7 Tips To Leverage SEO For Lead Generation – Actionable Guide

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of building up online presence through your website. If done right, besides driving tons of targeted organic traffic into your website, SEO will also help to develop a successful organic lead generation process.

Today, you will learn how you can use SEO for lead generation. In this article, we will explore 7 strategies that are crucial to help you generate organic traffic, and then we will look at how you can generate leads from this traffic.

So let’s begin.

Why SEO Is Important For Lead Generation

Looking back two decades, the lead generation process was a straightforward affair. A TV commercial, a newspaper ad, or a well-placed billboard was enough to attract potential customers.

However, things have now shifted to digital marketing. Nowadays, having an outstanding product or service barely guarantees instant reach to potential leads.

The best way to get targeted traffic without spending a fortune is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

People rely on search tools such as Google, Bing, etc., to find out about products, tools, or solutions before consulting with anyone.

SEO helps you to place your website, content, or funnel higher up in the search results in these search engines for certain relevant search terms. If done right, you will be able to rank your content will be found by your target audience when they search for solutions you provide or information on problems that you solve. The more potential traffic you drive to your website, the higher the chance of getting more leads.

This is why SEO is important for organic lead generation.

Besides lead generation, you will get a few added benefits with SEO such as increased brand recognition, trust and credibility in the niche, increased ROI, and getting ahead of competitors.

In case you are new to SEO, you may consider seeking professional SEO services to let experts handle it and help you increase your brand awareness & organic growth. It’s okay to spend a little for SEO because it will deliver with higher ROI in the long run.

At the end of the day, regardless of your intention of using SEO for lead generation, you should still implement SEO for your overall business growth.

7 Actionable Tips On Using SEO For Lead Generation

Now, in this guide, we will mainly focus on how you can use SEO for lead generation. It will involve various steps and processes that you need to employ to be able to leverage SEO to generate leads.

Following are 10 tips that you may implement to optimize your organic lead generation process through SEO.

1. Optimize Keyword Research and Targeting

The first step to proper SEO is keyword research. You need to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords that your target audience is most likely to search for, i.e., targeted keywords. Then, align your content with these keywords to rank on SERPs so that you are able to drive more potential traffic to your website.

Conducting Keyword Research

Refer back to your product, service, pain points, or solutions you want to focus on. Find out keyphrases that are more relevant to your target audience.

Then use SEO tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, Feedthebot, etc., to find out more related keywords around those keyphrases that have high search volumes and lower keyword difficulty. Utilizing APIs like SERP API can also enhance your keyword research by providing real-time search results data, enabling more accurate analysis and strategy formulation.

You should also do a thorough competitor analysis to find out your most notable competitors. Reverse search their top keywords (using the same tools) to find out more keywords you may want to work on to beat your competitors for keyword research.

By the end of your research, you should have a set of keywords that are targeted (i.e., searched mostly by your target audience) that have high traffic potential and possibly low difficulty.

P.S. Do not always focus on difficulty. Certain keywords may be mandatory to work on judging by your niche and solution. For example, if you have an email marketing tool you want to sell, then working on the keyword “email marketing” is a must even though it has a high keyword difficulty value.

Implementing Keywords Strategically

Once you have your keywords list, plan pages, articles, and content that you want to prepare or rank under each of those keywords respectively. (Avoid focusing on the same keyword on multiple content.)

Ensure you are optimizing your page or content with proper on-page and off-page SEO such as using the keyphrase and its related terms in headings and sub-headings, using it on the URL, Meta title, and meta description, and distributing them throughout the content (preferable covering at least 2% of the overall content).

When planning a content outline, find out top-ranking content under a keyword and come up with an outline that covers most of the sub-topics expected to be covered when that particular keyword is searched for.

Remember, SEO is not just about using a single keyword. It also involves covering the relevant topics and the use of additional relevant keywords in the content.

2. Maintain Quality in Content Creation

When creating content, besides focusing on keywords, it is also important to focus on quality.

For every key phrase searched on the SERPs, there are tons of content already prepared by competitors or niche writers. They too will want to optimize their content for SEO. In this regard, besides focusing on SEO with your keywords, you also need to ensure you have better quality content compared to them to be considered for a higher rank in the SERPs. And in the process, you may successfully use SEO for lead generation.

