With the recent Google Analytics changes and the constant external pressures and challenges that are being put on small brands, it is no wonder that many turn to increasing organic traffic and click-through rate as part of their strategy.
If you are a creative business or small brand owner who wants to explore this route too, this mini guide is for you. Assuming you have GA4 set up, let’s look at some of the key data to look out for first.
What is organic traffic?
What is organic click-through rate?
Organic click-through rate is the percentage of users that click on an organic search engine result – your page. While some say that the ranking position plays a key part in what percentage your click-through rate is, there are other elements that are important too. These are your title tag, URL and description of what’s on the page. This means that even if you’re not ranking at number one position, you can still have a decent organic click-through rate.
Measuring organic click-through rate: Generally speaking, anything over 2% is considered a good rate for organic search and organic traffic.
What factors can impact your click-through rate?
1. The content on pages
The words you use on each page of your website can do two things: either they make visitors engage and connected to what you are saying (both visually and in the written copy), or it does the opposite – it drives them away. So ensure that your content is talking to your targeted audience and that they have a good reason to hang around.
2. Poor CTA
Stay away from generic and demanding CTAs like “click here”. Such generic terms are overused and therefore do no favours to your website. Instead, be more specific and focus on highlighting the benefits a customer will get by clicking on your link such as “Join our VIP tribe” or “Find your favourite lampshade/shoes/style” etc.
3. Targeting the wrong audience through wrong keywords
A low click-through rate could also be a sign that you’re targeting the wrong audience. The basics of SEO is that you must understand your audience. Who are they? What type of content do they prefer to consume? When are they most active on the marketing channel you’re using? Which words and phrases do they like? Spend some time understanding your audience and if necessary, adjust your keywords on your website’s pages.
4. Poor or generic website design
Increasingly, design plays an important role in attracting and retaining visitors on your website. And, organic traffic depends on it more than you think. The more unique your visual and design elements are, the more memorable and user-friendly your website is. And this is very important for your brand’s reputation, trust and recall when a customer is searching for your product category. If this is the problem you have identified, try altering everything from the colours to the images you use.
4. Slow web page loading
How can you improve your organic click-through rate and increase organic traffic?
So what can you do for you to increase more visitors coming to your site without paying for ads? There are many things you can do, but here is a list of the most important areas to look at as your starting point:
1. To improve your organic click-through rate and organic traffic, identify pages with lowest organic click-through rate and try to optimise these pages (if they are important for your business). Obviously, exclude pages such as terms and conditions or private policy.
2. Fix any keyword issues and on-page SEO as mentioned in the previous point. This includes spending some time on meta descriptions and optimising for Google snippets. Also pay attention to your url, make sure it is relevant and short.
3. Optimise images. This is mostly overlooked but very important, especially when you want to increase organic traffic. Your images should be uploaded in small sizes (we recommend up to 150Kb) and as WebP files.
4. Improve your speed performance. You can check how fast or slow your website is with tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights. These tools not only analyse the speed of your website on desktop and mobile, but also give you suggestions for improvements.
5. Get creative with your copy and inject some emotion into it. Always aim to create original and valuable content to your audience.
To conclude, approach increasing organic traffic from the angle of difference. The Internet is full of advice, tips and similar looking content. But instead of copying and following the herd, take this as your opportunity. Take things step further and see where the gaps are and how you can fill them.
Do your own research, and based on that, provide some information that can’t be found elsewhere. After all, these are all things that will make your content original and stand out. Remember, not always value means tips or advice, if you have an e-commerce website, free delivery or small gifts are also valuable to your website’s visitors.
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