Seven Ways to Improve your Click-through Rate
Getting into the top 10 Google results is only half the battle. How does your
search result fare against the other SERP real estate? Here's some simple tips
I've gathered to help make your listing stand out.
Questions: Try using an intriguing question to spark the interest of
the user. Questions leave people hanging, wanting to know more. If you ask the
right question, your result will hopefully be clicked. RagePank offers some good
thoughts on using questions in your title tag.
Keyword Dividers: If your title tag consists of several keywords,
consider separating them by something more attention grabbing than commas. I
frequently use double colons (::), the vertical bar( | ), or caret symbols ( >>
).
Short Titles: If you don't care about stuffing as many keywords as
possible into your title tag, consider shortening your title in order to make it
stand out. Short titles are very scan-able
Company Name in Tag: The question about whether or not to include your
company's name in the title tag is a topic of much debate. If your brand name is
well recognized, you could benefit from the additional trust implicit in the
name. If not, you may simply be distracting from more important keywords and
wasting valuable real estate.
Short URLs: Get Elastic shares some interesting data from Marketing
Sherpa that suggests shorter URL's increase click-through since they do not
distract from the more important page title. While there may not be much you can
do about the length of your domain, you may want to shorten your page files
names.
Keyword in URL or Page File Names: This tactic is frequently used in
Pay Per Click ads. By creating page file names with keywords in them, you make
your listing appear more relevant. However, you may want to balance this tactic
with the one above by not making unnecessarily long URL's.
Indented Listings: Recently, I posted on creating indented search
results. In addition to doubling your SERP real estate, and indented result
creates a great visual marker that sets your listing apart.
Move higher: This seems like a no-brainer, but often we forget how
much more clickable the number 1 spot is over number 2. Moving up a few results
can have an exponential effect on your click-through rate.
Not every suggestion here will work for everyone. Be sure to test these
tactics on less important pages, and then analyze the results. The key is to
stand apart from your competition. If all top positions are using Questions in
the title tag, you're better off doing something else.
Justin Palmer is the website administrator for C28.com, which sells
Christian T-shirts. Justin also writes an
eCommerce and SEO blog, covering topics such as
marketing with Street Teams and
SEO metrics.
search result fare against the other SERP real estate? Here's some simple tips
I've gathered to help make your listing stand out.
Questions: Try using an intriguing question to spark the interest of
the user. Questions leave people hanging, wanting to know more. If you ask the
right question, your result will hopefully be clicked. RagePank offers some good
thoughts on using questions in your title tag.
Keyword Dividers: If your title tag consists of several keywords,
consider separating them by something more attention grabbing than commas. I
frequently use double colons (::), the vertical bar( | ), or caret symbols ( >>
).
Short Titles: If you don't care about stuffing as many keywords as
possible into your title tag, consider shortening your title in order to make it
stand out. Short titles are very scan-able
Company Name in Tag: The question about whether or not to include your
company's name in the title tag is a topic of much debate. If your brand name is
well recognized, you could benefit from the additional trust implicit in the
name. If not, you may simply be distracting from more important keywords and
wasting valuable real estate.
Short URLs: Get Elastic shares some interesting data from Marketing
Sherpa that suggests shorter URL's increase click-through since they do not
distract from the more important page title. While there may not be much you can
do about the length of your domain, you may want to shorten your page files
names.
Keyword in URL or Page File Names: This tactic is frequently used in
Pay Per Click ads. By creating page file names with keywords in them, you make
your listing appear more relevant. However, you may want to balance this tactic
with the one above by not making unnecessarily long URL's.
Indented Listings: Recently, I posted on creating indented search
results. In addition to doubling your SERP real estate, and indented result
creates a great visual marker that sets your listing apart.
Move higher: This seems like a no-brainer, but often we forget how
much more clickable the number 1 spot is over number 2. Moving up a few results
can have an exponential effect on your click-through rate.
Not every suggestion here will work for everyone. Be sure to test these
tactics on less important pages, and then analyze the results. The key is to
stand apart from your competition. If all top positions are using Questions in
the title tag, you're better off doing something else.
Justin Palmer is the website administrator for C28.com, which sells
Christian T-shirts. Justin also writes an
eCommerce and SEO blog, covering topics such as
marketing with Street Teams and
SEO metrics.
