One may to be tempted to think that any traffic to a website is good to take, and that if you are getting a large number of visitors, then it must mean that your visibility is adequate. And yet, as encouraging as it may be to find many Internet users gravitating towards your site, it doesn’t necessarily imply that these visitors are turning into customers. In other words, page views are not the same as leads. This is where the notion of qualified traffic comes in. Here is what you need to know about qualified website traffic and how it affects your conversion rate.
What is qualified web traffic, and how does it differ from any other type of visit on your website? Not all traffic is created equal. For instance, an Internet user could end up on your little corner of the web because they are looking for specific information that Google determined your page is likely to provide. Let’s say you own a business that sells pet supplies in Manchester. You may be able to generate a lot of impressions for a page by publishing a blog post about the dog breeds with the longest hair. Such content may be incredibly valuable for SEO purposes, however, out of all the people who found an answer to their query, only some are likely to be interested in purchasing your products, and even fewer live in your area. This approach boosts impressions, improves your overall visibility, and contributes to elevating your site’s performance. However, it yields little qualified traffic.
On the other hand, you could publish a piece of keyword-focused content about high-quality brushes for long-haired dogs and where to buy them in Manchester. The amount of traffic generated would be substantially lower, but the percentage of visitors interested in purchasing pet-grooming supplies in Manchester would be higher, leading to a greater conversion rate.
This is referred to as “qualified website traffic”. Of course, not all examples are this extreme. In essence, any visitor whose profile makes them likely to be genuinely interested in the products or services you are offering is considered qualified traffic. This includes people who clicked through to your website after viewing your social media page, and those who decide to check out your site because they read good reviews about you, or because they participated in one of your livestream shopping events.
It all depends on whether conversion is important to you, or if impressions are all you are looking for. But chances are a high bounce rate is not your idea of performance. What good are two million visitors if they leave immediately after reading the page they landed on? If you have just a few thousand (or even a few hundred) qualified visitors, on the other hand, your website will greatly benefit from their willingness to engage and, potentially, to make a purchase.
With fewer unqualified visitors and a much lower bounce rate, data analysis also becomes more straightforward, which provides the opportunity to really leverage your metrics and to improve your website even further. In turn, you will be able to keep giving your audience what it wants, thus increasing your ROI.
Qualified traffic is more conducive to building a community of loyal customers who truly value your brand.
Understanding the importance of qualified traffic is great. But knowing how to drive quality traffic to your website is even better! Here is how to adapt your content strategy.
Your ideal customers have a lot in common. Which means that if you can identify their motivations, their concerns, their personality, and the questions they may have, then you can also infer the queries they likely type into Google.
Once you understand exactly what your customers are looking for when searching the web, you can produce content that is relevant to their needs and wants. And because you already know that your product or service aligns with this buyer persona, you can expect a higher conversion rate once they do interact with your site.
Find ways of connecting with your audience and bringing Internet users a customized experience that will make them feel seen. Focus on meeting their expectations. And instead of using generic keywords, create your content around long-tail key phrases that will hit a much more specific mark.
In order to understand what works and what doesn’t when it comes to driving qualified web traffic, you first need to recognize it when you see it.
Keep an eye on the Google Search Console and on Google Analytics. The former will show you which search terms users typed in to get to your site. Ideally, these expressions should be as close as possible to what your SEO efforts targeted. Google Analytics will allow you to dig deeper and understand the origin of the connections. This is also where you’ll find your bounce rate. The higher it is, the less qualified your visitors are.
Increasing your rank for relevant searches is an effective way to drive better-quality traffic. SEO requires long-term efforts, but they are worthwhile. Start by making sure that your meta descriptions are concise and rich in keywords, and that your pages contain high-quality content.
Once you have all the basics in place, you can work towards building backlinks and expanding your connections.
You might create the most amazing video or the most compelling infographic, but if you don’t publish them where they’ll be engaged with and shared, you will have wasted your time.
Let your voice be heard and rally an audience that will delight in experiencing inspiring content right on their favourite social media platforms. With powerful CTAs and shoppable links, you can truly maximize your audience.
Qualified traffic is at the very heart of any successful e-commerce endeavour. With the right tools at your disposal, you can drive more qualified traffic to your website and boost not only your visibility, but your overall sales!