How to make people click on your search engine listings

[Nomar]

Getting listed on Google's first result page is great but it won't do your business any good if nobody clicks on your listing in the search results.

You have to convince searchers to click on your listings. There are several things that you can do to increase the number of clicks on your listings.

1. Use your keywords in the title and the description

Google, Bing and some other search engines make words appear in bold that match the search query in the search results. Your listing will stand out if it contains bolded words.

2. Use compelling web page titles

Add a call to action and your unique selling proposition in your web page title. The web page title is the only text that search engines usually won't change in the search results:

* Make sure that the titles of your web pages are descriptive. It should be clear what to expect on the pages.
* If possible, add a call to action and benefits in your web page title.
* Put the most important information at the beginning of the title. Search engines might shorten the title in the search result pages and people might not see the complete text.
* If you're not a major brand name, avoid your company name in your web page titles.
* Do not use the same title for all of your web pages. This is a mistake that many beginners make.

If the titles of your web pages are too short or only a collection of keywords, Google might rewrite them (see news below).

3. Optimize your web page descriptions

Although Google will create a new description snippet for your website it can help to optimize the meta description of your web page for other search engines that display the description. Just like the web page title, the description should include a call to action and it should tell searchers why your website is better than others.

4. Try to get Sitelinks and breadcrumbs for your website

Listings that contain Sitelinks or breadcrumbs stand out in the search engine results. Check your website design and the navigational elements on your web pages to make sure that Google finds the correct pages for Sitelinks and breadcrumbs.

Always keep in mind that you optimize your web pages for real people. It does not make sense to get top 10 listings if searchers don't find your pages interesting.

[Lukehluke]

Thats all good information and I do try to make sure I follow those general rules when it comes to getting traffic from search engines.

[adumpaul]

Nice interesting information.Thank you for sharing.