Learning how to get more traffic to your website from Google is a task that every business owner and blogger must take seriously if they want to succeed online. In fact you only ignore Google at your own peril.
According to verifiable statistics by Internet Live Stat and corroborated by Wordstream over 78% of all searches on the internet are conducted on Google. This is based on 2014 statistics. GS Stat Counter May 2019 stats shows that Google gets over 92% of search traffic across all platforms. Over 40,000 people conduct variety of searches on Google each second.
You see, Google is one place you really need to be found. The reason Google is effective for conversion is because you are not throwing your business in the face of anybody. You are shown as search results to people searching for what you do. This is a recommendation of some sort, people want information on something and they trust Google to provide them with exactly what they want. While some are searching for information, others are ready buyers. The search term determine the class to which every searcher belongs. If you want to get more traffic to your website from Google then you need to pay attention to the keywords been used. When you pay proper attention, you target the relevant class of searchers to your well customized website for good conversion.
3 Types of Search Queries to Help Drive Traffic to Your Website
When it comes to how to improve traffic to your website via search queries, there are three general classes of quarries to consider. In this contest, we will treat search queries and keywords interchangeably. Though as Elisa Gabbert pointed out, they are quite different.
1. Navigational Search Queries
Navigational query as the name implies are searches that indicate that a searcher is looking for a particular website or web page. Many of us some time don’t even want to type the website we want to visit in a browser navigation bar. We just visit Google and type the name of the website there. There are different reason people do this. But the primary reason may appear to be because they don’t know the URL of the site in question but only the name.
For example, “Linda Ikeji” is always among the top search terms in Nigeria. People searching for that term “Linda Ikeji” actually wants to visit her blog. The same is true of search queries like “youtube” and “Facbook”. When i started following Neil Patel few months back because of his SEO prowess and large heart and giving valuable information free, I was doing the same thing consistently. Navigational search query are highly targeted and specific.
We will talk more about targeting navigational searchers traffic later.
2. Informational Search Queries
Unlike navigational search queries for website traffic, informational search queries are non specific. They are phrases people type in Google and other search engines. As the name indicates, the searcher in question is looking for information about a product, service, place, how to do a thing etc. “How to” for instance is a very popular keyword on the internet. People are always looking for information on how to do stuff.
One point to note with regard to informational keywords is that the searcher is comfortable with any website that provides the needed information. This has a lot to do with how people perceive Google. Because people trust that Google will provide correct information, therefore it does not matter the web page Google displays. Consequently, proper targeting of informational search queries requires skills of some sort.
3. Transactional Search Queries
Transactional search query or queries is one that shows an obvious intent to complete a transaction immediately or soon. Completing a transaction here is not limited to purchasing a product. It also involves hiring a service, booking a professional and the like. They may include a particular brand and product name. Searches like buy inverter, freelance web designer, Tecno Hot 6 Pro, Buy laptop online in Nigeria etc.
The intent in the above search queries is to buy a product or hire a service immediately or in the near future. Searches of these categories are those you can easily setup ads for and be sure to make sales or start a contract if your landing pages are designed to convert.
Methods to Get More Traffic to Your Website from Google
From the foregoing, it is obvious that keywords are what will help drive traffic from Google to your website. If your website content doesn’t contain the keywords people use in search queries your chances of getting more traffic to your website via Google would appear very slim. But what strategy do we deploy to get traffic to our website from the three categories of search queries talked about already.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO strategies can be used to target two categories of search queries, namely Informational and transactional search queries. There is no point trying to target navigational search terms. This is because the searcher knows where he or she is going and almost always will ignore you for the specific website that warranted the search in the first place.
To target informational and transactional queries and get more traffic to your website, you need to publish well-optimized posts that would rank high on Google. It’s common knowledge that a page that ranks well on Google will do well also in another search engine. However, your content will not just jump to Google page 1 once you implement SEO on your website. SEO is a number and long-term game with great results. See this thorough article on how long SEO takes to help your ranking process.
For information queries or keywords targeting, write contents that provide the information the searcher is looking for to gain their trust. In return, embed email marketing sign-up form in your posts and encourage your reader to subscribe to the newsletter. This will enable you to market products or services related to what they searched for.
