I have a simple question for you. When was the last time you opened a website and closed it a few seconds later? Probably today. Maybe it was slow, maybe you could not find what you needed, maybe the copy read like a robot had written it and none of it was for you. Now put yourself in the shoes of the people visiting your own business’s site. Are they having the same experience?
I am Omid Bodagh, an SEO, web design and digital marketing specialist. I have worked with all kinds of businesses for years and I have seen the same thing over and over: sites designed for their owner instead of their user. Content written for Google instead of a human. And the result has always been the same: failure.
In this article we are going deep on user-centered website design and on writing content for humans. Using real examples, you will learn how to build a site that users like, that Google ranks, and that delivers results for the business.
What does user-centered website design actually mean?
User-Centered Design is an approach to building websites that puts the end user at the center of every decision. Before you ask where the logo goes or what the background color should be, you ask who your user is, what they need, and how you can give them the fastest, simplest route to their goal.
A lot of business owners who want a site start by thinking about how beautiful it will look, how full of effects it is, what special animations it has. The reality is that beauty without usability is worth nothing. A good-looking site where a visitor cannot shop comfortably or find the information they need is just a useless digital brochure.
The difference between traditional web design and a user-centered one
In traditional design the process usually runs like this: the business owner says what they want, the designer executes it, and the site is finished. In a user-centered process the sequence is completely different:
- Traditional design: the owner decides, the designer builds it, and we hope the user likes it
- User-centered design: the user is researched, their needs are identified, the design is built on those needs, then it is tested and improved
A real example: One of my clients ran an online store and insisted that their home page be packed with big sliders and heavy animations. What happened? Load time climbed past 8 seconds and the bounce rate went above 75%. Three out of every four visitors left without any interaction at all. When we simplified the design, removed the sliders and put the focus on speed and easy access to products, the bounce rate fell to 45% and sales grew by 30%.
The principles of user-centered website design
So what are the core principles, and how do we apply them on our own site?
1. Know your audience deeply (user research)
First you have to know who your user is, and that does not just mean their age and gender. You need to know:
- What goal does the user arrive with?
- What problem are they trying to solve?
- How technical is their knowledge?
- What device do they usually arrive on? Mobile or desktop?
- What do they expect from the experience?
- What earns their trust, and what destroys it?
Example: Say you run a medical services site. Your user may be an anxious patient looking for information about their condition. That person needs plain language, not complicated medical terminology. They need clear buttons to book an appointment, not intricate menus. They need trust signals such as the doctor’s credentials and history, not stock photos.
Now compare that with a site whose audience is software engineers. They want accurate technical documentation, code samples and API documentation. Designing for these two audiences has to be completely different.
2. Get the information architecture right
Information architecture is how you organize and structure the content of a site. It is one of the most important aspects of web design and, at the same time, one of the most ignored.
Good information architecture means the user reaches what they need in the fewest clicks possible. You may have heard the three-click rule: a visitor should be able to reach any page on your site in at most three clicks.
Practical points for information architecture:
- Keep the main menu to 7 items at most. The human brain cannot process more than 7 options at once
- Name menus and categories clearly. Use common, recognizable wording instead of clever, vague labels
- Add breadcrumbs, the trail that shows the path you took, so the user always knows where they are on the site
- Have a strong internal search, especially if the site holds a lot of content
- Take the footer seriously. Many users go to the footer looking for contact information, key pages and useful links
3. Truly responsive design
Iranian traffic statistics for 2024 put more than 78% of the country’s web traffic on mobile. That means if your site does not work well on a phone, 8 out of every 10 visitors will have a bad experience.
But responsive is not just the site fitting on a phone screen. Plenty of sites are responsive and their mobile experience is still a disaster. The buttons are too small, the text is unreadable, the forms are hard to fill in and the menus do not work properly.
