January 07, 2020
This is a guest post by Sonia Elavia, a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Yext.
Search is a massively important marketing channel. Fifty-three percent of website traffic comes from organic search, so it’s critical that businesses optimize for these experiences. But how do you actually build out a strong presence in organic search? Having search-optimized landing pages is crucial.
Structure landing pages for search
To be eligible to show up in organic search results, a landing page must have structured data, (or Schema.org markup), a fast page load speed, and it must be mobile responsive.
Structured data is a critical element of any good landing page because that’s what allows the search engines to read and understand the content on a page — which is how they determine what content to show someone who is performing a search.
Having a fast page load speed matters too, because search engines prefer to show their users pages that load quickly (a slow loading time makes for a poor customer experience). Pages that are mobile responsive will load faster on mobile devices, so making your landing page mobile responsive will again improve the customer experience on your site, which in turn will improve the likelihood that you will rank in search.
Ensure landing pages are user friendly
Too often, landing pages are not built to drive conversion. You want your visitors who find you through organic search to be able to transact easily once they arrive on your page.
So in addition to being structured for search, your landing pages should have user-friendly designs — with clear calls to action, and the most important content prominently displayed. They should be well organized, use space effectively, and have a functional layout. The page design, organization, and use of space — as well as the choice of font, font size, and background — make the main content prominent.
Use data to continuously improve
For any landing page, you should be able to see how and when customers interact with your content, and how those interactions drive business. This data should include industry-standard analytics like search terms, page views, traffic sources, and more. Plus, you should always have access to a complete view of your brand’s performance across search engines, devices, and geographies.
The impact of Yext pages
Yext Pages delivers an effective landing page solution for businesses across all verticals. Every one of our pages comes with search optimizations automatically built in — so they are always eligible to show up in search. Our pages also are optimized for an excellent customer experience, with dozens of design options so that you have a variety of ways to display your most important content effectively, and in a way that inspires conversion.
Yext Pages also makes it easy to check in on how your landing pages are performing. Simply log in to Yext to see the most up-to-date performance metrics, either on an individual or mass view. Then take these analytics and turn them into insights, so that you can keep optimizing your pages according to what makes the most sense for your customers. We work with customers around the world, and many leading brands like Taco Bell, Kiehl’s, and GUESS are using Yext Pages to improve their search experience.
To make Yext Pages even more effective, it’s critical that we partner with apps and services like JRNI. We collaborate with JRNI to create a seamless experience for booking appointments on landing pages. JRNI’s appointment scheduling software, coupled with Yext Pages, reduces friction for consumers who are looking to quickly make appointments — speeding up their time to conversion. For instance, a retailer can build their landing pages using Yext to capture traffic from search. Then once a customer is on the retailer’s website, they can easily book appointments using JRNI’s scheduling software. This integration enables customers to enjoy the benefits of in-person interactions, and strives to increase conversion as well as improve consumer-brand relationships across channels.
To learn more about how good landing pages can positively impact your overall search experience, check out our free whitepaper Listings and Landing Pages: A Powerful Pairing.
Sonia Elavia is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Yext, with previous experience at Slack, Microsoft and Box. She is based in New York City and holds a B.A. from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
