Targeting Low Funnel Keywords for Increased Conversion and Decreased CPC

In my previous two posts, I discussed the best types of page layouts to send both high and low funnel keywords to. These were the type of layouts that provided your site visitors with the information they wanted in a format that would resonate with their state of mind.

In this post, I’m going to dig deeper into targeting your low funnel keywords. Now that you know the type of page layout to utilize, it’s time to take it step further and start looking at ways to better create your content and messaging. If done properly, this is the most cost effective way to increase your conversions and decrease your CPC, all while not needing to spend another cent on your paid search campaigns.

We’ll look at three ways to better target these terms: dynamic content substitution, reduced friction, and leveraging ad extensions.

Dynamic Content Substitution

Remembering that people searching for low funnel keywords already know who you are and that they’re ready to purchase your product or services, it’s absolutely imperative that you find ways to make your landing experiences as relevant to their need as possible. Enter: dynamic content. This is one my absolute favorite techniques for low funnel keywords because it lets you:

• Put the power of logic to work to create just one page to serve dozens of keywords
• Display unique content based on a search query, geolocation, or anything else passed in on the query string
• Swap out images, headlines, blocks of texts, forms, etc. to make your landing experiences hyper relevant to individual users

Creating this type of relevant experience let’s you satisfy three basic marketing needs:

1. Increase page relevancy for your site visitors, ensuring them that this page is all about them and what they desire
2. Increase page relevancy for Google to decrease CPC and increase quality score
3. Decrease resources required for page creation. You only need one page!

In this example, all of the arrows are pointing to content that was dynamically swapped out based on the state that some came through.

Imagine if you had to create a unique page for all 50 states! This is what the power of dynamic content substitution can provide.

Reduced Landing Page Friction

In my previous posts, I referenced the idea that when dealing with visitors who are already at the point of wanting to convert, the best thing you can do is get out of your own way. This is really where reducing the friction on your landing pages come into play.

This should be achieved in a variety of ways, but the end goal is consistent:

• Remove “leaks” from your page, or links that take people away from the conversion goal
• Don’t make your visitors jump through unnecessary hoops
• Eliminate any unnecessary “work”  that they have to go through
• Eliminate distractions

This is best demonstrated through the use of a less than stellar example.

In the above example, my search query was “nine west pumps” and the page on the right is where I was taken. Now you’ll notice that there are clearly images of pumps on the tope of the page, and the headline even references the shoe type that I searched for. However, this is nothing more than an image that I cannot engage with in anyway.

In the results section of the page, which is where I really want to see some pumps, there are none to be found. This leaves me with no choice but to move to the left hand navigation and once again search for pumps. Actually, I suppose it leaves me with two choices: redo my search or leave. This site simply gave me too many distractions and made me jump through too many hoops. I left.

Leverage Ad Extensions

I have to preface this last section by saying that Ad Extensions (while totally cool), are still in Google Beta testing. This means that unless you’ve been invited to participate, it’s something that you’ll have to put on the backburner until a more wide scale release. That said, it can be really awesome, so it’s definitely something to be aware of and to plan for.

Ad extensions make it even easier for someone to convert on your page by taking a common, and often the first field on a form, and placing it directly in the ad itself. This lets visitors start the conversion process before they even land on your page. Better yet, it lets you take the information they input in the form and display dynamic content (see above) to better target that visitor.

In this example, I searched for “Florida car insurance”. In the ad, I was able to input my zip code and was then taken to page that showed all sort of content specific to me.

While there are lots of ways to make your landing experiences targeted to low funnel keywords, the above three are a few of the most successful that we’ve utilized. If you’re sending all of your keywords to the same, generic pages, it’s time to start looking at a few additional techniques.

Keep an eye out for my next post where I’ll talk about targeting high funnel keywords and how to get a return from visitors that aren’t yet ready to buy.