If you want to keep your bounce rate down, it’s vital to set out the right user paths on your site. Your SEO work might be successful in increasing search traffic to your site, but if you can’t give your site users what you want, then the entire process is wasted.
Internal paths through your site are a big part of search engine optimisation. Not only are clear paths essential if you want search engine spiders to find the right pages within your site, the amount of time users spend on your site is now being taken into account in rankings calculations. This means that if you don’t manage to give users what they want, your place in the search engine listings will take a dive.
The most logical way forward is to map out paths through your site which will allow users for each search query to get what they want. In doing this, you’re laying down paths that will lead the search engines to the most relevant information on your site for each keyword as well. Here are the steps you need to take:
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Determine what your user is there for. This will take some time – hopefully. It is hopefully, because a site with many user groups has a greater chance of success than a site with only one user group. Your site should appeal to a number of groups of people, each of which will need a path mapped out for them.
Figuring out what those groups are and what they need is not a simple matter, and consulting a search engine optimisation professional may be a big help. You can talk to us at SEO Consult Australia. If you’ve already engaged in some form of internet marketing, you may already have conducted research to discover your user groups. If not, and if a professional isn’t going to be on hand, you need to do some research of your own.
Every site has its own unique user groups, but essentially they will fall into two general categories: users who are looking for information and users who are looking to purchase. Out of these two categories will then come smaller groups, as you sort out what they are looking for and what purchase is required. From there, you have an idea of what they need from your site.
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Refine the needs of each group into individual goals. Once you have these goals, you can sort out which of your pages addresses that goal and start to plot out a path. For example, someone looking for puppy health tips on a pet site will be happy to follow the path ‘home> dogs> puppies> health> puppy food’. As you see, your paths can direct users to your business goal as well.
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Lay a trail of clues that allows them to reach their goal. The last thing you need to do is ensure that your users can see the paths laid out for them. Here, keywords come into play once more. Use them to direct attention.
