Search engine optimization is about getting clicks from the right people, not about rankings

Getting high rankings on search engines can be very difficult. It is important that you have a plan before you start to optimize your web pages and links. It’s not enough to get traffic to your website. It is very important that your web pages get targeted traffic. Search engine optimization is not about getting high rankings. It is about getting clicks from the right people.

better search engine optimization

Don’t waste your time on untargeted traffic

In the early days of the Internet, people participated in traffic exchange programs. You joined a network of websites that opened pop-under windows that contained a link to your website. Your website would get thousands of visitors within a few days.

Unfortunately, none of these ‘visitors’ would buy something on your website. Although these traffic exchange programs still exist, most website owners have understood that these programs were pointless. However, a lot of business owners still try to get high rankings for the wrong keywords.

Get more targeted traffic: focus on the right keywords

If your website has high rankings for the wrong keywords, you won’t get targeted traffic. It does not make sense to get high rankings for a keyword that seems to be related but does not deliver people who are interested to buy.

For example, “car” is an extremely popular keyword. If you manage to get high rankings for the search term “car” then your website will get thousands of visitors per day. Of course, you will also have to invest months into getting your website on the first result page for that single term.

However, you won’t get many sales from people who find your website through that keyword. People who search for “car” might be interested in anything that is related to cars: general information, car tuning, car repair parts, tires, news, images, etc. If you are selling products for auto cockpit cleaning on your website then most of these visitors won’t buy.

It is important that you concentrate on targeted keywords that deliver targeted traffic (for example “auto cockpit cleaning”, “car dashboard cleaning”, etc.). It is much easier to get high rankings for these keywords, and you will get many more sales from these high rankings.

Get more targeted traffic: improve your SERP snippets

As said above, search engine optimization is not about getting high rankings. It is about getting targeted traffic. Getting your website on the first search engine results page (SERP) is the first step. Then you have to convince people that they click your listing:

  • Use compelling website titles: The title is the first thing that searchers see because it is the big clickable part of the listing on the search results page. It should get the attention of the searcher. Ideally, the title contains an incentive to click.
  • Try to optimize the description of your web page: Google and other search engines often do not use the meta description of web pages (especially if they think that they can provide a better description). Nevertheless, a good meta description can help you to get more clicks if search engines decide to show the description.

    Include a compelling reason to click your search result. Show benefits, value, solutions to problems, etc.

  • Use meaningful URLs: a clear URL that indicates that the searchers are getting the desired content on your page is much better than a complicated URL with many parameters. If the URL contains words that are related to the search, the searchers will get a confirmation that your web page is relevant.

How to improve your conversion rate

Further information about how to find the best keywords and how to optimize the conversion rate of your web pages can be found in our free search engine optimization manual. You’ll also learn how to improve other elements of your website so that your pages get higher rankings on Google and other search engines.

Save time and money with the right tools

Search engine optimization involves a lot of tasks. Many of these tasks can be done quicker and much more efficiently if you use the right tools. If you haven’t done it yet, create your SEOprofiler account now. SEOprofiler offers many powerful tools that help you to optimize your web pages as efficiently as possible:

Get things done

Tom Cassy

Tom Cassy is the CEO of SEOprofiler. He blogs about search engine optimization and website marketing topics at “http://blog.seoprofiler.com”.