Truly responsive design means:
- Buttons and links on mobile are big enough to tap comfortably with a finger. At least 44 by 44 pixels
- Text is readable without zooming. A minimum font size of 16 pixels
- Forms stay simple and short. On mobile every extra field raises the chance that the form gets abandoned
- Images are optimized and loaded at a size that matches the screen
- The hamburger menu is clean and actually usable
- Mobile load time stays under 3 seconds
Example: I once looked at the online store of one of my clients through Google Search Console. 82% of the traffic came from mobile, yet the mobile conversion rate was one third of the desktop rate. After a technical check we found the add-to-cart button sat below the product image on mobile, so the user had to scroll to see it. We rearranged the product page for mobile and added a fixed button at the bottom of the screen, and mobile conversions went up 65%.
4. Page speed
Site speed is not just a technical factor. Speed affects user experience, conversion rate and SEO ranking directly. According to Google’s research:
- If load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds, the chance that the visitor leaves rises by 32%
- If it goes from 1 second to 5 seconds, that number reaches 90%
- If it goes from 1 second to 10 seconds, the chance of leaving rises by 123%
In Iran, where average internet speed is low, speed is even more critical. On my own projects I always treat speed optimization as one of the top priorities.
Practical things you can do to speed up a site:
- Compress your images and use modern formats such as WebP
- Use a CDN
- Turn on browser caching
- Minify and combine your CSS and JavaScript files
- Choose hosting or a server that fits the job. Cheap shared hosting is not suitable for high-traffic sites
- Use lazy loading for images
- Optimize your web fonts
5. Accessibility
Accessibility means your site works for everyone. People with visual, hearing or motor disabilities must be able to use it too. This is not only a moral obligation; in many countries it is a legal one as well.
Simple ways to improve accessibility:
- Use an alt tag on every image
- Keep color contrast high enough that text stays readable
- Make the heading structure, H1 through H6, correct and hierarchical
- Give form fields proper labels
- The site has to be navigable with a keyboard
Creating content around the user: beyond SEO
Now let us talk about content. Content production has become very popular in Iran over the last few years, but unfortunately a large share of what Iranian sites publish is not built around the reader.
The problem with content on Iranian sites today
Open any 10 Iranian websites in a given field and you will most likely run into the same set of problems:
- Repetitive content: every site is saying the same thing in slightly different words
- Keyword stuffing: the target keyword is forced into every sentence and reading the text is painful
- Shallow content: it only scratches the surface of the topic without actually solving a problem
- Robotic tone: the text reads as if a machine produced it
- Mismatch with user intent: the visitor came for the answer to one simple question, read 3,000 words of irrelevant text, and still does not have that answer
This is exactly where the idea of user-centered content enters.
What characteristics does user-centered content have?
User-centered content is written for a human first and then optimized for a search engine, not the other way around. It has several core traits:
1. Answering the real search intent
When someone searches for “website design in Urmia” — Urmia being a city in northwestern Iran — what is their intent? They want to find a web designer. They do not want 2,000 words on the history of the web. Content built around the user answers that need head-on.
Example: Suppose a user searches for the price of designing an online store. Their intent is obvious: they want to know what it costs. If your article spends the first 5 paragraphs explaining what web design is and only gives the price at the very end, the user has left the site long before then.
Content that puts the reader first gives a working answer in the very first paragraph or two, then goes into detail. That approach keeps the user satisfied, and it also tells Google that your page is the most relevant answer to that query.
2. Plain, understandable language
One of the biggest mistakes in content production is using language that is too complex and too technical, unless your audience is technical specialists. Even then, simplicity is still an advantage.
I have a simple rule: if your mother cannot understand your text, you have made it too complicated. There is an exception for genuinely specialized technical content, but the principle of writing simply always stands.
An example of complicated writing: Implementing SSL/TLS encryption protocols in order to create a security layer in server-client communication is considered one of the infrastructure requirements.
An example of simple, user-first writing: An SSL certificate is a security lock on your site. When your site has SSL, visitor data such as passwords and bank card numbers travels encrypted, so hackers cannot steal it. Besides security, having SSL is also one of Google’s ranking factors.
Both texts say the same thing, but the second one is far easier for an ordinary user to follow.
3. Clear, scannable structure
There is an uncomfortable truth about reading on the web: most users do not read your text, they scan it. They move their eyes down the page quickly, looking for the part that matches their need.
Content built for the user has to be structured so that it is still useful after a fast scan.
