What’s your overall SEO strategy? Has it been effective? Are you frustrated that you’re not getting as much interaction as you’d like?
Have you been looking into SERPs and why they matter for your website?
SERPs (or search engine results pages) are the pages that come up in the search engine when someone types keywords or queries into it. These can be featured snippets from well-optimized pages, ads, organic content, videos, and more.
The more relevant the organic content, the higher up the search engine ladder they go.
But why do these SERPs really matter? Let’s talk about it.
1. Most Clicks Are on the Front Page
When someone Googles a query or set of keywords they’re more likely to visit one of the websites on the front page for their answers. Why would they keep going if they get what they want with their first try?
Does this matter if you’re trying to sell something or offer a local service?
Well, yes. If your business, for example, is a new sit-in brewery that’s trying to get more customers, it has to compete with every other brewery in town as well as the pages like YELP that list local breweries. That front page spot means you’ll get more local attention.
Building your SEO is how you get on that front page.
2. People Don’t Have to Click Anymore
Let’s say you’ve been using blogs to help improve your SEO. Blogs are one of the SEO basics. You want to answer generic questions about the topic that your business revolves around.
While these blogs are important, consider what happens when you
Google these things yourself. Those featured snippets at the top of the page give the answers to many questions that people might ask. Why would they click anything if the answer is right there?
They get the answer they want and move on to the next thing they have to do without ever clicking a link.
Working your way into that featured snippet spot by answering more specific questions, or answering them better, can help you move your website up the ranks and get some visibility.
3. They Can Help You Determine Your Keywords
Some search engine questions and keywords are going to be too broad for you to ever make it to that coveted front page.
Let’s return to the brewery example.
If you try to aim for the broad queries alone you won’t be getting as much traffic as other pages that are already more popular.
For example, searching for “beer in [your city]” might lead to things like beer delivery, local beer festivals or brands, or the most popular bars in town. How do you beat that?
You get more specific. What happens if you gear your keywords for a more niche service. For example, “sour ales in [your city]” or “pumpkin beers in [your city]”? Do you move up the rankings if you serve those things and gear your website optimization in that direction? There are fewer results when you get more specific so you’ll be higher in the rankings.
SERPs Are an Important Part of Your Research and Strategy
You can’t build an effective SEO strategy without paying attention to SERPs and where you land on the page.
Being on those first few pages of results (and ideally the first page) is crucial for your success. Use SERPs to your advantage when doing your research and strategizing.
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