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Recent research shows that organic search results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than paid search results! However, that is highly dependent on where an article shows in the search results.
Organic search results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than paid search results!
It’s estimated that the number one ranking listing in Google gets about 35% of all clicks. Meanwhile, the listing in third position gets about 10%. You can imagine how many clicks listings at the bottom of the page get - let alone listings on pages 2 or 3.
As the saying goes, “If you want to get away with murder, hide the body on page two of Google.”
Consequently, search engine optimisation (SEO) is more important than ever. If you write amazing content or have a unique, highly valuable product but your listing doesn’t show at the top of the list in Google, chances are, it won’t get a lot of clicks.
But SEO is complex and SEO experts can be expensive. The good news is, there are a few simple things anyone can do to improve their search engine rankings. We talked to five SEO experts to get their number one tip for non-SEO experts. Here is what they told us.
5 SEO experts share their number one tip for non-SEO experts
Perry Bernard from Cranked SEO: Get Product Descriptions Right
“As much as you can, write at least 300+ words for every product or service, and give each its own page. Write exactly and only about that product or service. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling or getting it 100% perfect. Just write like you are describing this product or service to someone who doesn’t already know it or why they should buy it or use it. This is ultimately the kind of content that Google wants ranked at the top.”
"Write at least 300+ words for every product or service, and give each its own page." — Perry Bernard, Cranked SEO
Mark Sceats from SureFire Search Marketing: Make Your Listing Stand Out
“Make your titles and descriptions stand out. If a search result has a title and description snippet that stand out from other results, then it will get a disproportionately higher number of people clicking on it. In other words, it will have a higher click through rate (CTR)."
"Tweak the title and description snippet used by Google in your listing so they are different to those around it. With the title tag, it’s important to ensure the target keyword is included and ideally as close as possible to the start. Then the trick is to add words that turn it into a compelling headline that incites people to click on it. Be aware you only have about 65 characters before Google truncates the title, so make them count! If you must include your brand name, put it at the end, rather than the beginning."
"Tweak the title and description used by Google so they are different to those around it" — Mark Sceats, SureFire
To learn more about this, check out the full post Mark wrote on the topic. View it here.
Robert Kramers from Found SEO: Create Great Content, Smartly
“Create great content! But do so smartly. Everyone will tell you content is king, but it’s unique, practical, highly shareable content that offers the most SEO value. Instead of just offering users a wall of text, provide them with an enjoyable reading experience that makes the most of the web as a medium."
"This means going all-in on images and visual assets, using formatting to break up your content into readable chunks and providing as much practical value as possible. Add a step-by-step. Link to great supporting content. Include a unique visual asset like an infographic or diagram."
"Most of all? Don’t create your content in a vacuum - find out what your competitors are creating using tools like the AHREFs Content Explorer or a simple Google search for your major keywords, and then out-do them. Creating content that stands head and shoulders above others takes time and dedication, but the SEO benefits it can offer in the long term can be outstanding."
"It’s unique, practical, highly shareable content that offers the most SEO value" — Robert Kramers, Found SEO
Nathan Whitaker from eMagic: Optimise Your Site Structure
“A common mistake often overlooked by businesses setting up their website is page structure. This is such a simple concept that when done right can dramatically improve a sites organic search rankings, user engagement and conversion rates. It’s as easy as making sure you create a separate page on your site for each of your products or services, instead of just listing them all on one page. ”
"Having an individual page for each of your products or services allows you to create more keyword relevancy and rank higher. It also provides a better user experience as it focuses on exactly what visitors are interested in - this helps increase engagement and conversions. Finally, it provides a targeted landing page that can be used in PPC campaigns (AdWords). Because the landing pages are so targeted it helps to improve your ads quality score, reduce your CPC (cost per click) and most importantly boost conversions. So stop making this simple mistake and reap the benefits of having a properly optimised page structure."
James Richardson from Optimising: Just Make Your Website Awesome
"Don’t worry about SEO, just make your website awesome" — James Richardson, Optimising
“Don’t worry about “SEO”, just make your website awesome. People starting a new website often get too caught up in how to make it the best for the search engines, when in fact, they should just be making it the BEST website they can for their users. Google is REALLY smart, and if you make a great website and people love it, Google will be able to work it out. To make your website great is not really that hard:
- Amazing content that your users need and want
- Great and easy navigation throughout your website
- Lots of great images and video content
- Keeping the website and content fresh all the time
- Great experience and load time on mobile and desktop devices
- Easy to find contact information
Doing the above might seem simple, but it’s actually a lot of work to get right. "
"If there was one specific ’SEO’ tip I would tell business to get right, it would be “Page Load Speed”. Making sure you size your images optimised, keeping the code clean, and reducing the elements that need to load on a page can go along way to improving user experience, but also to improving your Google Rankings directly."