Practical fixes:
- Use headings and subheadings, H2 and H3, properly
- Keep paragraphs short. Three or four lines maximum
- Use numbered and bulleted lists
- Bold the key words and phrases
- Use images and infographics to break up walls of text
- Put a key summary at the start of the article or of each section
4. Practical, usable content
The best content is content the reader can do something with after reading it. That is what people mean by actionable content.
Example: Instead of writing “site speed is important”, write “5 practical things you can do right now to speed up your site” and explain each one step by step. After reading your article the user should be able to carry out at least one of those things on their own.
5. Credibility and trust
Content built around the reader has to be credible. Users today are sharp and can tell whether a piece comes from real experience or has been rewritten from other sites.
Ways to build trust in your content:
- Write from personal experience and real projects
- Give statistics and figures with their source named
- Use real examples rather than hypothetical ones
- Include quotes and reviews from actual customers
- Keep the content up to date
- Introduce the author and make their expertise clear
How user-centered design and SEO connect
Here is an important question a lot of people ask: do these two things conflict? My firm answer is no. In reality they are complements, and neither is complete without the other.
What does Google want?
Google has said again and again that its main goal is delivering the best results to users. Its algorithms get smarter every year and are better at judging whether a site genuinely helps people or is only trying to trick the search engine.
Google’s recent updates, the Helpful Content Update and Core Web Vitals among them, all move in one direction: rewarding sites that offer a good user experience and punishing sites that produce content purely for SEO.
E-E-A-T and content written for the user
Google has a concept called E-E-A-T, short for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. That is precisely what content built around the user delivers.
- Experience: Does the author have real experience with the subject?
- Expertise: Does the author have enough specialized knowledge?
- Authoritativeness: Are the author and the site recognized in this field?
- Trustworthiness: Is the information accurate and reliable?
A practical example: When I write about SEO I can draw on real experience from my own projects. I can say what I did on a particular project and what result it produced. Content like that is valuable to the reader and, in Google’s eyes, carries high credibility. Compare it with content that has merely rewritten general information from Wikipedia.
Core Web Vitals and user experience
Core Web Vitals are three technical metrics Google uses to measure the user experience:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How long the largest element on the page takes to load. It should be under 2.5 seconds
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): How quickly the page responds to a user’s action. It should be under 200 milliseconds
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): How much page elements shift unexpectedly. It should stay under 0.1
All three are direct Google ranking factors. If your site performs well on experience, it has a better chance of higher rankings.
A practical comparison: a site built for the user against a traditional one
Let us compare two hypothetical but realistic sites so the difference between the two approaches becomes concrete.
Online store A (traditional approach)
- Home page packed with big sliders and heavy animations
- Complex, multi-layered product categories
- Short and incomplete product descriptions
- A 5-step checkout
- No user reviews
- 6-second load time
- Buttons are far too small on mobile
Online store B (user-centered approach)
- A simple home page with fast access to the main categories and best sellers
- Clear, simple categories with filters that actually help
- Comprehensive product descriptions covering benefits, how to use the item and answers to common questions
- A 2-step checkout
- Reviews and ratings from real users
- 1.5-second load time
- Mobile-first design with large, obvious buttons
The result: Store B not only gives a better user experience, it will also perform better in SEO. Why? Because users stay longer, view more pages, the bounce rate is lower, and Google sees all of those signals and reads them as evidence of site quality.
User-centered content for different kinds of business
Every type of business needs a different content strategy. Let us look at a few examples.
Online stores
For an e-commerce site, content built around the buyer means:
- Comprehensive product descriptions: not just the specifications but the benefits, the use cases and the answers to questions a customer might have
- Buying guides: articles that help the customer pick the best product, such as a laptop buying guide for students
- Product comparisons: honest comparisons of different products, naming the pros and cons of each
- Product video: unboxing and product review videos
- User reviews: giving people a way to comment and showing real reviews
Example: Look at Digikala, the largest online marketplace in Iran. Every product page there carries specifications, an expert review, user comments, frequently asked questions and even an introduction video. That people-first approach is one of the main reasons Digikala wins in both SEO and sales.
