4 SEO Optimization Tricks That Will Boost Your Click-Through Rate

April 2, 2014

Everyone from businesses to bloggers are scrambling left and right to find out the best ways to push their site to the top of Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

Why? Because Internet users usually only check out the first few pages of results. This means that your click-through rate is drastically lessened if you don’t show up in these first few pages. But to make it up there, you’ll need to comply with a few different factors that Google considers.

So if you want to make it to the top, follow these useful tips.

 

1 – Take Advantage of Site links

Site links are links for pages from within your site that appear under your site’s initial domain listing. A site link can be generated by Google if your site is simple enough to navigate and has a simple structure. So the first step to getting site links is by making sure your site can be easily navigated by Google. If you do a search for a website on Google, you’ll find that site links generally lead to some of its more popular or useful pages, and each site link has a description of about 60 characters.

So how do you increase the chances of getting site links? First, you need to set up a Webmaster account for your site so that you can submit your URL and sitemap in order to be reconsidered for a site link. Google will reconsider whether or not your site deserves a site link. In the 24-hour waiting process, you can do the following to get better chances of consideration:

• Get rid of broken links, HTML errors, and CSS errors in your site. There are lots of services that can help you find these on your site so you can revise or remove them.

• Make sure you have great content. Content farms don’t cut it. Content that has high engagement, lots of detail and links in other sites have a higher chance of getting a site link.

 

2 – Backlink Building

Drive a high percentage of links from other sites to a particular page on your site. For instance, in a series of pages about online games, link to a page that discusses one game in particular.

Having links from other websites –the more reputable the better– pointing to your own has become one of the most effective ways to build authority.

 

3 – The Meta-Description is the gateway to conversion

A meta-description is the text you see below the link of a search result. This text is composed of up to 300 characters, and its main purpose is to give readers a hint of what they’ll find out in your site. It’s also a great tactic to make your site stand out from all the other search results. Think of it as a teaser text to persuade readers to click your link and get more information from your site.

A convincing call to action helps increase the effectiveness of your meta-description. Instead of using passive or merely wordy descriptions, try the following:

• Begin your meta-description with “Check out why…” or “Find out why…”

• End your meta-description with “Learn more…” or “Read about it here.”

• Use questions that make users think like “Have you ever wondered…” or “Did you know that…”

Keywords also factor into how relevant your site is to the user’s search query. If you would notice, the search keywords are highlighted in the search results, and this draws in more attention to your page. In addition to great phrasing, cliffhangers can also convince users to click the link to your site. It adds suspense and makes users more curious. Use something like “You’ll never guess his reply!” or “You’ll be shocked by the results.”

 

4 – Use Rich Snippets

Rich snippets make it easier for users to understand what’s on a page by summarizing the content of the page in the search results. However, your content must be in a certain format for it to be supported by rich snippets.

This format is highly particular about design, technicalities, and quality. It’s worth a development investment if you’re intent on getting to the top of Google’s SERP. Google’s Webmaster Help Center can give you an in-depth guide for how you can start taking advantage of rich snippets.

 

Improve your rankings, boost your Click-Through rate!

Don’t be intimidated by all of the listings that are currently high up on the SERPs. With these tips, you can very well make it up there too!

To improve your click-through rate, you need to make sure that you’re out there for the world to see. In this case, you can do so by showing up earlier in SERPs.

By using these strategies and producing valuable content for your site, it will not only help it get to the top of the search results page but also at the top of all the relevant listings too!

All these techniques will help you sneak into the SERP. Bottom line though, this will all be effective if you are serving your audience with highly engaging and great valuable content.