A Lesson in Common Sense
A few weeks back Frank and I were evaluating one of our client’s sites. This client is in the business of diagnosing hearing loss and prescribing the best possible solution, usually hearing aids. We were puzzled because traffic to the site was good; we had high rankings for seemingly relevant and competitive keywords; the landing pages were actionable; even their Google Places rankings were stellar. Yet, the client came to us wondering whether we were still putting in work for her (yikes!)
“Hmmmmmmm” thought Frank and I. Why, despite plenty of search volume, ranking for highly competitive keywords, and having actionable, clean landing pages, are we not driving conversions for the client? We turned to the next logical area; keyword analysis. What we found made us kick ourselves. And yes, that was awkward. It was also not exactly a momentous moment in SEO history. Call it a moment of clarity and humility for a couple of amateurs…
WE WERE TARGETING THE WRONG KEYWORDS!
After just a few minutes of keyword research we realized that the keywords for which the home page was optimized were HORRIBLE. We were targeting keywords variants of “Audiology”, including “Audiology Care” and “Audiology Center”. We were ranking just fine for these. The problem was that no one who was looking into making an investment in hearing aids, or even getting their hearing evaluated, was searching these terms!
What was to be done? Simple. Our few minutes of research showed that people search “Hearing Aids” and “Hearing Specialist” when they are looking into having their hearing loss treated. So, we stuck those keywords in the page titles of the Home Page and the Hearing Aids Page, optimized the content accordingly, stuck in a geo-modifier (“Colorado”) to ensure relevance, and away we went.
Because of the high level of authority of the targeted domains, within a few days we were ranking on the first page for “Colorado Hearing Aids“:
And…”Colorado Hearing Specialist”
After several more days, we got a call from one extactic client, telling us that they had just sold 4 hearing aids in a day. We took a peek at the analytics, and guess what the buyers had searched to find their go-to Colorado hearing aid center? You guessed it; “Colorado Hearing Aids” and “Colorado Hearing Specialist”.
The moral of the story is, don’t mistake high rankings and traffic for success. Your landing pages need to be relevant to what the searcher is looking for and the keywords you’re ranking for need to be searched by people looking for your services.
What a simple job I have.