Service sites
For sites that sell services — web design, consulting, training, medical services — content built around the reader includes the following:
- Detailed service pages: a full explanation of each service, the workflow, the timeline and transparent pricing
- Portfolio: showing past projects with the challenge, the solution and the result spelled out
- Educational articles: content that shows your expertise and builds trust
- FAQ page: answering the questions potential customers usually ask
- Feedback from previous clients: genuine testimonials and references
Corporate and organizational sites
Corporate sites usually have several audiences at once: potential customers, investors, job applicants and the press. Content for these sites means:
- each audience group has its own clear path through the site
- company, team and track-record information is presented openly
- news and articles relevant to the industry are published
- job openings and company culture are introduced properly
- contact details and forms are easy to reach
Common mistakes in content production and web design
Over the years working with all sorts of businesses I have seen the same repeated mistakes. Let us go through the most important ones so you do not repeat them.
1. Writing content only for Google
This is probably the biggest mistake of all. Sites whose only goal is ranking in Google, with no thought for the reader, usually produce content full of repeated keywords, with no real value, and boring to read.
Google today is far smarter than it was 5 years ago. The Helpful Content Update algorithm specifically identifies and punishes sites that produce unhelpful, purely SEO-driven content.
2. Ignoring the mobile version
There are still sites whose mobile version is a disaster. Google adopted Mobile-First Indexing in 2019, which means it indexes and ranks the mobile version of your site first. Ignoring mobile means losing both your users and your Google rankings.
3. Using intrusive pop-ups
Pop-ups that cover the whole screen, especially on mobile, are one of the most irritating experiences a user can have. Google takes this seriously too, and sites that use intrusive pop-ups can be penalized.
If you absolutely need a pop-up, show it after a delay rather than the moment someone lands on the site. Or use a less intrusive method, such as a small banner at the bottom of the screen.
4. Content with no purpose
Every piece of content on your site should have a defined goal. Is it attracting new traffic? Turning a visitor into a customer? Answering questions your existing customers have? Educating? Without a clear goal, the content will do nothing.
5. Never updating content
Old, obsolete content is not only useless to the user; it damages your site’s credibility. If you have an article about the best SEO tools of 2020 and it is now 2025, you should either update it or remove it.
A practical recommendation: Review your site’s content every 6 months. Update the articles that draw traffic but whose information has gone stale. Delete or rewrite the ones that bring no traffic and are low quality.
Practical tools for design and content built around the user
There are various tools that can help you get this kind of design and content on your site:
User behavior analysis tools
- Google Analytics 4: to understand where users come from, which pages they visit and where they leave the site
- Google Search Console: to find out which keywords bring users to your site and which pages perform best
- Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity: for heatmaps and session recordings. These tools show exactly where on the page users click, how far they scroll and where they get stuck
Speed and performance measurement tools
- Google PageSpeed Insights: checks site speed and Core Web Vitals
- GTmetrix: a full speed analysis and page optimization report
- WebPageTest: speed tests from servers in different parts of the world
Keyword research and user intent tools
- Google Keyword Planner: to find search volume and related keywords
- Google Trends: to understand how keyword search trends change over time
- AnswerThePublic: to find the questions users ask about a topic
- Google People Also Ask: the related-questions block in Google’s search results
Accessibility testing tools
- WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool: checks the site for accessibility problems
- Lighthouse in Chrome: a full audit of performance, accessibility and SEO
How do you start with user-centered design and content?
If the site you have now is not built around the user, do not worry. You do not have to build everything again from scratch. You can improve it gradually.
Step one: analyze the current situation
- Install Google Analytics and see where users go on your site and where they drop off
- Install Microsoft Clarity and watch the session recordings
- Check your site speed with PageSpeed Insights
- Test the site yourself on a phone and try to use it the way an ordinary visitor would
- Ask a few people to use your site and collect their feedback
Step two: prioritize the problems
You will probably find a long list of issues, and you cannot solve them all at once. So rank them:
- High priority: problems that affect sales or conversion directly, such as a complicated checkout, a broken contact form or very slow loading
- Medium priority: problems that make the overall experience bad, such as weak navigation, poor mobile design or outdated content
- Low priority: minor improvements such as optimizing fonts, adding smooth animations or making small visual changes
Step three: improve gradually
Focus on one or two improvements each month. Measure the results and see whether the changes had a positive effect. This continuous improvement process never ends, and there is always room to get better.
