The beginning of every discussion related to SEO focuses exclusively on rankings, leading people to believe that SEO is solely about achieving high rankings. It is believed that SEO’s primary purpose is to improve rankings, but this is wrong. The true target of SEO is to generate sales and leads, making the rankings irrelevant. The ranking is significant, yet you must pay attention to other elements as well. If you want to attract new customers and increase your profits, an alternate strategy must be implemented. It’s important that you consider every aspect of the finer points, for instance making sure the meta tags and title tags are fine-tuned. You can improve your outcome without needing to move up in the rankings or expend additional time and money.
If you were to query me about the relevance of ranking, my response would be a resounding: both yes and no. It’s wonderful to secure a top spot in a search engine result page; however, certain strategies can be implemented that will help you gain an edge over your competition. Rather than fixating on rankings, it is now essential to be cognizant of sales, leads, and clicks as well. This requires a less direct, more contemplative approach; such as, though increased traffic may lead to increased leads, it is not necessarily the best option to acquire leads. If you want your marketing campaign to be successful, you need to abandon the segregated approach and concentrate on all aspects of your marketing plan, rather than just SEO. The Cost Per Sale metric should be implemented.
The goal of SEO is conversion and leads
People consider themselves successful when their web page appears in the top spot of search outcomes. What kind of outcome can you expect in terms of your ranking when you do this?
If the fourth website listed in the search results yields the most conversions and leads, that website can be declared the true victor.
A low cost-per-click is beneficial, but getting a good deal with each acquisition is much more rewarding. It is likely that those who evaluate the return on investment of their promotional activities will all agree on this idea.
Here’s Why Your SEO Goal is Leads, Not Rankings
It necessitates that you reconsider little particulars, e.g. how to improve title tags. It necessitates that you reconsider huge components, for example how your squad is organized.
The upshot of this is that you can acquire more potential customers and purchases without necessarily obtaining the highest position, investing less money and effort.
Let us investigate why this is the case, and what three steps can be taken to acquire the most amount of leads achievable.
Do Rankings Still Matter?
Yes and no.
Ranking #1 is obviously great. There are some good ideas on how to be better than competitors.
But it just isn’t always possible. And it’s becoming less important over time.
Your goal isn’t just ranks and clicks after all. It’s leads and sales.
Getting a good quantity of leads often necessitates using an “extensive and indirect approach of reasoning.” Raising the number of visitors may enhance possibilities for gaining leads, yet it does not guarantee that this is the most effective strategy.
SEO is just one piece of the puzzle. If you really want your marketing plan to be the most effective possible, it is best that you steer clear of a segmented approach and distribute your efforts across all elements of your promotion.
The most important benchmark to consider should be Cost Per Sale (or acquisition).
What’s the amount that you paid for each sale? How much money did it require for you to make a sale?
This single measure provides almost all the info you might require regarding how your promotions are functioning. Regardless if we’re talking about SEO or PPC.
How to Maximize SEO Leads (Not Rankings)
Now, how can you generate leads?
What will make prospective consumers click on your link? What steps can you take to tailor your advertisement and web page to raise the likelihood that those visiting the page will take action?
Here are three steps to take to convert internet browsers who have a modest curiosity in your products into paying clients.
1. Improve Your CTR
Your paid click ratio influences the amount of times your material is converted.
In a broad sense, the higher your click-through rate is, the higher your conversion rate will be.
Compare each sort of metric to industry standards to find out where you are in comparison to what is expected.
Generally, the average click-through rate for search ads averages 1.91 percent, while display ads usually have a CTR of approximately 0.35 percent.
The importance of CTR (clickthrough rate) is expanding when it comes to organic search.
It looks like research has begun to uncover that it is possible to capture users out of those above you in rankings merely by having a more catchy title tag and description.
Outrank the person above you in click-throughs from SERPs and Google could switch the two of your rankings.
Rather than giving extra attention to keyword optimization for your webpage, it’s better to maximize click-throughs.
Looking at the oldest technique to transform a passerby into an eager customer, we’ll investigate the attention-grabbing headline.
Shifting the emphasis from position to transformation will assist you in having a more comprehensive view of how the materials on your website should be organized and how it appears in a search engine result. Here are some tips on how to think about conversion rather than ranking:
2. Write a better title
It is common knowledge that keywords should be included in diverse sections of a web page, the title included. Still, you want to make sure that your title is appealing enough to make readers choose your website over the other options in the search results.
As an illustration, titles structured as “How to” are proven to be highly successful. Inform visitors about the advantages and benefits of your service or product in the title. You can put the phrases “[Free Guide]” or “[Guide]” in the title of a landing page which has a tutorial on inbound marketing.
3. Shorten the way to conversion
Today, most people tend to be fairly impetuous, and this manifests in the amount of time we allow ourselves to stay on a page before we abandon it if we don’t locate what we want. In order for your message to reach its intended audience, you should strive to create materials that draw people in and highlight the valuable content you possess.
