When it comes to a business’s online presence, perhaps there’s nothing more important than the entry in a search engine results page (SERP). Every day millions of users use search engines to make queries online, and so comes the question of how you can capture their trust and make them interested in your company thanks to your entry in the SERPs.
In this short article, we will give you some easy steps that you can follow that will attract traffic to your website. If you choose to follow them, you will see an improved click-through rate (CTR) to your site and also signal that you’re a trustworthy company to users.
Keep in mind that we’re talking about creating trust in an organic way by providing potential customers with helpful information and not only selling them services and products.
Let’s now see how you can make a great search engine listing.
Five Ways to Create a Trust-Inspiring Search Engine Listing
Of course, the steps you will see below are only a few ways of making your search engine listing more noticeable. However, we deem them to be the most vital ones that you can take.
The entry must be on the first page of Google results
Anyone who has ever done any work in marketing knows that when people use the search engine, they generally look only at the first-page results, especially at those that are above the fold.
According to research made in 2018, somewhere around 30% of the clicks go to the first result on the page, and positions nine to 10 only get about 2% of the SERP clicks.
The reason for that is not purely convenience. People indeed like to find information quickly and so are unwilling to browse through the search engine pages endlessly. However, it’s also a fact that when a listing appears first, second or third, users tend to have more trust in it and think that it is more reliable and legitimate than the ones ranked lower in the SERP.
All in all, in order for your search engine listing to be trustworthy, it needs to be well-ranked – meaning you should be on top of your SEO game at all times.
The entry shouldn’t be a PPC ad
In 2019, research was published showing that almost ⅔ of SERP clicks go to the organic results, and paid ads only get about one in three clicks.
That’s because people already know that the first few results are ads, and since people are not really fans of paid advertising, most people zone out and skip them. Billboards and magazine ads serve as “distractions” from the real content in daily life, and SERP PPC ads are the same way.
So, if you have a limited marketing budget and still want to get good results, you should consider investing in helpful content, as it has been shown to help more than paying for PPC ads.
The entry has to be informative
When looking for something online, people are hoping to find relevant, helpful information. Most aren’t looking to purchase something right away and instead are looking to learn something or check a fact they think they know. That’s why establishing your website as a source of trustworthy information is essential.
When your search engine listing is based on the premise of you providing beneficial information, that will inspire trust in the user and will earn more clicks.
Have a page that answers the user’s questions
When people conduct a Google search, they usually have a question that they need an answer to. That’s why it’s a good idea for your page title to answer that question, as it’s typically the thing that the user sees first when looking at a SERP.
That’s because titles have a larger font and a different color, which draws the attention of the viewer. The main idea behind a good page title is not only to create SEO value but also to provide value for the user.
Behind every search query, there are three questions that the user wants to have answered:
- What is the page about?
- Why is the page relevant?
- How will the page help me?
If you manage to answer them, you will gain the trust of the user. Here’s how you can do that:
- What is the page about? – A page’s title should reflect its subject matter, which is why you should state it while using as few words and characters as possible.
- Why is the page relevant? – The title should contain the keyword that the user is looking for. That’s an instant sign that the page deals with the topic he is searching for.
- How will the page help me? – Searchers often have a need they want to have met. It’s good that your page title reflects how you can help the user.
With that said, remember not to overstuff your page title with keywords and to keep it as short as possible. Google tends to devalue pages with over-optimized titles.
Write an engaging meta description
The meta description is what the search engine displays to users when they see your website while looking at search engine page results. While meta descriptions are not that vital for SEO, they’re extremely helpful in creating trust within the user.
The meta description is your best chance to show that your content is informative and helpful. When writing it, you should stick to natural language, use keywords when they fit organically, and keep the description short and error-free.
In Conclusion
Having a great search engine listing is all about inspiring trust in users and providing them the needed information so that they feel the incentive to click on your website. Because of that, you should focus on creating content that doesn’t aim to sell and truly only benefits its readers by giving them what they’re looking for in terms of information.
If you want to learn more about SEO and search engine positioning, head on over to the Camberlion blog, where we have a ton of helpful articles.