9 tips for converting more organic traffic

Are you attracting a lot of organic traffic to your website but not seeing enough conversions? As an SEO specialist, it’s important to focus on converting that traffic into leads and sales. In this article, we will explore nine effective strategies to help you optimize your content and improve conversion rates. From testing different CTAs to aligning them with your content and leveraging insights from high-converting pages, these tips will help you make the most out of your organic traffic. By implementing these strategies, you can ensure that your SEO efforts have a significant impact on your business growth.

9 Tips for Converting More Organic Traffic

Congratulations! You’ve been successful in attracting good traffic to your website and related properties through your SEO efforts. You’ve done a great job with keyword research, metadata, UX, and more, and your traffic numbers are up. But now, it’s time to ask yourself: how much of that traffic is actually converting?

As an SEO professional, you don’t have the luxury of focusing only on transactional keywords or relying solely on direct response-focused landing pages. Much of the content you create or optimize is focused on education and awareness, such as position pieces, guides, and how-to blog posts. This means that acquisition rates tend to be lower than those of paid traffic sources. However, this is not an excuse to accept low conversion numbers.

Smart brands and clients will push you to do better in converting your traffic into leads and sales. And as a smart SEO, you should relish this challenge and put the following nine strategies into action to improve your conversion rates:

1. Test different in-content CTAs

When it comes to in-content CTAs, you have a lot of options. Whether it’s on a landing page or a blog post, test different variables such as language, design, placement, and style. For example, you can embed text-based CTAs near the top of a blog post or use image-based CTAs midway down the content. Create a clear testing approach and see what works best for driving actual acquisition.

2. Test different offers

You don’t always have to go for the hard sell. Instead, try creating a softer lead magnet or giveaway. This could be anything from newsletters to event guides that are related to the content on the page. Test different offers and see which ones attract more conversions, such as email sign-ups.

3. Align CTAs with content

Connecting CTAs to the content can be highly effective. If a user has landed on a blog article related to a specific product, create a CTA specific to that product. For example, you can offer a buyer’s guide or a relevant resource related to the product. This approach increases the chances of conversion by providing users with valuable and relevant information.

4. Test out-of-content CTAs

While in-line CTAs can work well, it’s always good to test placements elsewhere on the page. Consider placing CTAs on sidebars, top-nav drop-downs, top-of-page banners, or take-overs. However, keep an eye on both the conversion rate and the bounce rate. If you’re not seeing movement in conversions and the bounce rate increases, it may be necessary to adjust the placement or design of the CTAs.

5. Extend the content journey

Sometimes, it’s more effective to convince visitors to spend more time elsewhere on your site before asking them for any information. This is especially true for educational content that is situated at the beginning of the buying journey. Guide users to middle- or lower-funnel pieces of content before asking for their information. If users naturally move down the funnel on their own, it’s a positive signal that they are more likely to convert.

6. Build engagement before the conversion event

To increase the chances of conversion, it’s important to warm up users and give them ways to engage with your product or service. Surveys are a great tool for engagement, and you can even use them to collect robust data and insights. For example, you can offer users the option to receive survey results by entering their email addresses.

7. Use heatmaps

Heatmapping tools like Hotjar and FullStory can provide you with incredible insights into where your traffic interacts on your site. By analyzing heatmaps, you can identify prime engagement areas on your homepage, navigation, service pages, and top blogs. Make sure to include CTAs in these high-engagement areas to increase the chances of conversion.

8. Leverage insights from your higher-converting content

Take a closer look at your Google Analytics to identify instances of posts or properties that have relatively low traffic but high conversion rates. Analyze what these pages are providing that leads to conversions. It could be the language used, the product information provided, or the type of CTA used. Once you identify these elements, you can recreate them on more popular pages to increase conversions. Additionally, optimize your high-converting pages further to attract more traffic and conversions.

9. Do your qualitative research

Gathering anecdotal information from your current and loyal users can provide extremely valuable insights. Ask questions to understand what catches their attention, which product attributes are most appealing to them, and what offers would entice them to sign up. This qualitative research can give you fresh ideas to test that you won’t find in rows of data.

Improving your website’s conversion rates is crucial for establishing SEO as a significant growth driver. While measuring SEO efforts in terms of keyword ranking, impressions, and clicks is important, it’s equally important to focus on the impact on business results. By implementing these nine strategies, you can increase SEO’s impact down the funnel and improve the pipeline or revenue gains directly attributable to SEO. This will position your team as a valuable growth resource in your organization.

Remember, attracting organic traffic is just the first step. Convert that traffic into leads and sales to achieve even greater success with your SEO efforts.