Let’s imagine you’ve asked Google ‘how to grow big red luscious tomatoes’ and you visit the first result that Google returns.
When you visit the page, you are (immediately) less than impressed and hit the Back button.
You visit the second result and it’s worse than the first. Back again.
You visit the third. Boo. Back again.
Finally, you click on the fourth result and get a page which, like a big red luscious tomato, you are happy to sink your teeth into. Like it’s an apple.
Russ is that kind of person. His editor is not.
It stands to reason that Google is watching this behavior and that, if they see a pattern of results like the above, they will eventually reward that fourth result by improving its search position. After all, the first three results clearly did not satisfy the searcher’s query, while the fourth result clearly did satisfy it.
So how do you keep Google searchers from pogosticking past your pages?
The key is to communicate to the searcher as quickly as possible: you have found a page that will solve your problem.
Here are three key places on the page where you can show that:
1. The Headline — The headline or post title should clearly state the benefit of the page in a compelling way. Searchers should understand, with the first words they read, that they have landed in the right place.
2. Hero Images — The hero image (i.e. the most prominent image on the page) should also immediately communicate that the searcher has landed in the right place. For example: do you doubt, for even one moment, that this page will show you how to make an omelette? We didn’t.
3. The Opening — If visitors get here, they’ve bitten the hook; the job of the Opening is to reel them straight in before they (want to) free themselves. To keep their eyes from wandering, keep the problem you’re solving in clear focus—and whatever you have to say, make it snappy.
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