SEO Marketing: Adding value without risking search rank

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It’s common knowledge that search engine optimization (SEO) often plays a major role in how companies group their key terms, whether they be in the headline or in the bottom of a page.

This practice can also lead some companies to avoid testing certain areas of their site in order to maintain page rank.

However, there is one area where company value can easily utilized without risking online ranking. Here’s a recent experiment where we tested one minor change in an SEO headline and achieved a significant lift in conversion.

The MECLABS’ Research Partner wanted to concentrate on headline testing for one of their high-ranking SEO pages but had a few stipulations on how the headline copy could be laid out.

To avoid any ranking pitfalls, we went over various value points for the Research Partner to find the best way to incorporate value without damaging any SEO rankings if any treatment were to outperform the control (the existing high-ranking page.)

After careful review of the partner’s various value points, we found that the partner had a price guarantee that presented good value to potential customers.

For the experiment, the copy for the treatments had to be worded carefully as to not interfere with key search terms. To keep in line with the partner’s SEO parameters, we developed logos depicting the price guarantee alongside headlines that featured the word “guaranteed” and mixed them with the key search terms used in the headline.

The main rule that had to be followed when putting the treatments together was that the first two words of the existing headline had to remain where they were to keep search ranking in place. The following logos were placed next to the headline to express company value:

 

Results 

 

Key Findings

The logo that wrapped over the top of the headline outperformed all of the other treatments and the control, seeing a significant lift in conversion. This logo was paired with a headline that kept the two key SEO terms (“lowest price”) in front with the word “guaranteed” coming right after.

Treatment 3 saw this lift by presenting company value in tandem with vital SEO key terms without causing risk to the partner’s search rank.

 

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3 Comments
  1. Kat Hood says

    Thank you for the information with testing and SEO ranking.

  2. Jan says

    It is interesting how it shaped up finally. I would have given my vote for the first treatment – but that’s me only. Was it an A/B testing thing or something different? Did you reapeat the test to see if seasonality influences the results? It would be interesting to know… Thanks for sharing your results!!

    1. Sam Caruso says

      Hi Jan,

      Thank you for your comment!

      The test was set up as an A/B split test.

      The test has not been repeated for seasonality. We ran the test during what the partner considered a normalized time where there was not a peak travel season so we could avoid any potential validity threats. However, subsequent tests were ran with the winning logo design using a different color and different verbiage such as “Best Price Guarantee”.

      Those tests saw that the color green and the use of “Best Price” resonated better than the red logo with “Lowest Price”.

      Feel free to let me know if you have any more questions!

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