How to convert Google searchers into visitors

Getting your site near the top of Google's results is a thrilling achievement, but it's only part of the battle to increase revenue. The next step is to persuade searchers to click through to your site.

To do this, it's essential that your site looks good on Google's results pages. This is something a SEO consultant can control, by writing cleverly-targeted page titles and meta descriptions.

First, let's take a look at a successful Google result. It's for Robin Pope Safaris in Zambia (yes, it's a Travel SEO client).

Just about everything here is right. The homepage title - the top line in blue - identifies the company and says why you should book with it. The keywords are in all there (safari, Zambia, Robin Pope) but they don't interfere with the natural flow of the text.

The two-line snippet below is culled from the page's meta description. This details the company's three main selling points - private walking safaris, game lodges and luxury houses.

Below it, the Sitelinks indicate that Google considers this a site with authority, and gives searchers several useful options, including a direct link to a page about availability.

Now, compare that Google result with the one below for another safari company (not a client of ours, but no reason to think they're not a reputable company).

This is much less effective. Both the page title and the two-line snippet look like random lists of keywords. The repetition of the word "safari" looks "spammy".

The title is also too long and badly punctuated (there should be spaces after all the commas). And although Google thinks the search query warrants a supplementary result, the one it features is just a Flash headline - anybody clicking on it will go away frustrated.

All in all, this doesn't inspire confidence and is likely to lead to fewer click-throughs.

If you'd like to know how to manipulate your results on Google - and turn searchers into visitors - call Mark on O2O 8769 4626 or email Mark@travel-seo.com.