How to use SEO to generate high converting leads in 2024

Lead generation is the foundation of many businesses.

It helps expand client bases, boost sales, launch new products or services, and enables sales teams to close higher-ticket offers.

If you have an established website or are in the process of building one, implementing SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) strategies can drive a steady stream of new users to sign up and inquire about your offers. It's important to apply the right strategy to attract people who are genuinely interested, leading to higher conversion rates.

Every business is different but, with the right strategy in place, you can significantly increase your chances of driving results. In this article, we walk you through step-by-step strategies to properly implement SEO and attract high-converting leads to your business.

• Consistent traffic source: SEO requires upfront work but provides consistent, long-term results once web pages are optimised and ranking well.
• High-quality users: Search traffic can often yield higher conversion rates compared to platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and others.
• Cheaper CPL (Cost Per Lead): Unlike paid advertising campaigns, which charge per lead, organic traffic is essentially free to acquire. Although factors such as time and resources need to be considered, SEO is a sustainable source for long-term results.
• Scalable: An established website with high domain authority and traffic can more easily extend its reach and rank for additional keywords related to your products or services by adding new pages.
• Helps local businesses: A well-optimised Google Business Profile (GBP) is a reliable way to attract new local clients to your business.

We believe that SEO is one of the most important traffic sources for businesses and should be heavily considered in your marketing strategy.

How to generate high-converting leads with SEO

Since organic traffic can take 3 to 6 months to build, depending on your website's establishment and other factors, it's crucial to implement the right strategy. This will not only attract visitors but also target potential clients who are interested in your products or services.

Time and again, we see websites struggling to convert visitors into leads. Following the steps below will give you the best chance of success.

1.) Research targeted keywords with user intent in mind

Keyword research is the process of identifying and analysing the terms and phrases that people use when searching for information, products, or services online. This involves finding relevant keywords that have high search volume, are relatively easy to target, and align well with user intent. 

When researching keywords, it’s essential to have a clear goal in mind regarding who you are targeting. To begin, you can use an SEO tool like Semrush to gather data.

For example, imagine you're in the construction industry and want to attract clients who are interested in residential construction. Start by using the keyword research tool and entering key phrases that best represent your business.

As you can see, the keyword “residential building construction companies” has a relatively low number of searches per month, but it also has commercial intent with low competition.

Commercial intent keywords like this often lead to higher conversion rates. This is because the people searching these terms are typically looking for specific services they want to engage with.

Next, you need to investigate the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) for the given keyword to determine if the top-ranking pages align with competitors who have the same business goals. It's essential that your page closely matches the type of content and intent that search engines are already rewarding.

In this example SERP, the top results are local Google Business Profiles for GEO-based construction businesses, as well as landing pages from companies offering similar services. This suggests that optimising a landing page for this keyword could be effective in generating leads. 

If this is beyond your current capabilities or you're struggling with the keyword research phase, we can provide an SEO audit that identifies keyword opportunities directly aligned with your business goals.

2.) Create a landing page that ranks

Generating quality content that is helpful and informative is the most important ranking factor. Without it, all your other SEO efforts will be wasted.

To create a high-converting landing page that ranks well, pay close attention to the type of content others are producing. Specifically, take note of how they structure their pages, design CTAs, and collect leads.

Next, aim to create something even better. SEO isn’t about doing something entirely different, it’s about improving on what’s already ranking well in the search results. Here’s a checklist that goes into more detail about what you need to add to your landing page:

• Understand Your Audience: Research your target audience's challenges and needs to tailor your content to their preferences and behaviours.
• Provide Value: Highlight the key benefits or solutions your product or service provides right away. Clearly articulate what makes your offer unique and why it’s valuable to the user. Focus on the benefits and outcomes of your product or service. 
• Organise Content: Break up text into digestible sections with clear, descriptive headings (H1, H2, and H3 tags) to improve readability and SEO. Use bullet points or numbered lists to present important information and make it easier to digest.
• Incorporate Keywords Naturally: Integrate your primary keyword into key areas such as the headline, subheadings, body, meta description, and meta title. Use secondary keywords to support the main topic. Ensure that keywords are naturally incorporated into the content to avoid keyword stuffing.
• Add Social Proof: Include reviews from clients to build trust and credibility. Also, consider adding detailed case studies or success stories to showcase real-world results.
• Include A Strong CTA (Call-To-Action): Ensure your CTA is relevant to the content and clearly tells users what to do next. Make the CTA stand out with contrasting colours or buttons to increase clicks. Ensure it captures details such as email addresses, phone numbers, and other relevant information.

Your landing page is essential. If it isn't optimised with valuable content, it won't rank well and fewer visitors will find it. Consequently, we recommend investing time and effort to ensure everything is optimised to the highest standard.

3.) Ensure technical SEO is met

Technical SEO is important for several reasons. Firstly, it ensures that search engines, like Google Bot, can read and index your web pages clearly and that there are no blockers preventing indexing.

Additionally, technical SEO will ensure there are no security issues or other technical problems affecting the way the website operates. Proper technical SEO is also crucial for converting users into valuable leads.

Here’s what you need to ensure the technical aspects of your landing page are met.