Include calls to action that are visible to visitors without intruding on their experience. Place them in strategic locations so they do not disrupt users while they are in the process of browsing your website. It is certainly a skill to be able to do this, however it is possible to do so. You do not require enormous, flashy advertisements or pop-ups that overwhelm the whole page.
Include CTAs (“calls-to-action”) integrated into your text, located in an area where they can be immediately seen on the page without the viewer having to scroll downward. You can also include CTAs in the vicinity of the text or display them in the corner areas of the site.
Ensure the CTA provided corresponds with the subject matter on the page, is not intrusive, and includes a required response.
4. Give away a lot, but not everything
What reasons can you give for someone to convert on your website after they have already obtained the data they required? It is critical that your website gives the feeling of being helpful and beneficial. It is indispensable that tourists have a motivation to give out their personal information.
Make material publicly available and develop content that can be accessed upon payment. What appears in the search result is the content that can be seen by anyone who visits your website.
In order to access the premium content, the reader must fill out a form that allows you to assess if they are a suitable lead.
Let’s look at an example:
You desire to become the most prominent result for the search query “What is SEO,” therefore you create a comprehensive and practical document that goes over search engine optimization and how to get started. This page has the potential to rank high on Google if it is correctly optimized.
You should not make the ranking your primary focus; instead, you should strive to make this page a source of leads.
In order to achieve the desired outcome, you must incorporate an opportunity to convert on the page. For it to be fruitful, the visitor must view it as useful and pertinent. One example of a great prospect for turning a visitor into a customer would be the free download of the guide entitled, “The Ultimate SEO Guide for Beginners”.
Posting content that is both educational and interesting provides a greater chance of your ranking will translate into sales and help you attain your aim of search engine optimization.
4. Write a Better Headline
If the term “clickbait” makes you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything, don’t let it discourage you!
Your headline should be so captivating that it is irresistible to potential leads; making them want to click on it. It’s not witchcraft and it’s not rocket science. It’s barely even journalism 101.
Although it is relatively straightforward to acknowledge the truth of something, the difficult part lies in dealing with the implications of that truth.
The answer: Finding a diamond in the headline rough.
The trick is to use PPC to test this.
It is possible to write several different titles for advertisements and receive genuine opinions in a few hours. You can then figure out which online advertising approach will produce the best results on your landing pages and even focused on increasing the click-through rate on the organic search engine results page.
Generate 10 headline ideas that will capture the attention of your customers. Even if you’re not great at composing newspaper headlines, it is believed that even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.
Generating a sufficient number of headlines will enable you to be correct twice a day.
High aspirations, I know.
When penning your titles, the primary factor you must look at involves emotional triggers. In short, these are feelings that compel people to take action, such as:
The emotions depicted in the shape of a pie will likely induce someone to press the button to proceed. Don’t just distract people with Obi Wan’s reaction. Amaze them.
5. Move CTAs from “Dead Zones”
You likely did not create your landing page haphazardly or with careless disregard for its impact.
However, chances are you were unaware of how to make your page more effective in achieving desired outcomes.
It is critical to put CTAs and other essential information in the correct places on your landing page.
The wrong way is irrelevant, but the right way looks like the letter “F.” Essentially, that means it looks like this:
It is essential that you line up the items you would like to have deciphered on the blue lines. Why? This study observed that website visitors usually start accessing info from the upper left portion of a webpage and continue to browse in an “F” shaped design.
Crafting your page to construct the F pattern is critical for putting your CTA in a beneficial spot and producing potential customers. Once you have adjusted your CTAs the way you would like them to be, make use of a heatmap instrument such as Crazy Egg to track the areas where your guests click the most and then redesign your website according to this.
Basically, if folks decline to tap on your call-to-actions, that is a difficulty!
No matter what your level of success, this issue will not be addressed.
Now you have an understanding of the reasons for the low outcomes. And more importantly, how to fix them.
Conclusion
Nobody’s going to argue with a #1 ranking.
Except, if you intend to rank for something else. If it seems nearly implausible to reach the first rank for that keyword.
If your main keyword isn’t being searched for, then it won’t help you at all to be in the top position for that page. Constantly adjusting your SEO practices and ignoring other activities will not lead to the creation of an even, vigorous marketing approach that can secure potential customers.
There’s a lot of nuance at play. And you have limited resources.
You must continually evaluate the cost of what you might miss out on with regards to SEO.
Start by identifying your best-performing SERPs. Once you finish all of that, focus on increasing your click-through rates, perfect your knack for creating clickbait titles, and reorganize your page in such a way so that calls-to-action areas will be put in plain view for site visitors.
Being first in the rankings is trivial if you can still draw in the same amount of new prospects and purchasers.
