5 Ways that local businesses can increase click-through rates

Added 19.06.14
by SUKHBIR

Unfortunately, small and local business websites often struggle to get hits, even if they are ranking well organically. This is often due to the unappealing nature or appearance of the site, and it can have a severe impact on your ability to stay open. Zeemo has covered 5 ways to increase your click-through rates, which will also help you to increase sales and revenue – what have you got to lose?

local businesses can increase click through rates

  1. Alter homepage titles so they are more ‘magnetic’
    The title is shown as the link text for your website when displayed in the search engine results pages (SERPs) – more often than not it will only reflect your business name and will fail to mention the main thing that you do or sell. Reinforcing the searched-for topic can lead to more clicks.
     
  2. Add sales propositions to meta descriptions
    The meta description is a brief line of text that is often selected by search engines to appear under your links in the SERPs. Most businesses use a very bland description of themselves or the page, but this is a great space to include special offers, discounts or things that set you apart.
     
  3. Make meta descriptions seasonally appropriate
    This is similar to adding a sales proposition to the description but should only be used for seasonal events that actually tie in with your business. A visitor may feel as if you are on the same wavelength if they see a relevant message and will be more inclined to gravitate towards you.
     
  4. Add a photograph to your page’s listing
    This is the small, circular photograph that you may have seen appearing next to links in your searches. It’s time to integrate with Google+, as having a human associated with your business will make you seem friendlier, more trustworthy and more approachable to new customers.
     
  5. Make use of PDF documents and assets
    Upload some white papers, product specification sheets, printable menus, guides and information booklets to your website – for some types of keyword searches, PDFs may actually achieve a high click-through rate than standard web pages. You can save PDFs through Word and Excel.

Whilst there are plenty of other ways that small and local businesses can increase the click-through rates of their websites, the 5 that we have outlined above are the easiest to implement. Some other tips include: adding plenty of photos and videos, utilising breadcrumbs, incorporating structured data and (to a lesser extent) riding on the coattails of others.