As far as transaction keywords or query is concerned, your website should be optimized for that with services pages and or product pages.
Essential of An Article That Will Rank High on Google
- Include Your Keyword in Your Post Title. This is very vital to your ranking. Let your keyword ie. “Website Designer” be included in your post title. The closer the keyword is to the beginning of the title, the better it is.
- Find Opportunity to Optimize Your Title With Odd Numbers. Multiple research show that odd numbers do better in search engines. Meaning that a title with odd numbers do better with regard to ranking, so where the opportunity presents itself, snatch it.
- Write Catchy/Inviting Introduction and Include Your Keyword. Google monitors the behavior of people when they land on your website. If they leave immediately after they arrive consistently, your ranking will go down. So ensure your introduction talks about things the reader will want to stick around for. Also include your keyword in the introduction, and a couple of time in the article so long it sounds natural to the reader.
- Your Article Length Should Be Long Enough. Before now, 800 or 1,000 words would do the job. But currently, your rich content article will do better if its above 1,800 words to 2,200.
- Improve Article Readability. Use Hemingway App to improve your post readability. Aim for 6 – 8 score. If you use wordpress, Yoast SEO free plugin will come handy. The essence of the readability is to enable you write your post in simple terms. Don’t over indulge with strong grammars unless you are in a technical niche that requires certain “jargons”.
- Use Internal Linking in Your Post or Article. Leverage good internal linking in your post if you want to get more traffic to your website. Take a cue from Wikipedia and create proper linking to older posts in your website with relevant keywords for those posts. This will help your ranking a lot on Google.
- Optimize Your Post Images With Alt Text and Keywords. This can help with your search presence as well. In doing this, name your photos with your post or article keyword or a related keyword in the post. Upload the photo and write an alt text which is a description of what the photo means. WordPress is excellent for this.
- Write Gripping Meta Description. Meta description is what searchers read about your posts before they click. This can influence click on Google. Best practice is to write a catchy one and include your keyword two times if you want to get more traffic to your website. If you don’t write one, Google will pick content randomly from your post or article to use. Again, Yoast SEO plugin has this feature.
Search Network Ads
When your website is new and you want to make money from it immediately, leaning how to drive real traffic to your website becomes crucial. Whether you own a real estate or a small business website this method will yield instant result. Also, you don’t have to worry about waiting for three to six months that it will take for SEO to take effect for your website. Google ads are the best thing to help sell your business and product on search engines.
With Google ads, you can target any category of search query including navigational. If you sell same product or service with a competitor getting good traffic, you could target them. Here you could setup ads to target the website title as a keyword and it will yield result. This works better with ads copy that contain enticing USP.
Create compelling ads and let Google do their thing. The good thing is that many searchers don’t actually know that they are ads. They presume that it’s organic search result and would click right away. Even if they know, it will make no difference if the query is a transactional key word. A good Google advert should comprise of the following.
- Write Compelling Title. Compelling title writing in this regard means that your ads title should contain the main keyword searchers are using to search for your product or services. Let the title be click worthy.
- Good Description. Let your ads description talk about your USP (unique selling point). Stand out from other advertisers with enticing USP for your product or services.
- Include Link Extensions. Google ads can now include links to other pages on your website and make your ads look nice and contain more content to help them convert better. Learn how to create link extension with Google ads.
- Create Call Out Extension: This is almost the same with link extension but are are not clickable. You can include other products or services description here.
After ensuring that your Google ads are well created, there is need to make sure that your landing page is well optimized to boost conversion.
No matter your product or services Paid advertising on Google will drive massive traffic to your website and increase sales. Google ads are very cost effective.
Optimize Your Images For Search Traffic
You can get lots of traffic from Google image search if your optimized your website images for search traffic. As stated earlier, the easiest way to do this is by naming your images with keywords before uploading. And by writing good alt text description for every image you have uploaded to your website.
Conclusion
The defining factor for every online business has always been how to get more traffic to your website. Traffic is the number one thing that makes any website successful, and search traffic is superior to others. If you apply the above method, you will see increase in your website traffic. What is more, Google adwords options will help your grow and boost ROI by a good percentage. So while you wait for your content to rank, use ads to drive sales and grow your business.
Which other method do you use to get traffic from Google, please share in the comment section.
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Continue the good work!