How to Generate Leads Through SEO: A Back-to-Basics Approach
Are you leveraging these essential SEO activities for maximum conversions? Let’s go back to basics.
How Our Clients Did Last Month
Month-over-month traffic trends. Source: Google Search Console
What We Mean When We Talk About SEO Lead Generation
So you want to use your website as a lead generation tool, right? You know it has something to do with keywords and content that makes people click on your Google search result, but you’re a bit foggy on the details.
For instance, does more visibility actually mean more leads? How are you even sure the right people are landing on your site in the first place? And moreover, how do you make sure those people actually become leads?
What we mean when we talk about SEO for lead generation is the process of optimising your site’s content, keywords, and technical aspects to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) to increase organic website traffic from people searching for the solutions your company is offering.
Is SEO Important for Lead Generation? How To Use Search Engine Optimisation to Generate Leads
If your company’s overall lead generation strategy doesn’t include SEO, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to tap into a market that has, on a daily basis, 1.7 billion active users—we’re obviously not saying that 1.7 billion is the amount of people looking for your product or service, but it hopefully underscores the sheer amount of potential just sitting there waiting for you to leverage.
Not only is it where most people start their buyer journeys, but organic search also brings in the highest ROI of any other digital marketing channel, according to almost half of people surveyed by Search Engine Journal.
You might be thinking something along the lines of, “but I already have a website, an email marketing campaign, and a decent amount of organic traffic that comes through our LinkedIn ads. Do I even need SEO at this point?”
Email marketing, social marketing, and an online presence are all legitimate marketing channels that can help you with your lead generation efforts. But SEO is proven to be the most effective, efficient, and sustainable digital marketing strategy for lead generation.
So, without further ado, let’s get back to the basics to discover the various ways of increasing your lead conversion rates.
But first, going back to basics means you have some solid understanding of what the basics are. Need an SEO refresh? Take a look at our SEO fundamental series:
Audit or QA Your Website
To perform an Audit with a capital A, you’ll need to add a few tools to your toolbox. Google Search Console and site audit tools from Ahrefs, SE Ranking, and Semrush can provide invaluable insights into your site’s performance.
While these tools can do a lot more than audits, they’re really helpful at flagging issues like broken links, crawl errors, duplicate content, and problems with HTTPS, site architecture, and URL structures. They can also analyse page elements like title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and content quality to ensure they meet SEO best practices. And that’s just a drop in the bucket.
Alternatively, you could also hire a search engine optimisation agency that can Audit (another capital A) your site for you. For example, Geeky Tech has a checklist of over 100 points that we go through during our audits to ensure no stone is left unturned.
But, if you’re more of a DIYer, you can still do the auditing yourself. If you’ve never audited your website before, this might be a quality assurance check, or an audit with a lowercase a. You don’t need to be a technical ninja or an expert to QA your website and find obvious site issues that might be causing problems.
Here’s what to check/fix during your QA session:
- Make sure there’s no duplicated content on your site
- Review the interlinking structure to ensure smooth navigation
- Verify that cookies, privacy policy, and T&Cs/ToSs are up to date
- Ensure the mobile version of the site is fast and user-friendly
- Check for AMP implementation on news-related content
- Find and fix any broken links
- Test for compatibility across different browsers
- Make sure your 404 page is helpful and user-friendly (i.e., it directs the user back into the site)
- Run your site through PageSpeed Insights
- Make sure your hyperlinks are easy to see, and form labels are clear
- Check that all text is readable with proper background and font size
- Check for duplicate or missing meta titles and H1 tags
- Review any no-index tags to ensure they’re supposed to be there
- Ensure NAP (name, address, phone number) information is consistent across all pages and listings.
- Run through your mobile site to verify all the page elements are in the right place.
Psst! This is a lite version of Geeky Tech’s 100+ point checklist.
Why Auditing Your Site Can Help You Get More Leads
This is the first thing we mention because it might be the easiest thing to fix. That is to say, any number of these technical issues could be blocking your visibility somehow, so to quickly improve your site visibility and increase your rankings, we would simply need to correct these issues, or—in some cases—change the settings.
