In response to our teleconference call on landing pages yesterday, we received the following comment:
I am most interested in the dynamics of optimizing for organic search ranking vs conversion. Lots of tension there.
Is there lots of tension there? How so?
One of the keys to successful SEO is to make your page very specific and relevant to a single topic. You will likely be including your best keyword in your page title, headline, a subhead or two, in the body of the text and maybe in a link.
The top search engines will reward you if your page is highly relevant to this one single topic, expressed by your best keyword.
Keep it focused. Exclude peripheral subjects.
The same thinking and discipline should be applied to a landing page.
You want to use the same keyword…but now for the eyes of the reader, not the search engines.
You use the keyword several times in key spots to signal to the reader that the page is highly relevant and focused.
You keep it simple, creating a linear, vertical sales path from the top of the page to the bottom. You exclude any topics or links that are peripheral to the task in hand.
When viewed in this way, there is very little tension. When it comes to high search listings and high conversion rates, both the search engines and your readers are looking for much the same thing.
They want relevance and clarity, without confusing distractions.