Optimizing Content Quality for SEO

When analyzing content for SEO, a SERP compares each content with the rest of the competing content to find out the topics that are expected to be converted under each keyword. It will analyze the keyword cluster and determine if the related keywords and their associated topics are distributed in the content. Moreover, a SERP will also notice the time-on-page, and drop-off points on the page from initial visitors to understand if your content is of high quality or not.

This means that before you write content, you need to observe other ranking content and find out the topics you must cover in your content besides the main topic. Find out the keyword cluster of your target keyword and determine relevant keywords you must also focus on distributing in the content. Also, try to cover all the necessary topics accumulated from all the competitors so that your article covers all the necessary information that may be missing in one competitor while present in another.

While you are at it, also ensure your content writing style is of high quality. It should be clear to even beginners in your niche while covering the necessary information in an interesting matter. You need to aim for the reader to read till the end rather than leaving out of boredom or confusion.

You can get help from online writing tools in case you are new to content writing. For example, an AI paraphraser could help optimize your content by rephrasing it in an engaging way without altering the original intent.

If your content is well-written and focused on helping readers, then you will see more people spending more time on your page, indicating to the SERPs that your content is of high quality and pushing you up the rank. Besides quality, you also need to find ways for others to refer or link back to your content to show high authority from others and convince SERPs to give your content a higher ranking.

The higher the rank of content on the search results, the more targeted visitors you will get. And then, depending on your organic lead generation strategy (whether it is to convince people with the content itself, or using a pop-up to collect leads), you may be able to acquire tons of qualified leads.

Importance of Fresh and Updated Content

A common mistake many make is, that they prepare content that drives traffic, and then leave it as is for years. An important aspect of content quality is how fresh it is. Search engines favor websites with new, regularly updated content.

You should review back to your content every 4-12 months to ensure they are updated with the latest data and aligned with the latest trends.

Keep an eye on social media and get help from Google Trends to update your content on a regular basis so that you get value from both visitors and SEO.

3. Use Social Media for SEO and Leads

Having an active social media presence boosts SEO in multiple ways.

Social shares and engagement signals help pages rank better in search results. Promoting content on social channels also drives referral traffic.

Run targeted social ads to attract more followers and further amplify reach. An engaged following acts as a lead generation source allowing you to convert followers into customers.

Leveraging Social Platforms for Lead Acquisition

Following are a few ways you can use social media for SEO benefits and lead acquisition:

• Promote lead magnets like ebooks, free tools, etc. through social posts and ads
• Run webinars, contests, and events to generate leads through sign-ups
• Use click-to-messenger ads to get leads via chatbots
• Partner with influencers in your niche to access their follower base
• Craft shareable, industry-focused content for wider reach and engagement.
• Place keywords in social bios for improved visibility and relevance.
• Build a community through active, authentic engagement with your audience.
• Boost discoverability by incorporating strategic and relevant hashtags.
• Showcase positive reviews to build trust and enhance brand credibility.

4. Local SEO Tactics for Organic Lead Generation

If you are part of a business that focuses on selling and delivering to a certain location, then you will be able to benefit from Local SEO.

Use location-based keywords such as including the country name, city name, local event reference, etc., in your content or landing page. You may also focus on creating a Google My Business account and getting local reviews to be one of the preferred businesses in your location.

Implementing local SEO for small businesses ensures better visibility, helping you attract nearby customers and grow your brand locally.

Overall, focusing on local SEO will help you get more customers in your preferred locality.

Optimizing Google My Business for SEO Benefits

Here are a few tips on how you can optimize your Google My Business (GMB) profile to help you get more visibility and higher SEO performance.

• Complete and Verify Your Profile
  Ensure your GMB profile is properly filled out. Include all essential information about your business, such as name, address, phone number (NAP), website, and business hours. Verify your business and always keep this data up-to-date.

• Optimize Business Categories
  Select the most relevant and specific business categories to accurately represent your products or services.

• Craft a Compelling Business Description
  Write a concise and engaging business description that highlights your unique selling points and includes relevant keywords. This will help you be found on search results.

• Add High-Quality Photos
  People often swipe through images you upload there. So include high-quality images that help people understand how well-organized and quality-full your business is.

• Encourage Customer Reviews
  Try to encourage people to give you positive reviews on GMB. People often like to communicate with businesses with high ratings.

• Utilize Google Posts
  Share updates, promotions, and relevant content through Google Posts. This dynamic feature keeps your profile fresh and engaging, potentially improving your search ranking.

