It is a well-known fact that keywords and content is important to your online search ranking. Having advice driven blogs and web pages that convey your products and services in an easy to understand way to the reader is all part of getting people to come to your site and share your content.
Yet, in order to get them to click through to your web page or blog, having a call to action or headline that captures them is equally just as important. In fact, it could be argued that your call to action is more important than your content. That’s not to say you should have bland content, as your visitors will leave your website as quickly as they entered. However, no-one will actually see enter your website in the first place if they aren’t enticed by the headline.
Call to actions are almost like email subject lines. They are the first bit of content that is meant to tell you what’s behind the click and how it will benefit the reader. Have you ever received an email with a long or ambiguous subject line? More often than not, these emails are deleted (if the sender isn’t known) or placed in the “read later” pile. In short, they aren’t engaging and they don’t place any urgency on the reader to want to learn more.
Boring headlines can occur for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include those that have too many words, don’t offer value or aren’t relevant to the target audience.
Here are top 3 ways call to actions impact website SEO rankings and hinder your online search visibility.
They can hinder your social media engagement
One of the top ways your content is spread and reaches a broader audience is through social media. People can pin, tweet or like your content depending on the social platform they are on.
With more information and content being shared every second on social platforms, sometimes the only part that gets read is the call to action. This can be for a number of reasons. Sometimes the reader doesn’t have enough time to click and read the article, but they like message conveyed in the headline so they share it. Other times, the headline might be something they think their friend might find of interest so they’ll link it to them.
In summary, the headline is a very powerful sharing technique. If you are presenting boring headlines that don’t capture the reader, then this will limit the amount of shares your content receives, and impact your SEO via a decrease in traffic and website authority.
They can impact your paid advertising strategy
Whether you are using display or text ads, the call to action is one of the most important factors to your online advertising strategy. A key part of your activities is to ultimately get more traffic to your website, which should help with lead conversion and also your website’s SEO authority.
If your ad has a nice picture but doesn’t convey what is actually “in it for me” on the other side of that click, less people are likely to engage with your ad. Some of these value driven call to actions include providing something for “free” or providing “top tips”. For example, if you have a car detailing service, you might have a display ad that reads “Free checklist: Fast ways to interior clean your car”.
They can increase your bounce rate
My first two points were about call to actions that are meant to entice readers to click through to your website. But there are also call to actions on your website itself.
You may have got your reader to click on your display ad and come to your website, but once they go there, there was no obvious call to action so they left. This will increase your bounce rate and in turn signal to search engines that your website isn’t giving enough value to the reader.
Make sure you have stand out call to action buttons, for example, “get a quote”, “learn more” or “book an appointment”. These prompt the reader to stay on your website or make direct contact with you.
So, before you focus too much on the bulk of your content, images and videos, think about what the headline will be. What is actually enticing the reader to click through to your site? Or if they are already on your site, what will prompt them to take the next step?
When developing your call to action, a good test is to put yourself in your reader’s position and ask “what’s in it for me?”
Kidal Delonix is a contributor to Mr. Hoffman's blog. The views and opinions are entirely his/her own and may not reflect Mr Hoffman's views.
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