What is SXO? When SEO and UX work together to convert

SXO, or Search Experience Optimization, is the fusion of two key disciplines in the digital ecosystem: SEO and UX. This integration is not a trend, but a logical response to how users search, consume content, and make decisions online. Nor is it a checklist or a technique to follow: it’s a comprehensive approach to how we tackle digital projects.

SEO and UX: two worlds that meet

SEO is about optimizing a website to appear at the top of Google search results. It involves working on content, structure, speed, links… but above all, understanding what the user needs.

UX focuses on what happens once the user is on the site: whether they understand the information, can navigate easily, and can take action without frustration.

What exactly is SXO?

SXO merges both disciplines to optimize the entire search experience — from the initial query to the conversion. It’s not enough to appear on Google; you have to earn the click… and then not disappoint the user once they land on your site.

A concrete example

Imagine you search for "abogado cláusula suelo Barcelona" and click on a site that loads fast, has clear information, understandable language, and an accessible form. It inspires trust, and you end up reaching out. That’s SXO. You’ve landed on a website that, as it happens, was designed and optimized by us at Advocats Ferrer: a landing page with a clear purpose, structured and hierarchical content, fully responsive, fast-loading, and designed to guide the user with clarity and purpose: Contact us!

Google’s recommendations reinforce this approach

SEO work is largely about observing and analyzing Google’s algorithms and patents, and how they influence search results. There’s a common thread across most updates: the user and their experience must be at the center. Some of the most relevant updates include:

• EEAT: experience, authority, and trust in content.
• Helpful Content Update: rewarding user-oriented, useful content.
• Review Updates: prioritizing genuine reviews and authentic experiences.

This matters because working from an SXO perspective not only improves user experience — it’s also a long-term SEO strategy. Those who don’t adopt it will enjoy short-term SEO success and long-term visibility decline (maybe not today, but soon enough). SEO actions take time to bear fruit — positively or negatively.

When should SEO enter a web project?

Between day one and two. Ideally even on day -1, while validating the project budget — that would be perfect. While this isn’t always feasible due to time, resources, or budgets, in an ideal scenario, SEO, web design, and content teams should collaborate from the initial briefing and throughout the entire web project. SEO input should influence multiple phases: defining the site structure, identifying content to preserve or migrate (in the case of redesigns), setting up page structures, approving the web design, and addressing SEO-related code elements, among others.

SEO alone is no longer enough

We’ve had hundreds of clients ask us to improve the ranking of their sites, and we’ve politely declined after seeing the website had no long-term potential. You might think, “What a mistake, turning down paying work.” But nothing could be further from the truth: if you take on a project just to drive users to a poor website, it’s doomed to fail. You’re either fooling yourself or the client — and frankly, fooling the client is worse.

Because even if you manage to rank it in the short or medium term, two things may happen:

1. It won’t last: if your content and UX don’t meet user expectations, Google will detect it and demote you eventually — whether through an update or natural market evolution.
2. You won’t generate conversions: attracting traffic is pointless if users don’t trust you, don’t understand your offer, or can’t find what they need.

Doing SEO without UX is like opening a shop on the busiest street… but keeping the shutters down. Or worse, keeping it open with everything disorganized, no prices, and no staff to assist you. What are the odds someone would buy there? In digital, this decision happens in seconds.

In these cases, we prefer to be honest: if a site can’t be ranked effectively, the solution isn’t SEO — it’s redesigning the site so SEO can be implemented later. If the client refuses to update the site, we recommend alternatives like a short-term optimized landing page with SEM campaigns.

Recommended reading

The book SXO: Search Experience Optimization with SEO and UX by Sara Fernández Carmona is highly recommended. This SEO consultant offers extensive documentation, ideas, strategies, tools, and examples to understand this approach. The most valuable insight is the cross-functional vision: to center the user, digital projects must foster collaboration between stakeholders — especially SEO, web design, and UX teams.

What’s coming

I don’t have a crystal ball, but I’d say SXO is no passing trend — it’s the best way to build websites that rank and convert. And in time, if your site can’t captivate and convert, it won’t rank.

At La Teva Web, we’ve been applying this strategic vision for years — long before we knew the term “SXO” even existed. Our project management, SEO, web design, and content teams work together from the initial proposal to the site’s launch, aligning every minute, pixel, and line of code with our clients’ business goals.

This approach is key to building strong, lasting relationships. And it puts us in a privileged position for the future: only agencies that truly know how to deliver quality web design, development, and SEO will be able to implement this. And that’s rare these days.

If you're looking for an agency that doesn’t just talk SEO, but integrates it with strategic, technical, and business vision — at La Teva Web, we’ve been preparing for this moment for years. And now, we call it SXO.