Google: UX Will Never Be More Important Than Content For Ranking

Google's Gary Illyes is at SMX Sydney now and hours ago he has said some things that turned some SEO heads.

The big thing that he said that we have not yet covered was that user experience, be it mobile UX or desktop UX (desktop UX is not a ranking factor) will never be more important than the content on your pages.

Content is king above all else, including UX.

Yes, mobile UX is a ranking signal within the mobile results, that is what the mobile friendly algorithm is all about.

I saw several tweets from people in the audience quoting Gary from Google about this:

"User experience with *never* be more important than content" @methode #SMXSydney #interesting

— Tori Cushing (@ToriCushing) May 12, 2015

UX not a ranking factor and will never be more important than content via @methode #smx #smxsyd15

— Stel Moudakis (@StelinSEO) May 12, 2015

It makes sense, content has to be more important in terms of a ranking purpose than UX. But Google never (or rarely) uses the word never when talking. Gary is cool that way.

Gary added a response, which most people would agree with:

@glenngabe @rustybrick Yet to find out why is that surprising. If a site has great UX but no content users look for, why would they go there

— Gary Illyes (@methode) May 12, 2015

So I guess you never need to worry that Google's algorithms will ever find UX to be more important that content.

Forum discussion at Twitter.