Professional Global SEO – SEM | janet bartoli

After the Keyword Rank … Conversion Optimization

March 28, 2010

This topic might not be a revelation to some of you, but to others “conversion optimization” is often overlooked in our industry. One of the more frustrating things I encounter are those either deep in the SEO industry, (I’m talking about those that have been around for years), or those who supposedly know marketing, and haven’t thought beyond the keyword rank. You know, those who report only on their highly ranked keywords and show not much more than this. Yes, anyone can rank really well in the SERPs on any keyword, it’s the “what occurs after that they don’t often think of.

Most think, “well that’s the developer’s problem” or “I just get the visitors to click through, it’s now up to the product owner to do the rest”. Well, guess what folks, you the SEO, play a very valuable role here too. Your job is to help the visitor find, and get to what they need, in as few clicks as possible.

1. Think like a visitor – try real hard, I promise you it does work. How would you feel about this page or site?
2. How would that same visitor rate your navigational interface? A fairly high bounce rate plays a huge role in the poor navigability. Think in terms of 3 clicks or less, and not more if possible.
3. How busy is your landing page? Is it so busy you get lost or real confused?
4. Look to Amazon.com as the leader in conversion optimization for e commerce.
5. Have you checked out your competitor’s pages? What is they do right? Do some of those ideas seem clear and simple or something you might be able to apply?
6. Make it as simple as possible for your visitors to find and buy what they need right away! Do not make them guess where a product might live.
7. Start with your Meta Descriptions tags (which should all be unique on each page). Do they really describe your pages and help your visitors to convert to the right pages? If so, you will find yourself with great targeted visitors – the quality visitors how will buy.
8. Another no-brainer is to look at those keywords your visitors are typing in your internal site search. Are they trying to find things you have no content for?
9. Really know your audience. Often they aren’t thinking the way you, an internal corporate marketer who uses company acronyms and lingo, they are possibly using different keywords or phrases you might not be.
10. Remember, like SEO, this too is an ongoing process.

You want to know the secret to real ROI in SEO?  I can tell you conversion optimization is a real ingredient here. Give it a go – crack on and share your ideas!

Filed under: SEO - SEM GENERAL, SEO Factors, Search Marketing