Website Usability Expert Jakob Nielsen
Jakob Nielsen holds a Ph.D from the University of Denmark in Copenhagen, and undisputedly the world’s foremost expert on website usability. He is a User Advocate, and co-founder with Donald A. Norman of the Nielsen Norman Group. Through 1998, Nielsen was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer.
Nielsen is often credited with founding the discount usability engineering movement, which advocated fast and cheap improvement of user interfaces. He has also invested several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation. His work is not just studying and coming up with theories; he also holds 79 US patents, which focus mainly on ways of making the internet easier for us to use.
He also has some advice for SEO professionals regarding the use of language on their sites. He says that simple English is good SEO practice:
It’s tempting to coin new terms because you can own the positioning if the term catches on. But, more likely, people will continue to use their old terminology. It’s long been a usability guideline to avoid made-up words in navigation menus, because users scan them for words they know. In full-text content, you can include new words for effect, but make sure to supplement them with legacy words – that is, words that your customers know and use in everyday business practice.
Dr. Nielsen has other great words of wisdom for the SEO world, and everyone else, to listen to. Check out this awesome interview Jakob Nielsen did with John Scott to learn more advice on how to make your website more usable and SEO-friendly.
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