• Ensure Fast Loading Times: Page speed is a direct ranking factor for Google. If your website is slow, it can negatively impact your rankings and deter users who find the site too slow. Ideally, aim for a page speed of 3 seconds or less for both mobile and desktop. You can use Page Speed Insights to check your performance.
• Check There Are No Indexing Issues: Use tools such as Screaming Frog and Google Search Console to ensure that your robots.txt file is not blocking your web page from being crawled and that your page is indexed on platforms like Google.
• Create Clear Site Architecture: Your website should be easy to navigate with a clear layout. Important landing pages should be in the header, and interlinking should make it easy for both users and crawl bots to find pages..
• Update Your Sitemap: Update your XML sitemap regularly (especially after making changes like creating a new landing page) to ensure it includes all important pages. Submit the updated sitemap to search engines (such as Google Search Console) for faster indexing and to help them understand your site's structure.
• Fix Broken Links: Links on your web pages that lead to 404 errors create a poor user experience and may cause search crawlers to perceive your content as low quality. Ensure that both outbound and internal links are directing users to relevant and useful pages.
• Keep Your Website Secure: Ensure your site uses HTTPS to secure data transmission by implementing an SSL certificate and redirecting all HTTP traffic to HTTPS.

Handling the technical aspects of SEO is essential for both crawl bots and creating a good user experience, which aligns with what platforms like Google have been increasingly prioritising.

4.) Write supporting articles for topical authority

Gaining authority within your business field is one of the best strategies for long-term success, especially when creating a landing page for a new service you haven't covered before.

Google tends to favour websites that offer in-depth and helpful content on specific topics over those that don't. One way to build this authority is by writing supporting articles for your key pages, such as your service pages. This approach not only increases your chances of acquiring leads at the top of your marketing funnel but also broadens your reach by attracting more visitors to your website through additional content.

To do this, create topic clusters that cover all aspects of a single topic centred around a specific pillar page (e.g. service page). HubSpot found that creating these topic clusters and linking them to a pillar page can help improve SERP positions. 

A topic cluster typically looks like this:

To find supporting articles to write about, you can use tools like Semrush to identify keywords with low competition and generate content based on those keywords. For example, if we refer back to the topic of residential construction, you can create broad topic clusters with ideas such as:

• Top Home Design Trends for [Year] You Need to Know
• Step-by-Step Guide to Planning a Home Renovation
• How to Budget for Your New Home Construction: Tips and Tricks
• Best Building Materials for Modern Homes: A Comprehensive Guide
• DIY vs. Professional Home Renovations: Which Is Right for You?

Ultimately, the effectiveness of this approach depends on your market. For niche-specific businesses, finding relevant keyword data and generating content might be more challenging. 

For local businesses, I would recommend optimising your Google Business Profile to help you generate leads. 

5.) Use backlinks to increase rankings

Backlinks are a crucial element of an SEO strategy that helps sustain leads for your business. When another website links to yours, search engines like Google interpret this as a trust signal, which can improve your rankings for certain keywords, particularly those that are highly competitive and difficult to rank for.

• Local Listings & Directories: Creating profiles and building links in directories is one of the most efficient ways to acquire backlinks, especially for locally-based businesses. You can find relevant directories by searching for “[your niche] + directories” on search engines. Include your location (e.g. country or city name) if you want to target people in your area.
• Create Linkable Assets: Creating content such as infographics, charts, data reports, and case studies can naturally attract backlinks from other websites. These sites may reference and link to your content as a valuable resource for their own audiences.
• Guest Blogging: Contribute articles to reputable blogs within your industry, and include a link back to your site in your author bio or within the content itself. Target niche sites related to your industry that accept guest posts, and offer to provide valuable content in exchange for a backlink.

Note that manually building links can potentially go against Google’s TOS. While many SEO professionals do engage in link building, it’s crucial to approach it in a way that appears natural. Avoid purchasing cheap links from platforms like Fiverr or Upwork. If you’re new to link building, seek out a specialist who can help generate links from reputable websites.

6.) Keep track of leads

You need to track metrics that generate leads to understand user behaviour and determine if your SEO efforts are attracting more interest in your offers. Google Analytics 4 is a common tool for tracking user behaviour and provides valuable insights. However, for more in-depth tracking and management, I recommend using a CRM like HubSpot.

No matter which tool you use, here’s the metrics you need to keep track of to determine if your SEO lead generation efforts are effective:

• Organic Traffic to Landing Pages: Monitor how much organic traffic specific landing pages are receiving to determine their effectiveness. Keep track of keyword intent.
• Keyword-Driven Traffic: Track which keywords are bringing the most traffic to your site and leading to conversions.
• Conversion Rate from Organic Traffic: Measure the percentage of visitors from organic search who complete specific actions, such as form submissions or sign-ups.
• Organic Click-Through Rate (CTR): Track the CTR of your organic search listings to track how well your meta titles and descriptions attract clicks.
• Top Performing Content for Leads: Identify which SEO-optimised content pieces are driving the most leads and analyse their characteristics.
• Search Console Insights: Use Google Search Console to track impressions, clicks, and average positions for keywords that are generating leads.

Tracking the right data allows you to see if what you’re doing is working. If you notice traffic not converting into leads, I recommend also checking metrics such as bounce rate, engagement time, scroll rate, heatmaps, and user flow. You can use a tool like Hotjar to better understand how users navigate your website and identify potential areas for improvement.

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SEO lead generation requires various components to work together seamlessly for optimal results. Key elements like effective keyword planning, content marketing, on-page optimisation, technical SEO, backlink acquisition, and conversion rate optimisation are crucial for success.

It's not just about driving traffic but about attracting visitors genuinely interested in what you offer and converting them into leads. When every part of the process aligns, SEO becomes a powerful tool.