Leveraging Local Directories To Boost Local SEO

Local directories play a crucial role in enhancing local SEO efforts. Here’s how to leverage local directories for optimal SEO:

• Choose Reputable Directories
  Identify and prioritize reputable local directories that are relevant to your industry. For example include Yelp, Yellow Pages, and private listing directories by popular niche websites.

• Consistent NAP Information
  Maintain consistency in your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) across all directories.

• Complete Profile Information
  Provide comprehensive and accurate information about your business in each directory. This includes business hours, services offered, and a compelling business description with relevant keywords.

• Encourage Customer Reviews
  Just as with GMB, encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews on local directories. Positive reviews contribute to your business’s reputation and improve search rankings.

• Utilize Citations
  Citations, which are mentions of your business’s NAP information, play a crucial role in local SEO. Ensure that your business is consistently cited across various directories and online platforms.

• Optimize for Local Keywords
  Incorporate local keywords naturally into your directory listings and business descriptions. This helps search engines associate your business with local search queries.

• Monitor and Update Listings
  Regularly monitor your listings on local directories and update them with any changes to your business information. This ensures that potential customers have access to the most accurate details.

5. Effective Link Building for Organic Lead Generation

Search engines perceive backlinks as votes of confidence from one website to another. The more authoritative and reputable the linking site, the more it uplifts your own website’s credibility.

Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) are common metrics used to determine the reputation and authoritativeness of a website. You may use a DA PA Checker to identify these metrics for any website before looking to place or request backlinks. Acquiring a link from a high DA website plays a crucial role in ranking a page for specific keywords and SERP search results.

Eventually, proper backlinking will help boost keyword rankings and increase organic traffic.

Hence, besides optimizing content for SEO, you have to work on getting backlinks from relevant, niche-specific websites.

If you have useful information that is notable for sharing, then you will automatically get backlinks. (This mostly happens when you create good infographics or publish genuine research data.)

But in other cases, if you prefer not to hire link building service providers then you will have to reach out to potential sites that are relevant to your content topic to request them to place your links on their content. If you plan to run your own SEO outreach campaigns, it’s recommended to use top-quality link-building software.

Ethical Link-Building Practices

While looking to get more backlinks, you may come across several tactics out of which, some are black-hat strategies, whereas others are ethical.

Backlinks acquired through black hat tactics may get removed, lost, or penalized in the future.

Following are a few ethical ways to get backlinks:

• Strategic Guest Posting
  Contribute valuable content to reputable websites in your industry, earning backlinks by providing useful insights and information.

• Forge Partnerships with Complementary Businesses
  Collaborate with businesses in related niches to exchange backlinks, fostering a mutually beneficial online partnership.

• Contributing Quotes/Statistics for Relevant Articles
  Provide expert insights or statistical data to journalists or bloggers, earning backlinks when your contributions are included in their content.

• Sponsoring or Speaking at Local Events
  Support local events through sponsorship or speaking engagements, gaining backlinks from event promotions and coverage.

• Getting Interviewed on Popular Podcasts
  Share your expertise on well-known podcasts, receiving backlinks when podcasts promote and link to your business in show notes or episode descriptions.

All of these tactics will help you get noticed online and acquire ethical ways to get backlinks, positively impacting your SEO.

6. Engagement Tactics To Generate Organic Traffic and Lead Generation

Let’s say you have set up SEO properly and is getting a good volume of traffic. Now, you need to work on creating engagement with your organic traffic to collect leads. Engagement can take various forms, from interactive content to personalized experiences, fostering a connection that goes beyond a mere website visit.

Engagement Ideas For Organic Lead Generation

Following are a few ways to engage with organic traffic so that you can convert them into leads.

i. Interactive Tools and Calculators

You may create interactive tools and calculators on your website to trigger more visit, offering value to visitors and encouraging them to engage actively. Ask them to opt-in when they visit your site to use your interactive tool

ii. Engaging Surveys and Forms

Implement surveys and forms that capture user insights and preferences, fostering interaction and providing a platform to collect valuable information for potential lead nurturing.

iii. Compelling Free Incentives (Lead Magnets):

Offer enticing lead magnets such as downloadable resources, e-books, or exclusive content to incentivize users, prompting them to share their contact details and convert into leads.

iv. Website Animation for Engagement

Utilize website animations strategically to grab attention and create an engaging visual experience, making the content more interactive and increasing the likelihood of visitor conversion.

v. Live Chat for Real-Time Interaction

Integrate live chat functionality to enable real-time interaction with visitors, addressing queries promptly, and building a connection that encourages them to take the next step in the conversion process.

vi. Contests and Giveaways

Run contests or giveaways to spark interest and participation, motivating visitors to share information or perform specific actions, contributing to organic lead generation through increased engagement.

vii. Action To Claim Discounts & Coupons

Prompt visitors to take action to claim discounts or coupons, creating a sense of urgency and providing an immediate benefit for engagement, which can lead to increased conversions and customer acquisition.

