve/figure it out, not necessarily about what the solution should look like

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:53

at least not at first

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:54

@jellybean i’m looking for a link with a good description of some of these tools – one sec

jellybean

2016-11-16 00:54

Thanks :slightly_smiling_face:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:55

http://ift.tt/1ib65jh has some good basic intros

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:55

sure!

hawk

2016-11-16 00:55

Heads up that we have 5 mins left in this session everyone. If you have question, here is your chance…

canuckinluck

2016-11-16 00:56

Hi Amanda thanks for sharing with all of us today I’m a bit late to the party so I missed earlier posts but if this hasn’t come up yet can you share your top 5 reads for leading strategic innovation within an org/for our clients?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:57

no worries! so I didn’t give specific reads but I’ll tell you some people I like to follow – Melissa Peri, Laura Klein, and David Bland – I also love “validating product ideas’ by Tomer Sharon

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:57

each of the people I mentioned has vast amounts of awesome resources

canuckinluck

2016-11-16 00:57

brilliant, thanks heaps

rob

2016-11-16 00:58

Piggy backing on @canuckinluck if you could pick one book on leading strategy workshops, which would it be?

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 00:59

hmm.. i don’t know that there are any books I love specifically on that topic, but Laura Klein’s UX for Lean Startups discusses a lot of the tactics I use and is a great read

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 01:00

it’s not specifically about strategy workshops though. If I think of any that are particularly good I”ll pass on!

hawk

2016-11-16 01:01

Thanks Amanda. Perhaps if something comes to mind later you could post it in your follow up topic here http://ift.tt/2eGJCjm

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 01:01

Sure!

hawk

2016-11-16 01:01

And on that note, I think we’ll call that a wrap!

desertcoder

2016-11-16 01:01

Thanks, Hawk and Amanda!

hawk

2016-11-16 01:01

Thanks so much for your time Amanda – and to those of you that joined us. :slightly_smiling_face:

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 01:01

Thanks everyone!

melissa_eggleston

2016-11-16 01:01

Thank you, Amanda!

philsmithson

2016-11-16 01:01

Thank you!

lynne

2016-11-16 01:02

Thanks Amanda and Hawk!

hawk

2016-11-16 01:02

I’ll post a transcript up on our site tomorrow in case you want to check back over what went down

holliedoar

2016-11-16 01:02

tahnks!

canuckinluck

2016-11-16 01:02

Cheers Amanda and thanks as always Hawk for organising

amandastockwell

2016-11-16 01:02

Feel free to follow up if more questions arise!

The post Transcript: Ask the UXperts: Why Strategy an UX are Inseparable — with Amanda Stockwell appeared first on UX Mastery.

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Real estate is no more about just putting a roof over your head. Realtors today focus on selling a lifestyle and experience which is hard to convey if your only available medium is a 2D monitor or billboard.

But imagine walking through a virtual version of your preferred property while comfortably sitting in your bedroom or an agent's office. For the first time ever, realtors can put their prospects inside a building without actually taking them there, or before the project is even complete. As all VR devices have stereoscopic 3D, it imparts depth and helps the viewer understand a space better.

Opportunities for developers: Develop apps which realtors can use to easily and affordably create virtual versions of their properties. Currently, the cheapest VR apps allow people to check out photos and videos on a website with a VR viewer like the cardboard.

However, complete walkthroughs can be costly and require a VR professional with specialized equipment. There are a range of applications here depending on how much interactivity and immersion is required.

Opportunities for realtors: Matterport can help you create virtual versions of your properties and submit them to their library. You can also try augmented reality apps such as Re-flekt to visualize your property straight from its blueprint on a table. Both these tools are awesome ways to help you explain your ideas to prospects.

Healthcare

From helping surgeons train for operations to seeing real-time images of a patient's anatomy in stereoscopic 3D, VR has tons of potential that can help healthcare professionals provide a better service. Globally, the market for VR in healthcare is expected to touch $3.8 billion by 2020.

Opportunities for developers: There's a lot of research being done on how VR can be used in healthcare, however few companies are turning the body of knowledge into practical applications, which means there is a large untapped market waiting for tech entrepreneurs. Education software and next-gen telepresence devices that can impart a more realistic look and feel of health related scenarios to doctors are the logical next step.

VR apps and tools to help patients recover from psychological issues such as learning disabilities and PTSD can also be developed.

Opportunities for healthcare professionals: Simulators such as ImmersiveTouch and Medical Realities can help doctors get better training and perform operations remotely via head mounted devices like the Oculus Rift. Another app called Virtually Better helps people with anxiety by introducing them to the stimulus that triggers unease in a friendly environment.

Training

While training is ubiquitous in every industry, it deserves a special mention here. Virtual reality has been used very effectively by the military and aerospace companies to train pilots and soldiers to become better acquainted with the stressful environments they will be working in. With tools becoming even cheaper, the tech is poised to disrupt training techniques in many other industries now.

