To be able to use your website for lead generation you need to understand how to attract people to your website in the first place. Old school SEO tactics of keyword stuffing and building thousands of links to a website not only don’t work, they can be damaging to your efforts and may even end up with a Google penalty. So SEO has changed considerably and the focus now is firmly on content. We have always known that content was an important element in lead generation, but the quality of that content and the way that you use it has changed considerably.
So do keywords matter?
The way we search has changed, we are far more descriptive in the way that we look for things in a search engine. Rather than using one or two words you will often find people are typing whole strings of words or questions into the search bar. This is where you should be focussing your content efforts. There may be less searches for these long tailed keyphrases, but those searches are far more likely to turn into leads if they find quality, well written content that serves the users needs.
As an example, if I am looking for an IT company in my local area, 4 years ago I may have gone to Google and typed in “IT Hertfordshire” where as today I am far more likely to use a phrase such as “IT company for small businesses in Hertfordshire”.
How to use long tailed keyphrases for lead generation
If you can find out what your customers or potential customers are typing into the search engines then you can tailor make your content around those search phrases. That doesn’t mean stuffing a page full of keywords and not much else. What it does mean, is to take those questions or queries and write a well thought out blog post or content page that will help the user answer their questions, or fulfill their need. There is nothing more frustrating than landing on a web page that bears no relation to the search phrases entered and so tricking people into visiting a page will not only hurt your search rankings but it will also hurt the reputation of your business.
Don’t forget that content isn’t just about words, it can includes images, video’s and audio and using different types of content on a page can make it more interesting which aids both lead generation and conversion.