Many of the items listed on the checklist affect your site’s crawlability, accessibility, speed, and performance—all of which are key SEO ranking factors. By ensuring your site meets this basic criteria, you’re maximising your site’s visibility, which will increase your traffic, and generate more leads.
Rethink Your Keyword Strategy
We can only assume that if you’re reading this, you have at least a basic understanding of what keywords are and what they do. And we also assume that on some level, you already are working through some kind of keyword strategy.
But one aspect that often gets overlooked is the intent side of keyword strategy.
User intent
User intent is the purpose behind a user's search query. Do they want to know something, find something, or buy something? It is the thing that drives their search. Once you understand user intent, you can start to create content that meets user needs at different stages of their journey.
Using SEO as your primary lead generation strategy means you may have to think differently about the keywords you’re ranking for. Want more leads? Focus on high-intent search queries that your potential customer is likely to plug into Google when they’re getting serious about finding a solution (that you offer).
Let’s take a look at how your keywords and content relate to the customer’s journey:
Before we continue, we’re not telling you to completely forego all top-of-funnel and middle-funnel keywords. After all, you want to attract all users at all levels and then nurture them with high-quality content long enough to turn leads into customers.
But, if your goal is to convert, convert, convert, then consider reworking your keyword strategy so that the bulk of your focus is on content in the consideration and decision rows of the above table.
Other keyword tips for drawing potential leads to your site
- Use long-tail keywords keywords that reflect the user's exact search intent or even their pain points, e.g.:
- 'Best CRM software for online retailers'
- 'How to improve my website visibility'
- 'Solutions for digital document sharing'
- 'How to lower my ad spend'
- If you offer solutions within your local area, maximise your reach by including location-based keywords, such as ' content marketing agency in London,' or ' SEO services near me' (otherwise known as local SEO).
- Find out what your competitors are ranking for to identify keyword gaps and pounce on the opportunity to win keywords they haven't tried ranking for yet.
Now that we’ve got our list of keywords to attract a target audience that’s just itching to make a move, we’re ready to proceed to the next stage.
Fine-Tune Your Content for Lead Generation
Your commercial-intent keywords are going to be pretty useless unless you start building high-quality content to draw in more traffic to your website like the pied piper.
So what kind of SEO content leads to higher conversion rates? Good content. Not just content that satisfies your SEO strategy but pays little attention to grammar, word choice, or style. But rather content that’s helpful, well-written, engaging, unique, satisfying, entertaining, informative, and true.
Think about your own experiences using the internet. You can tell right away when a page was written with little thought to the end user. If it’s obvious that the author was more concerned about hitting all those on-page SEO markers than crafting good work, then the author has diverted off the path of quality content.
Are you going to generate more interest and more leads by creating content that, while hitting some kind of abstract SEO criteria, is otherwise perfectly useless to the reader?
Let’s take a look at this hilarious example of a poorly written page, which, coincidentally, we asked ChatGPT to write (we’ll get to the over-reliance of AI in a sec):
Management
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Could you get past the first sentence without experiencing the loss of vision, sensory perception, and spatial reality? Did the post actually tell you anything you couldn’t find anywhere else? Was it an enjoyable read or did you have to work for it? Did the large block of text keep you locked in, or did you find it tough to digest.
There are several things wrong with that bit of content: It’s stuffed with keywords, riddled with top-level information that the reader probably already knows, presented in huge, non-digestible chunks, poorly edited, and overall fails to grab the reader’s attention or pique their interest.
- If you're creating top-of-funnel content, now is your chance to show off your expertise. Thoroughly cover the topic with valuable insights that draw from your knowledge and own experience.
- Show proof of your product's benefits by building case studies. This type of content is juicy fodder for clients with strong intent, plus it also builds trust and demonstrates value, all of which can lead to a conversion.
- For easy lead magnets, offer interactive tools or elements that provide personalised results or insights. These valuable tools are an easy way to generate leads.
