Effective SEO, it’s about engaging with the right people
Your search engine optimisation tactics might be getting you traffic, but are they converting? We tell you how to use effective keywords for the right audience.
Your traffic and search ranking are high, but you’re not converting. What’s going on?
Naturally, your first step would be to consider your site’s performance; after all, you’re search engine optimisation tactics are clearly working. Or are they?
Have you ever considered how your keywords are affecting your likelihood to convert potential customers?
It’s simply not enough to “get traffic to your website”. What’s more important is getting targeted traffic. The kind of traffic that’s genuinely interested and could benefit from what you’re saying or selling. SEO isn’t just about getting high rankings anymore. It’s about getting clicks from the right people.
What is search engine optimisation?
Search Engine Land (a leading daily publication that covers all aspects of the search marketing industry) describes SEO, which stands for search engine optimisation, as the process of getting website traffic from the “unpaid”, “organic” or “natural” search results on search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.
The three key-factors of SEO
To truly understand what should go into SEO, let’s break it down.
- Quality of traffic – You can entice all the website users you like, but if they are coming to your website because Google tells them you’re a resource for BlackBerry phones, but you’re a farmer selling blackberries, that is not quality traffic and it creates a distrust around your brand. Instead, you should use keywords that attract people who are likely to be interested in what you have on offer
- Quantity of traffic – step one is attracting the right people from the search engine results page. Step two is working on the amount of traffic.
- Organic results – As you can see by the example, ads make up a significant portion of the SERP. The “natural” or “organic” traffic is something you won’t have to pay for
The old ways of SEO
In the early days of the internet and the concept of SEO, marketers and business owners participated in “traffic exchange programs”. The idea was to join a network of websites which opened pop-under windows containing a link to your website. And like magic, your website would garner thousands of visitors within a few days and your website would be relevant in the world of search engines. Unfortunately, none of these users would buy anything from your website.
Fast forward a few years and this black hat method has proven pointless, despite many business owners still engaging in these programs to get high ranking for the wrong keywords.
How to select highly-effective SEO keywords
It doesn’t make sense to be ranking highly for a keyword that’s kind of related but doesn’t deliver people who will make a purchase.
Take the word “music” for example. This is an extremely popular keyword. If you, by chance, managed to get ranking for the term “music”, then you would receive thousands of visitors per day. To climb the ranks of Google for this search term, you would need to invest months – years even – into getting your website on the first page.
How many sales do you think you’ll get from this? You might get a few. But chances are people who search for “music” might be interested in anything related to music, including musical instruments, sheet music, music videos, music courses at university, music news and events. If you’re a music store who only sells vintage pianos, then most of these visitors won’t be interested.
Instead, you are better to focus on keywords that deliver to your demographic. For example, “antique upright pianos” or “vintage piano shop Brisbane”.
Some top tips for improving your search engine result snippets include:
- Opt for compelling website titles to grab the attention of the potential buyer
- Perform on-page optimisation for the page you want to rank for
- Ditch clunky URLs for more meaningful ones
Ready to invest in your SEO? You might find these titles useful:
- Old School SEO Tactics That are Hurting Your Website
- SEO: Simple Ways to Find the Right Keywords
- How to Push the Importance of SEO to Your Boss
Not sure how to get started with your digital marketing and SEO efforts? iFactory are the experts in search engine optimisation in Brisbane. Get in contact with us today to get your website ranking for the right keywords.
