The foundation for a great website is keyword research. By identifying keywords that people use in search engines that relate to your products or services will make or break your organic revenue. Since the focus shifted to quality content and high quality links, getting your keywords to rank high in search engines has become more and more difficult. But, when it comes to keywords everyone loves a number one ranking, right?

Targeted Keywords and Rankings

One of the sites I’m working with has a number of keywords we were targeting. We wanted to rank high across the board for as many of these keywords as we could, so we set out optimizing the site for the keywords and created content around the keyword themes.

We quickly found out that out of a potential 30 keywords, we were ranking within the top three for at least 10 keywords. We had a total of 16 keywords from 30 ranking on the front page and more 25 keywords were found within the first two pages. We were very pleased; and the organic reports in Google Analytics were showing a nice improvement in organic traffic:

Telling your clients their organic traffic has tripled since you came on board, and that they rank number 1 for their primary targeted keywords, brings a smile across both sides of the table. Especially in today’s SEO world where the only way to gain a number one ranking is through honest, content driven and social sharing SEO.

But let’s fast forward to a few months now that we have the data and take a detailed look at traffic numbers and conversions for the 16 keywords we rank on the first page of Google for. The site averages between 15,000-20,000 visits per year and 500-600 conversions per year.

Looking at the data, these keywords with the top rankings is less than 0.8% of total traffic and 1.6% of total conversions... It's not so great anymore, is it?

We needed to step up our keyword strategy. We were focusing on the wrong keywords. We don’t want to target keywords that get little traffic or zero conversions. What’s the point in that? It doesn’t help us or the client.

Once you have enough data on the keywords you are targeting, you can track visits, conversion rates and revenue and then create content. The next move that most SEOs make is that when they see their keyword traffic stagnating, or worse decreasing, they tend to increase the number of keywords to target.

And sure, you can pick related keywords within a keyword group and “guesstimate” how much this new strategy will bring in in terms of traffic and revenue but with all the data you have, why not use it to your advantage?

Because of this, we’ve created a three-tier keyword conversion model to help us increase traffic and convert more visitors.

The Three Tier Keyword Conversion Model

Here’s How it Works

Using the organic search report in Google analytics, we are able to identify keywords that generate visits and conversions. We’re not focusing on branded terms here as branded keywords are most likely your top performing keywords. We will use the three-tier keyword conversion model to increase the value of non-branded keywords.

Tier 1 – High Traffic and High Converting Keywords

The first tier of keywords includes keywords that have a high volume of traffic and are your best converting keywords. This will be your shortest list of keywords compared to all three tiers and it can also be your most expensive keywords for PPC. Here you have a goldmine of keyword data and you’re looking for ways to further optimize the keyword.

Segment: More than 1,000 visits and conversion rate more than 1.5%

Action point per keyword: Improve your internal linking to these pages, add rich media such as video, images and reviews and implement rich snippets to increase CTR from the SERPs. Focus on site speed for a fast loading webpage and make sure your basic on-site optimization targets this keyword in the best way possible.

Tier 2 – High Volume Traffic and Low Converting Keywords

The second tier includes keywords that have a high volume of traffic, but have a low conversion rate. This tier will have more keywords than compared to tier 1. These keywords require you to optimize the conversion rate process as you aim to convert more of this high volume traffic.

Segment: More than 1,000 visits and conversion rate less than 1.5%

Action point per keyword: Create targeted landing pages using Unbounce to drive traffic and split test the conversion/lead generation processes using tools such as Optimizely and Visual Website Optimizer. When creating new landing pages, test elements including images, copy, headlines and call-to-action buttons.

You can then follow the same action points in tier 1 to fully maximize your keyword conversions.

Tier 3 – Low Volume Traffic and High Converting Keywords

The third and final tier in this model includes keywords that produce low traffic number, but have a high conversion rate. This tier will include the largest number of keywords compared to tiers 1 and 2 and these keywords require a boost in traffic

Segment: Less than 1,000 visits and conversion rate more than 1.5%

Action point per keyword: Create targeted paid search campaigns to send traffic to these pages and retarget users who have previously visited the page. Launch a competition and/ or a giveaway to increase product/ service awareness and promote the product or service through email marketing to drive traffic to the page.

You can then follow the same action points in tiers 1 and 2 to fully maximize your keyword conversions.

Creating Keyword Driven Content

The keyword conversion model not only allows you to optimize keywords to increase visits and sales, but also provides you with an overview of keyword themes that you can use to create relevant content and convert more traffic.

For example, using the keyword conversion model to identify high volume traffic keywords that have a low conversion rate such as “bad credit”, “payday loan lenders” and short on cash loans”, we are able to write about the following topics:

• 7 ways to get a payday loan if you have bad credit
• The complete guide to UK payday loan direct lenders
• 3 ways to manage your finances when short on cash before payday

Another example is for an online retailer in Scandinavia that had high volume traffic keywords such as "name tags", "Christmas tips" and "personalized towels". Based on this, we created topics such as:

• Why name tags are not just for kids
• 10 Christmas tips to help you get started early this year
• Why a personalized towel is the perfect gift in 2013

This content is solving a need for what people are searching and visiting the site for; it’s high value content and is focused primarily on the user experience.

The Impact of the Keyword Conversion Model

It might be a little too early to conclude on the impact of implementing the model to increase non-branded keyword revenue as we need to consider factors such as seasonality.

Vacation periods in July, but using data for one of the clients we work with, we can see that comparing the entire year of 2012 (all 12 months) with January to July in 2013 (7 months):

Non-branded traffic has increased by 107% from 1,700 visits in 2012 to 3,665 visits in 2013

Non-branded revenue has increased by 175% from $4,500 in 2012 to $12,600 in 2013

Now, this is something we can both sit across the table and smile about. We’re expecting revenue to increase three to four times over this year compared to 2012.

Non-branded keyword traffic

Conclusion

This type of model can be scaled across multiple websites, platforms and languages and you don’t need to be a linguist that speaks several languages. You’re using numbers to create content that will help your website convert better.

Data is powerful. If you’re not using the data you have, your competition has the advantage against you. By using the keywords that send traffic to your website, you can act on it to create compelling content and increase engagement, which in turn can be used to increase brand awareness and social sharing.

Use the keyword conversion model and your own data to get the best out of the traffic you’re already getting to help boost conversions and sales.

How do you use keyword data to increase sales and conversions? Feel free to comment, like, tweet or share below.