- Don't be so boring! Visuals can go a long way in aiding comprehension and keeping your readers engaged if you're presenting them with a topic that's either hard to explain or scores 0 on the thrill test. Plus, infographics make sharing deliciously easy.
- Don't forget to include relevant calls-to-action (CTAs). Use CTAs like a dangling carrot to guide your user through more content and more pages that will drive further engagement and lead them to take the desired action.
- Update your most evergreen content to leverage its existing SEO juice and reach a brand-new audience.
- Create headlines that do more than just act as a placeholder for your keyword. Use compelling and enticing wording that urges the user to click (without being click-baity), i.e., 'An Olympic Coach's Guide to Running Your First Race,' or '7 Not-So Obvious Signs You're Bad at Time Management'
And don’t forget that if you want to optimise your website to generate SEO leads, there’s no difference between style and substance:
Stop trying so hard to be clever and just say what you mean
Clarity is more important than sounding like a thesaurus. Check your work for run-on sentences or instances of verbosity or the excessive (and annoying) use of the passive voice.
Language
Use persuasive language
What’s the angle? What interest are you trying to build in the reader? What do you want to point to without actually pointing to it? Even top-of-the-funnel content shouldn’t read like a 1,500 encyclopaedia entry. Use language like ‘Imagine what you could do with…’ or ‘Have you ever wondered what it would be like to…’
Conversational
Maintain a conversational tone
Avoid robotic language, hyperbole, or excessive jargon (in most cases). Conversational does not mean casual, so we’re not saying to dumb it down, use slang, or write like your content is just one long text message. All we’re saying is that you can grab more leads using language that has a natural flow.
Readability
Focus on readability
Don’t make the user fight for it. Giving the reader large paragraphs to get through without reprieve will quickly start to feel like a chore rather than an experience they want to continue. Stick with short paragraphs and a generous amount of white space between sections. High contrast colours for your copy and background work best and keep your font size between 16px to 18px.
AI
Stop using AI so much
We don’t deny that ChatGPT, Gemini, and Jasper are all great marketers’ little helpers. From helping you smooth out your emails to drafting full-blown ad campaigns, AI has tagged along for all of it…
But it’s still pretty easy to tell the difference between robot speak and human language.
So, if you’re asking AI to help you with your content, don’t just publish it as is. Use it as your first draft and polish it in your own words.
What to Do With Your Keywords
The placement of your chosen keyword is almost as important as the keyword itself. It helps search engines understand what they’re looking at and how it relates to the rest of your site when crawling your page. Use the infographic below to guide you on your keyword placement.
Your Site's Speed and Performance
As technical SEO experts, we are a bit dubious about other agencies putting too much weight on page speed as a ranking factor.
Don’t get us wrong; a slow site does negatively impact your rankings. But a page that’s slow to load isn’t always your fault. It also depends largely on the end user’s internet speed, and that of course, has nothing to do with your website.
That being said, Google’s Core Web Vitals—a specific set of metrics used to determine user experience—include page speed, as well as responsiveness, and stability. Or, if you want to get really nerdy about it, these metrics are officially called ‘largest contentful paint’ (LCP), ‘interaction to next paint’ (INP), and ‘cumulative layout shift’ (CLS).
This is all geek talk for, if you want to use SEO for lead generation, you will need to make sure that your site scores well in these metrics.
Without being too technical (because a lot of Core Web Vital optimisation is handled by web developers), here are some ways you can optimise your Core Web Vitals:
- Choose a fast web host
- Use a content delivery network (CDN)
- Make sure images and videos are properly sized and compressed to reduce load times.
- Keep your JavaScript and CSS to a minimum
- Use browser caching
- Always define the width and height for images and videos so that space is reserved for them while the page loads.
- If your site has ads or pop-ups, reserve space for them in advance to prevent unexpected shifts in content.
- Try to add new content below what’s already visible to avoid pushing down what the user is currently viewing.
- If you use animations, make sure they don’t cause content to move around unexpectedly.
- Only load images and videos when they are needed as the user scrolls down the page, which helps with faster initial load times.
- Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights or the Web Vitals extension for your browser to regularly check your website’s performance.
- Minimise the use of external scripts from other websites, as they can slow down your site.
Okay, maybe that was a bit too technical.
Will Optimising Core Web Vitals Help You Generate More Leads?
We’ve just dragged you a little bit over into the technical side of SEO, so you might be wondering if Core Web Vitals really do make a difference to getting those leads. Moreover, can all this talk about cumulative layout shifts and JavaScript really be considered a ‘back to basics’ approach to SEO and lead generation?
The answer is, oh hell yes. What we’re fundamentally talking about is improving user experience. A better user experience reduces your bounce rate, increases your number of sessions, and leads to more engagement, which—surprise, surprise—gives you a better conversion rate. Core Web Vitals improves your SEO because scoring well in these metrics can boost your rankings and traffic.
Get Social
Social media is its own separate marketing channel that has its own way of getting leads. But it’s also true that a social media presence can help drive leads to your site and encourage conversions. Not only does it improve your brand’s credibility, but maintaining a social presence is a fairly painless way to get more backlinks and visibility.
Not to mention that social media is a sharing platform, which means that if your site content is good enough, your audience will share it with their network. Social shares and interactions can generate backlinks and improve site authority, both of which are important for SEO.
Social media engagement is more naturally suited for some industries or niches than others. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t capitalise on every opportunity to showcase your brand in the best light and drop a link to your site in the bio section. So whether or not your target audience can be found on the platform formally known as Twitter, your B2B marketing team should create and optimise an account there…and every other major social platform.
Find Backlinking Opportunities
No back-to-basics SEO lead generation strategy can really be complete without mentioning backlinks. Getting links from other high-authority sites within your niche are potent indicators of your site’s legitimacy.
We recommend focusing on getting a moderate amount of backlinks from high-authority domains (i.e., aim for Forbes and the Financial Times rather than a link farm or a new blog by a mystery author).
How Do More Backlinks Help You Generate More Leads?
When high-authority domains link to your site, Google gets the signal that your site is credible and valuable, which can improve your search rankings.
We see a version of this all the time in the real world. For example, a celebrity chef’s (unpaid) positive review of a restaurant carries far more weight than a review from an unknown diner.
In backlink speak, that celebrity chef’s review is like a link from a relevant and popular site. Just as you would probably try out the new restaurant after hearing Nigella Lawson’s rave review about its dessert menu, you would most likely click on a link if it’s coming from your favourite site.
How can you increase your number of leads through backlinks? One of the best ways to start is by creating amazing content (as we’ve said). The better your content, the more likely it’ll be shared with other potential leads. Next, become a leader in your community by engaging positively with other experts, brands, and organisations that are related to your niche. Don’t forget that you don’t have to pay to guest blog or be a guest on a podcast episode (although you may be asked). You have nothing to lose by simply reaching out and asking.
Repeat the Process
Like time, Batman, and the Fast & Furious franchise, SEO will never stop. That is, once you’ve created all the content on your new lead gen-focused keyword list, optimised your pages, improved your site speed, obtained high-quality backlinks, and engaged with your community on social media, you will be graciously rewarded for your efforts by having to repeat the process all over again.
Yay!
At this very moment, your competitors are trying to swoop in and boot you out of your current ranking, and when it comes to SEO for lead generation, you can bet that the competition is tough.
So, keep expanding your keyword list and finding new ways to grow your business through content. Keep your website updated and regularly check that all your pages are performing as they should (and reach out to a web dev team or SEO agency in case of emergency); and keep seeking out opportunities from other sites within your niche for more backlinks and mentions.
Final Tip: Work with an SEO Agency
Because SEO is an ongoing practice rather than a one-and-done activity, many companies simply find that their marketing teams cannot keep up with some or all the daily demands that SEO requires.
That’s why they partner with B2B SEO agencies like Geeky Tech to take the burden off their hands. This way, they can focus more on broader strategies while the agency handles the various complexities and time-consuming tasks that SEO demands.