Continue reading %4 Virtual Reality Startup Ideas Entrepreneurs Can Jump On Now%

by Parth Misra via SitePoint

9-Point Technical SEO Checklist for Developers

This article is part of an SEO series from WooRank. Thank you for supporting the partners who make SitePoint possible.

Organic search traffic is vital to any commercial website: Almost half of online shoppers begin their shopping process with a search engine, and a third of e-commerce traffic comes from search results. Even if you’re a brick and mortar shop, you’re likely reliant on organic traffic since half of mobile searches result in a store visit within a day of the search. All that adds up to one fact: if you’re trying to make money with your website, you need organic traffic. And how do you bring in that traffic? SEO.

SEO is typically viewed as the realm of marketers and writers. However, developers have a large role to play as well. If sites aren’t built correctly, search engines could struggle, or even fail entirely, to find and index pages. One false move with your robots.txt file, for example, could prevent your entire site from showing up in Google search results.

That’s why we’ve put together this 9-point checklist to help developers build sites in a way that’s optimized to rank highly in search results.

Crawling and Indexing

Since the purpose of SEO is to appear in search results for your target audience, one of the most important considerations when creating a site is getting crawled and indexed. The easiest way to get indexed is to submit your site directly to Google and Bing. Use Google Search Console to submit your URL to Google. This doesn’t require a Google Search Console account, but if you do have one, you can use the Fetch as Google tool in the Crawl section. After Googlebot successfully fetches your site, click the "Submit to index" button.

Submitting your site to Bing requires a Bing Webmaster Tools account.

XML Sitemaps

A basic description of XML sitemaps is a list of every URL on your site, stored as a text file in your site’s root directory. In reality, there’s a little bit more to them than that. Yes, they list every URL on your site (or at least the URL for every page you want crawled and indexed), but they also list extra information about each page and serve an important SEO function. Search engines use the information in sitemaps to crawl sites more intelligently and efficiently so they won’t waste their crawl budget on unimportant or unchanged content. When done correctly, your basic sitemap looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8”?>
<urlset xmlns="http://ift.tt/xwbjRF” xmlns:xhtml=”http://ift.tt/2bTDKEE;
    <url>
        <loc>http://ift.tt/2byyU2M;
        <lastmod>2016-8-01</lastmod>
        <changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
        <priority>0.9</priority>
        <xhtml:link rel="alternate” hreflang=”fr” href=”http://ift.tt/2bTCP7v;
   </url>

What does all that mean? Here’s a synopsis:

• <urlset>: This tells crawlers that the sitemap is starting and ending.
• <url>: Denotes the beginning and end of each URL entry in the sitemap.
• <loc>: This defines the URL of the page. While the rest of the attributes found in the <url> tag are optional, <loc> required.
• <lastmod>: The date, in YYYY-MM-DD format, the page was updated or modified.
• <changefreq>: This indicates how frequently you update the page, which will help search engines decide how often to crawl it to make sure they’re indexing the freshest content. You might be tempted to lie to increase your crawl frequency, but don’t. If search engines see <changefreq> doesn’t jive with the actual change frequency, they’ll just ignore this parameter.
• <priority>: Sets the priority of the page in relation to the rest of the site. Valid values range from 0.0 to 1.0, from least to most important. Use this tag to help search engines crawl your site more intelligently. Note that this only tells crawlers how important your pages are compared to your other pages. It does not affect how your pages are compared to other sites.
• <xhtml:link>: This tag points to alternate versions of the page. In this example it indicates the French version of https://www.example.com.

Sitemaps aren’t a ranking signal, but they help search engines find all your pages and content, which makes it easier for you rank well.

If you don’t want to write your own sitemap, there are plenty of tools out there that can help you create one. Once you have your XML sitemap, validate and submit it using Google Search Console. You can also submit your sitemap to Bing via Webmaster Tools. Make sure you fix any errors so you don’t wind up impeding your site’s indexing.

Robots.txt

Like XML sitemaps, robots.txt files are plain text files stored in the root directory of your site, and help crawlers navigate your site. The file contains lines of code that specify which user agents have access to which files, file types or folders. The code is broken up into blocks, with one user agent line per section. Basic robots.txt code looks like this:

User-agent: *
Disallow:

User-agent: googlebot
Disallow: *.ppt$

The asterisk (*) is used as a wild card. In the user agent line, the wild card represents all bots. In a disallow line, it represents the URL up to a specified point. In our example above, our robots.txt disallows Googlebot from crawling pages that end with a PowerPoint file extension — the $ denotes the end of the URL.

You can block bots from crawling your entire site by using a slash in the disallow line like this:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

It’s good practice to disallow all robots from accessing the entire server when you’re building, redesigning or migrating your site. However, you have to be sure to restore access once you’re done, or your shiny new site won’t get indexed.

Use Google Search Console to test your robots.txt file for syntax errors or other problems.

Meta Robots Tag

One problem with the robots.txt file is that it won’t stop search engines from following external links to your site, so disallowed pages could still wind up indexed. Add an extra layer of protection to individual pages using the robots meta tag:

Continue reading %9-Point Technical SEO Checklist for Developers%

by Sam Gooch via SitePoint