Optimizing natural referencing is generally seen as an effective way to improve revenue. And it's true in most cases. But does this top position in search engines guarantee you sales? Will you necessarily double your revenue if you move from the twentieth to the first place?
Not necessarily, because ultimately, being first doesn't guarantee new sales; it only guarantees more traffic.
Before being well-ranked, you must ensure that your site is "up to the task," that it can convert the clicks you receive into contacts or sales. In short, don't put the cart before the horse: if you're first and your site doesn't convert, you'll only increase your bounce rate.
Refine the title and description
When a user discovers you on search engines, the title and description tags are the first messages you deliver. These two tags must therefore be clear and appealing. These tags play an important role in a website's SEO to the extent that they are often stuffed with keywords to the point of becoming incomprehensible. Always keep in mind that these tags will be read, not just by search engines.
Clarify your homepage message
Your homepage is undoubtedly the most important page of your site. It carries the most weight in the eyes of search engines and will be the main entry point to your site (generally, it represents 40% of entries). That's why it needs to be very well-crafted. How do you refine your homepage? First, by structuring your message. There needs to be a reading flow, and the communication must be clear. Some homepages can be cluttered because everything was crammed in, under the pretext that it is the most viewed page of the site. This is a poor strategy because, ultimately, users will not stay on your site.
A good homepage sets the tone, has an appetizing value, and should encourage users to continue exploring more deeply. It doesn't need to be exhaustive. It simply needs to be clear and quickly understandable.
Marking a Decision-Making Path
What decision do you want a user to make after visiting your site? Buy a product? Send you a message? Subscribe to one of your services? Whatever the desired decision, your site must guide the visit toward this goal. To achieve this, imagine navigation scenarios to see if the path is clear for the user, whether they arrive via the homepage or a deeper page.
Promoting Trust Indicators
Even if your decision-making funnel is well-constructed, it might not be enough to set you apart from your competitors, especially in the e-commerce sector, where every site places great importance on this funnel. Differentiation can be achieved through trust indicators provided by your customers, such as likes on your Facebook page, comments, subscriptions on Google+ or Twitter, etc. Also consider solutions like ekomi, which allow your users to indicate their level of satisfaction.
Think About Mobile
Mobile navigation represents a significant portion of web traffic, which is no longer a secret. It turns out that the share of online purchases via tablets is also tending to grow. Several reasons are cited for this, including more pleasant navigation, simplicity, and especially sites designed for this type of navigation. So test your site on a tablet or smartphone and see how it performs.
Monitor Entry Pages
With audience tracking solutions like Google Analytics, you have the means to know through which pages users arrive on your site. This allows you to deduce what searches are being conducted and the demand from your audience. Therefore, you must ensure that these pages are designed to offer the best possible "first contact", and that they allow easy navigation to other pages in line with your decision-making funnel.
Monitor Exit Pages
If you want to improve your website's performance, it's essential to know where the issues lie. Review the exit pages of your site to identify where visitors are ending their visits. Analyze each page and determine what is causing visitors to leave.
Keep in Touch with Your Visitors
Once your visitor leaves your site, you need to ensure you can reconnect with them. To achieve this, there's nothing better than inviting them to follow you on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. You can then share your updates on the social media page they choose. Another possible method: a newsletter. The important thing is to capitalize on this initial visit to continue delivering your messages.
Monitor your company's online reputation
Finally, you might be first on Google, but the top result could be unpleasant. Imagine your company name appears first but is associated with a customer complaint or a "fake complaint" from a competitor. To mitigate this possibility, it's best to track mentions of your brand and company on the web to identify such statements as early as possible. This way, you spot them before they become too visible on Google. You will then have the opportunity to consider corrective action.