There’s no shortage of new digital marketing channels these days — and while
they are innovative, exciting, and fun to experiment with, they can also
distract you from SEO basics that can deliver performance gains. Your
organic click-through rate (CTR) is a great example.
A simple page title tweak could take you from driving 2% of consumers to
your landing page, to driving 20%! But today, your organic CTR can be affected
by several different elements. Below we’ll take a look at five factors in your
control:
1. Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Ranking
Marketers everywhere are chasing after Page 1 organic rankings, but is there
much of a difference between Position 1 and Position 6? Or Position 2 and
Position 7? The short answer is “yes”!
Studies conducted by Nielsen Norman Group report that web users view
the screen in an F-shaped pattern, and spend 80% of their time looking at
information above the fold (the portion of the screen viewable without
scrolling — usually rankings 1-5).
Based on these data, one could infer that rankings above the fold are seen
first and more often — and that users may be more likely to click on these
listings simply because of their navigation behavior.
Clearly, while ranking on the first page is great for achieving brand
visibility, you need to get your website to rank above the fold to begin seeing
substantial traffic gains.
Performance Tips:
- Strive to
achieve organic rankings closer to the top of the search result pages (above
the fold), as these positions can drive higher CTRs.
- Focus your
e-commerce organic strategy on developing informational based content.
SERP listings for informational search queries above the fold are less
cluttered and will have a better chance of attracting the user’s
attention/click.
2. Title Tag
The title tag defines the title of your web page (or other web document),
and is typically the text that appears as a blue link on search engine results
pages.
A page’s title can greatly influence whether or not a searcher clicks on
your page in the SERPs, and it has the power to make or break your organic CTR.
Be sure to take the time to carefully craft your title tags.
Below is a great example of a well-crafted title tag by The Boston
Calendar. Let’s examine what they’ve done right:
- The title
contains the target keyword (“boston calendar”) close to the front of the
tag, which is great for grabbing the user’s attention, and can even give
rankings a slight boost.
- The title
is 45 characters long, and safe from truncation. Google usually truncates
a title snippet that exceeds 65 characters.
- Several of
the words in the title match the user’s query — this causes them to be
bolded in the SERPs.
- The title
is in the same “voice” as the brand, which is great for delivering
consistent messaging across marketing channels.
- The text,
“events that don’t suck,” evokes emotion and creates curiosity.
Performance Tips:
- As you
develop your tags, focus on the following important elements: character length, word choice, and query
match.
- For
increased organic clicks, try adjusting your page titles to be more
relevant and/or enticing to click. But do not remove your target keywords as it
could impact your organic ranking.
3. Meta Description
Meta descriptions help users understand what your content is about before
they see it. While they don’t directly impact organic search rankings, they can
greatly influence whether or not users click through to your website. Given
that, never overlook meta descriptions for high priority pages.
In fact, you might want to think of meta descriptions as free advertising —
it’s basically an opportunity to get your message out each time your listing is
displayed in the SERPs. However, keep in mind that sometimes Google
doesn’t display the meta description in a SERP snippet, and instead uses other
sources like publically available data and/or the content of the page.
Take a look at the below meta description by Wicked Wine Candles. What
are they doing well in this example?
- The meta
description contains the target keyword (“wine bottle candles”), which
matches the user’s query. As a result, these words are bolded.
- At 154
characters long, the entire meta description is displayed in the search
snippet. Google typically truncates meta descriptions that are greater
than 160 characters.
- The copy
describes the company’s products in their style and voice.
- The
call-to-action references a promotional offer for free holiday shipping.
Performance Tips:
- When you
write your page meta descriptions, be sure to focus on character length, word choice, query
match, and the call-to-action.
- For
special times of year, like the holiday season or your peak selling
periods, adjust your meta descriptions to be more relevant, and reference
upcoming deals and/or product promotions.
- Try to
leverage paid search to continuously test and tweak your ad copy to find
what works best.
4. URL
The URL is another area where SEOs can influence what is displayed in the
SERPs, and in turn, affect CTR. Back in August 2009, Google tweaked its
algorithm to improve how they generate site hierarchies (i.e., breadcrumb
navigation) that display in SERPs. (See example from NewEgg.com below.)
With the introduction of rich snippet markup (detailed information intended
to help users with specific queries) webmasters can adjust their URL snippets
to be cleaner while providing context to queries in the SERPs.
For instance, the landing page in the Walmart.com example below leverages
semantic markup for breadcrumb navigation. As a result, the display URL
provides valuable context and additional clickable navigation options.
Performance Tips:
- When
developing your URLs, pay attention to areas such as the folder structure, word choice, query
match, and breadcrumb navigation snippets.
- Ensure
your site follows a well-organized folder structure and site hierarchy
that leverages standard navigational tools such as breadcrumbs.
- Be sure
to mark up your pages with breadcrumb information for search
engines.
- For
special times of year, like the holiday season or your peak selling
periods, consider adding a section of your site dedicated to seasonal
content, such as Christmas Gifts. Integrate this section into the main
navigation of your website. These elements could then be displayed in the
URL within search results, attracting users whose intent is shopping for
the holidays/seasonal items.
5. Rich Snippets
It seems like rich snippets are here to stay, and they can help boost your
CTR.
Since Google introduced rich snippets, all three of the top U.S. search
engines (Google, Bing, and Yahoo) announced joint support of schema.org,
which “provides a collection of schemas, i.e., html tags, that webmasters can
use to markup their pages in ways recognized by major search providers.”
Essentially, website owners can add HTML markup to a web page that allows
search engines to identify specific elements on that page and, in some cases,
display those elements in search results. (In Google’s case, this often takes
the form of rich snippets.) Google has made numerous updates to their
algorithm since the introduction of rich snippets, resulting in more and more
being displayed in search results.
By marking up your HTML accordingly, your landing pages may be displayed in
SERPs with rich snippets that can help draw a searcher’s attention. Many
companies have already implemented structured data markup throughout their
websites.
For instance, the below Overstock.com page is marked up with several
different types of product-related structured data markup, including
breadcrumbs, aggregated product reviews, and product pricing.
Authorship is another type of rich snippet that can help your brand stand
out in the SERPs. Not only does it distinguish your content, but it also helps
readers find the other content you have published on the web.
As you can see in the below example, Matt Cutts’ website is tagged with
Authorship markup. It displays his Google+ photo in the search results.
Performance Tips:
- Mark up
any and all applicable pages on your website with structured data markup.
Visit Google for more information on the different types of markup
formats and content types.
- Use
the Google Structured Data Testing Tool to test a specific
page’s markup and see a preview of how the page might appear in Google
search results.
Surely, more new and exciting digital marketing tactics will emerge in 2014.
And while I encourage you to explore them, be sure you cover your SEO basics
first. That includes fully optimizing your CTR. Be smart — take a closer look
at the CTR factors in your control, and make the necessary adjustments. It
could help you net some performance gains.