A local site had traffic but no leads, so I started looking beyond rankings

[MoMarketing]

I came across a local site that had decent rankings and was getting traffic but the leads were still pretty weak.

The problem wasnt really rankings. Some of the pages were targeting searches that didnt have much buying intent and the main service pages were not doing a great job of pushing people to take the next step.

After fixing the page structure and making the main services clearer, the traffic started making more sense.

Ranking higher is nice but if the traffic isnt turning into calls or enquiries I dont see much point.

 

[Topiano]

I came across a local site that had decent rankings and was getting traffic but the leads were still pretty weak.

The problem wasnt really rankings. Some of the pages were targeting searches that didnt have much buying intent and the main service pages were not doing a great job of pushing people to take the next step.

After fixing the page structure and making the main services clearer, the traffic started making more sense.

Ranking higher is nice but if the traffic isnt turning into calls or enquiries I dont see much point.

It always makes sense, when doing keyword research, to understand the intent of the keyword. You want to know if it's a commercial keyword, a transactional keyword, or a comparison keyword. The intent tells you what you have to spend your effort and money on first.

If it's a commercial keyword then you want to spend more money to rank for those keywords compared to information keywords. Information keywords are also good because:
1. The competition seems to be lower.
2. You can use information keywords to sell your main product.


For example if you're trying to rank for a black leather shoe, you can ideally talk about black shoes and hyperlink or insert your product on those pages

 

[finn99]

It always makes sense, when doing keyword research, to understand the intent of the keyword.

Yes, intent is key. I have had several IM sites failing to see that.

 

[ProxyMania]

Exactly, but don't just move informational pages to the blog, use them as funnel. Add "call to action" at the end linking to your service page, that is where leads come from.

 

[Tiranbabu716]

informational page still bring leads if you use them properly.add a clear call to action that guides readers toward relevant service page instead of letting them leave after reading.

 

[arontg]

this is interesting, when you fix the intent and the CTAs how do you actually show the client the lead count went up? track calls with a separate number or just form fills? asking because i want to start selling leads to local businesses and proof seems like the hard part

 

[jmur]

arontg asked how you prove the lead count went up. Track both.

Forms: fire a conversion event on the actual submission, not the button click, and count it in GA4.

Calls: a tracking number that swaps in for organic visitors, another one in the ads, and the real number everywhere else so the citations stay clean.

Then the monthly report is just form submissions and tracked calls next to the previous months. Clients trust that more than any rank chart, and when the count is zero you know to go look for a broken tag.