Get expert SEO best practices in this article and then listen to Kayden Kelly of Blast Advanced Media today on Online Marketing with RSS Ray at 1:30 p.m. on WS Radio.

By Kayden Kelly, Blast Advanced Media

Based on our experience of auditing and optimizing hundreds of websites, there are three essential aspects to creating true value with SEO:

1. Rank
2. Click
3. Convert

If you can’t drive targeted traffic that converts then all is lost. However, most search engine optimization efforts unknowingly fail before they even have the opportunity to convert. The problem is the lack of the click. Made worse by the fact that a lack of click thrus will eventually reduce rank.

RANK

When we talk to companies who are interested in search engine optimization the conversation inevitably leads to a focus on rank. Ranking well for a variety of search terms is vital but it is only the first step toward driving sustainable non-paid traffic.

What most companies don’t realize is how complex the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) has become. Years back there were only website listings on a SERP. Now with Universal Search there can be a mixture of all kinds of listing types including local maps, videos, images, news, shopping, stocks and more. Then you have paid search listings which can now even include additional content like images.

How big of a deal is this? Well consider this:

• Paid Search can capture 30% of total clicks
• Local maps can capture 33% of total clicks
• The first listing can capture up to 40% of non-paid clicks
• The top three listings capture about 60% of non-paid clicks
• Between paid search and universal search listings, a #1 ranked website listing can be pushed down the page and get dramatically reduced visibility. This can reduce the CTR (Click Thru Rate) from 40% to 10% or less.

Now that you a glimpse into how hard a click can be to come by…consider the fact that your rank could fall if people don’t click your listing.

CLICK

How do you know whether or not people are clicking on your listings?

Google Webmaster Tools provides detailed information regarding the pages that are showing for each search query. You can see the approximate impressions, clicks and CTR for each of your pages, along with a change indicator to help you understand how each is trending.

As evidenced by the Google Webmaster Tools screenshot below, you can see how Google uses CTR

(Click Thru Rate) to determine rankings. Over time Google serves up your page listings and if people:

• aren’t clicking your listing you lose rank.
• are clicking on your listings you maintain or gain rank.

What impacts CTR on the SERP?

Many factors such as your brand awareness, the user intent (stage of the customer life cycle), the URL

(displayed under the meta description) and other factors mentioned previously affect the CTR. But the

key aspects that you can easily change to improve your CTR include:

• Page Title
• Meta Description

If you want to encourage more people to click, you must put more thought into creating better page titles and meta descriptions. (See the quick references for optimizing your page title and meta description at the end of this article.)

Most people are now aware that the Page Title is one of the most important factors in search rankings.

However, they often don’t think about the user’s perspective when they are evaluating the SERP to determine what listing to click.

This is why we highly recommend that you do manual searches to understand the search engine landscape for your top 20 keywords. This will familiarize you on how direct and indirect competitors are targeting and differentiating their listings.

Don’t forget that your SERP listing is an ad. You won’t get as many clicks if your listing:

• isn’t persuasive or clearly differentiated from other listings
• doesn’t match the user’s intent
• lacks keywords (that will get bolded when they match the search query)
• is over stuffed with keywords
• offers useless or irrelevant information
• description doesn’t speak to the person’s needs and make your value and benefits clear

The page title and meta description are key components in ranking and persuading users to click on your listing versus other competitive listings.

Be aware that programmatically customizing page titles and meta descriptions using templated rules is much better than generic page titles and meta descriptions that causes duplicate content issues.

However, to create a competitive advantage the optimal solution is to craft these individually by hand. There are no short-cuts to sustainable success.

CONVERT

Keep in mind that once people click, your job is not done. The next step is to ensure they don’t bounce (i.e. leave the site immediately) and hopefully get them to convert. This conversion doesn’t need to be a revenue transaction. It can be another type of conversion that demonstrates a positive experience which is likely to lead to a revenue based transaction in the future.

Final tip, not only is an H1 heading a key SEO factor in helping your site rank but it is also a key user experience factor that when done well keeps people on your site. Headings should:

• be relevant to the search query
• between 2-10 words (fewer words is generally better)
• use the targeted keyword as near the beginning as possible

SUMMARY

Remember that rank is great, but ultimately it is your CTR that matters most . If you have a low CTR you won’t be able to sustain your position on the search engines.

By following the tips in this article you should be in a better position to craft page titles and meta descriptions that will persuade people to click your listings, improve your rankings and increase your traffic. Good luck!

Quick Reference for Page Titles (Title Tag*)

1. Make sure each page’s title tag is unique
2. Include up to 10 words max, ideally 5-7, and 68 characters max, including spaces and punctuation.
3. Place the most important keyword at or as near the beginning as possible. As a general rule, avoid putting your company name at the beginning of all of your page titles since this puts the emphasis on you versus what their need is.
4. Limit the use of punctuation and “stop words” that have no search value (i.e. ‘web’, ‘the’, ‘of’, ‘and’, etc.)
5. Use clear, accurate copy that helps motivate searchers to click on the page’s search result listing
6. If you are a local business you likely want to consider including a location component in your page title and/or meta description.

*This is not the title within the page itself, but in the (often blue) bar across the top of your browser.

Quick Reference for META Description tag

1. Include up to 25 words / 150 characters max, including spaces and punctuation.
2. Avoid company-centric copy (“we”, “our” and “us”) and limit the use of stop words (like a, and, is, on, of, or, the, was, with, has, had).
3. Focus on clearly describing the specific content of each page, making sure it stands on its own, while considering how it fits in to the overall website hierarchy.
4. If appropriate, use brands, model names, and product attributes to help describe the product.
5. Include words to help persuade people to click on the links such as “lowest price,” “limited time,” “makes you stronger” or other benefits.
6. Place the most important keyword at or as near the beginning as possible.
7. It is not necessary or beneficial to repeat keywords, the company name, or product brands