It’s no secret that boosting website traffic increases your likelihood of conversions. However, in an oversaturated digital landscape where countless businesses are vying for first page search engine placement, only 22% of companies have satisfactory conversion rates, according to a 2016 Econsultancy report. What tool will help you bridge the gap? A smarter SEO strategy.
SEO has been lauded by marketers as the best inbound tactic for generating leads and driving traffic to websites. It outperforms social media’s numbers by 300% and has a whopping 14.6% close rate. In a world where 63% of companies say their biggest marketing challenge is generating traffic and leads, it’s no surprise that 61% of marketers are making SEO a top inbound priority.
SEO is a powerful tool for generating more leads—if done right. Here are 4 keys to improving your ranking and generating more leads with SEO.
Create and promote content
Companies that blog consistently see 434% more indexed pages, and 72% of marketers say content is their most effective SEO tactic. But even the best-crafted piece of content can’t drive traffic or conversions if it’s not seen. In today’s multichannel marketing landscape, promoting that content is equally important as publishing it, and that’s precisely where many marketers fall short. Promote quality content by mentioning or tagging expert sources, contacting industry influencers, posting to social media and sharing via email to generate links that increase your audience, leads and conversions.
SEO has been lauded by marketers as the best inbound tactic for generating leads and driving traffic to websites
Keep building links
Contrary to what many claim, links are still very much a part of Google’s algorithm. But remember, quality counts. Fewer links isn’t a problem if they come from quality sources such as industry partners, brands and referrals. These are critical to being seen favourably by search engines and making it into the top rankings. But don’t over-optimise, as Google set parameters in 2012 that penalise link spammers and remove them from the race for top ranking.
Go for the traffic, not the gold
Many believe they must chase after and secure the elusive top spot for a keyword. But SEO isn’t about making it to the top of the page as much as it is about increasing traffic. And if getting to the top spot means optimising for a single keyword—and backlinking every instance of it—then you’re simply creating a spammy-looking page. Turn your attention to driving traffic with different keywords through a combination of paid and organic channels.
Fine-tune your long-tail keywords
Traffic is simply an expense until it starts to drive ROI through conversions. If the wrong traffic is clicking on your paid ads without converting, you need to rethink your optimisation strategy. Narrow your audience to prevent irrelevant audiences from clicking through to your website and cutting into your budget.
If you’re a local business, consider geo-targeting with area-specific keywords, or optimising for Google Local Search. Using this method, 50% of mobile searchers visited a store within a day, and 61% of them converted to customers.
Want more ways to generate more leads and, in turn, more sales? These 30 greatest lead generation tricks and tips will help take your marketing performance to the top.