Step four: revisit the content strategy
- Review the content you already have. Which articles get traffic and which do not?
- For each article ask: does this content solve a real problem for the user?
- Build a new content calendar based on users’ actual search intent
- Update or delete old, low-quality content
- Follow the human-first, SEO-second approach
The role of technical SEO in user experience
Technical SEO and user experience are two sides of the same coin. When your site is technically sound, the user gets a better experience and Google can index and rank the site more easily.
URL structure
Clean, readable URLs matter to users and to Google alike.
Bad URL: example.com/p?id=12345&cat=7
Good URL: example.com/tarahi-site-foroushgahi
That last segment is simply “e-commerce site design” spelled the way an Iranian would say it. Reading that second URL, the user knows before the page even opens that it is about designing an online store.
Heading structure
Using headings, H1 through H6, correctly helps the reader understand how the content is organized and find the section they need quickly. It also helps Google understand the page better.
Internal links
Internal links help users discover more relevant content and help Google understand your site’s structure. They should be natural and relevant, not forced or random.
Structured data (schema markup)
Structured data helps Google understand a page and display richer search results — for example star ratings, product prices or FAQ entries right in Google’s results. That raises the click-through rate, which is itself an important factor in SEO.
The future of user-centered design and content
The web changes every day, and putting the user first has to keep up with those changes. A few important trends to consider:
AI and personalization
AI lets us personalize the user experience: showing related products based on someone’s earlier behavior, suggesting relevant content, even adjusting the page layout to a user’s preferences.
But be careful. Using AI to generate content at scale without human oversight can damage quality. AI is a good aid to content production; it should not replace human thinking and experience.
Voice search
As voice assistants grow, your content needs to work for voice search as well. Voice queries are usually longer and more conversational than typed ones. A question-and-answer structure and natural, spoken language both help with voice optimization.
Multichannel user experience
Users today touch your brand through several devices and channels. They might look at your site on a phone in the morning, research a product on a laptop at noon and buy on a tablet at night. The experience has to be seamless and consistent across all of them.
Final checklist: is your site user-centered?
Use this checklist to assess where your site stands right now:
Design and user experience
- Does the site work well on mobile?
- Is the load time under 3 seconds?
- Is the navigation simple and clear?
- Can a user reach any page in at most 3 clicks?
- Are the forms simple and short?
- Are the calls to action clear and easy to see?
- Does the site look clean and professional?
- Do you have a custom 404 page that guides the user?
Content
- Is the content written in plain, understandable language?
- Does it answer the user’s real search intent?
- Is the structure scannable — headings, lists, bold text?
- Is the content practical and usable?
- Is the content unique and valuable?
- Is the content up to date?
- Does the author have real expertise and experience?
Technical and SEO
- Are the site’s Core Web Vitals in a good state?
- Is the URL structure clean and readable?
- Are there relevant internal links?
- Is structured data implemented?
- Does the site have SSL?
- Are the sitemap and robots.txt in good shape?
Wrap-up
Website design and content creation built around the user are no longer optional; they are a necessity. Google gets smarter every day and rewards the sites that genuinely think about the user. Users have more choices than ever and are no longer willing to put up with a bad experience.
The key point is that being user-centered is an ongoing process, not a one-off project. You have to keep analyzing user behavior, keep collecting feedback and keep improving.
If you feel your site needs a redesign or a better user experience, or its content needs a fundamental review, I am ready to help. With more than 7 years of experience in web design, SEO and digital marketing and more than 74 successful projects delivered, I can help you build a site that both users and Google like. You can reach me through my website or on social media.
Omid Bodagh | SEO, web design and digital marketing specialist
Omid Bodagh
I am an SEO specialist who likes helping businesses get seen on Google. From WordPress to SEO, whatever an online business needs to grow, I can help with it.