At the turn of the century, optimising web pages for search was a fairly simple process; add your keywords to the body copy, heading and URLs, and your page had what it took to compete for the coveted first place on Google search results in a matter of weeks.
Oh, how times have changed.
A recent study conducted by AHREFS extracted data from the top 10 pages of two million keywords. Their findings:
The user decides very quickly the bedside table on display isn’t the bedside table she’s after. She prefers a darker finish to match her headboard and something a little lower to the ground. It’s also above her budget. She hits the back button in search of another online retailer.
Apart from a lost sale, what’s the result for the online store?
Higher bounce rates +
Decreased time spent on page +
Decreased average pages per visit per session
= poor page performance
What if, instead of landing on a page with only one product, the user landed on a LUX Organic Smart Page (like the simulated version below) with ten or more items that match her search intent?
The user can scroll through her options and shortlist the products she likes the most. She finds pine bedside tables that not only have a darker finish but are the correct height, so she adds them to her cart. She also adds the bedside lamps she found through a link on the landing page. A job done, she heads to the checkout to process payment.
In addition to a won sale, what’s the result for the online store?
Lower bounce rates +
Increased time spent on page +
Increased average pages per visit per session
= better page performance
- 1.1% of pages that rank in position one are less than one year old
- 10.8% of pages with high domain rating rank in Google Top 10 within one year
- Overall, only 5.7% of all new pages rank in the Google Top 10 within a year
The answer lies in page relevance…
Have you ever walked into a retail store for the first time and felt instantly looked after? A store assistant greets you at the door, guides you to a rack of clothing she thinks you might like and suggests a pair of shoes that would look great with the dress you’ve picked? This is the ideal, hyper-relevant brick-and-mortar shopping experience, where store assistants take on the heavy lifting on the customer’s behalf. Yet, the virtual distance between ‘buyer’ and ‘seller’ in eCommerce has made page relevance a challenge that online retailers have long struggled with. On the rare occasion an eCommerce store does manage to get it right, they reap the rewards – boosting customer experience, overall conversions and, of course, a number of page metrics.- Lower bounce rates: a user is less inclined to hit the back button in search of a site that provides a more user-friendly experience.
- Longer average time on page: A Searchmetrics study showed that the top 10 URLs from 10,000 keywords have a “time on site” time of 3 minutes and 10 seconds. If a user spends more time browsing the products you display, your average time on page will improve.
- Higher average pages per visit per session: with a hyper-relevant internal linking strategy in place, you give users more options to browse your site for related products.
The ultimate in page relevance: single-product vs. multi-product landing pages
Studies have found that those who land on a single-product landing page are twice as likely to bounce. In contrast, by displaying multiple products on a landing page that matches a ready-to-buy user’s search intent, they’re made to feel their experience is customised and that they don’t need to look further to have their problems solved. In other words, they don’t have to work for it. Let’s put this into perspective with an example. A user types a longtail search term into Google pine bedside tables and chooses a search result that takes her to a product landing page.
The user decides very quickly the bedside table on display isn’t the bedside table she’s after. She prefers a darker finish to match her headboard and something a little lower to the ground. It’s also above her budget. She hits the back button in search of another online retailer.
Apart from a lost sale, what’s the result for the online store?
Higher bounce rates +
Decreased time spent on page +
Decreased average pages per visit per session
= poor page performance
What if, instead of landing on a page with only one product, the user landed on a LUX Organic Smart Page (like the simulated version below) with ten or more items that match her search intent?
The user can scroll through her options and shortlist the products she likes the most. She finds pine bedside tables that not only have a darker finish but are the correct height, so she adds them to her cart. She also adds the bedside lamps she found through a link on the landing page. A job done, she heads to the checkout to process payment.
In addition to a won sale, what’s the result for the online store?
Lower bounce rates +
Increased time spent on page +
Increased average pages per visit per session
= better page performance
How will LUX Smart Pages help me rank faster on Google?
LUX’s patented Customer Acquisition Platform takes the traditional strategy of directing users to single product landing pages from Google search results and flips it on its head. LUX’s Customer Acquisition Platform:- Delivers unique and personalised best practice UX for customers
- Automatically build tens of thousands of new, continuously optimised multi-product LUX Smart Pages in 90 days with no change to existing user experience or navigation.
- Adapts your content to the individual user’s intent, creating the
- Offers the perfect customer experience.
- Plugs into your existing platform adding new site capabilities without internal tech work.
- Myer: “White linen pants” Position one in three months – above Google features.
- Bravissimo: 29% of pages rank on Google Page one within three months.
- Cleuy Learning: 46% of pages on page one, 12% in position one within a year.