7. Video Content SEO for Lead Generation

You may actively use Video Content for SEO benefits. Google often ranks videos in the results over written content, provided that it is SEO-optimized.

To do so, you need to optimize all the data that defines the video, peaking relevance with your overall website and niche.

If done right, you may find your video ranking on top search results for relevant keywords

At the same time, videos are very engaging and can be actively used for lead qualification and acquisition.

Tips To Optimize Videos for SEO

Here’s how you can optimize your video content for SEO.

i. Optimize Video Title, Description, And Other Details With Target Keywords

Whether you host your video on YouTube or your own website, you need to optimize the overall video details with the target keyword.

Ensure your target keyword is present in the video title.

SEO-optimize the description with proper keyword distribution similar to what you do with traditional blog content – include relevant keywords, discuss relevant topics, and explain what the video covers.

Use the target keyword in the video name when uploading (which will help with a keyword-optimized URL) and the video caption.

Overall, these data will help your video get visibility in terms of SEO.

ii. Include Subtitles In The Right Language

Subtitles are also monitored to ensure the video covers what you claim it does. In fact, videos with subtitles will get higher priority over the ones without subtitles.

Hence, try to prepare subtitles for every video. For example, in WordPress, upload subtitles as text tracks, whereas in YouTube, you may generate and edit SRT files real-time.

In short, it will help with the SEO ranking of the video.

iii. SEO optimize the page where you embed the video

While optimizing the video details, you have to optimize the page where you embed the video.

First, the video itself should be embedded within the first 10% of the overall page content. Then, you need to optimize the title, meta title, URL, and meta description with the target keyword.

To get added benefits, you may convert the video content into transcripts and include them in the page below the video. Try to optimize it with headings and sub-headings that are keyword-optimized.

Working on the page itself is just as important as optimizing the video for SEO.

Encouraging Lead Conversion through Video

Within your video content, you may work on making it persuasive and conversion-optimized.

• Include visual animation to grab the attention of prospects.
• Use positive, benefit-focused statements to create interest.
• Near the end of the video, use a compelling CTA to take action.

The conversion will, however, depend on the customer stage of your viewer and the video topic itself.

If it’s an informative video, you may ask people to visit a link in the description to subscribe to your email list so that they can get similar videos sent to them regularly.

For videos that are more focused on showing use cases and product demonstrations, you may ask people to visit a link that leads to a landing page of a well-crafted funnel.

The key here is the way you present the need to click on the link. State reasons why they should take action and use a persuasive tone when asking to take action.

How To Collect Leads From Organic Traffic?

Once you have everything in place and you start getting organic traffic, you may then place several strategies to convert them into leads. This could be using a lead generation funnel, using an opt-in form strategically, using pop-ups, etc. Whichever tactic you use, you also need to choose a reliable tool to help you perform the overall lead-generation process.

i. Using a Lead Generation Funnel

Craft a lead generation funnel with a well-planned journey for your prospects.

This funnel should include an SEO-optimized landing page that people will find on search results in SERPs. However, the sole purpose of the landing page should be to generate leads.

You may offer a lead magnet and then ask them to opt in to get access. Once they opt-in, you may send out the lead magnet via email, while initiating email workflows and a thank you page to start the lead qualification process that will lead to conversion.

To create such a funnel, you may go for a reliable funnel builder that allows you to create custom landing pages, collect leads, and integrate with good email marketing tools.

We recommend you consider using WPFunnels, a reliable funnel builder in WordPress.

What is WPFunnels And How to Use it For SEO-Optimized Lead Generation Funnels

WPFunnels is a great funnel builder in WordPress that allows you to create landing pages, custom checkout pages, lead generation funnels, custom offers, and many more.

The tool allows you to visually plan a funnel journey for your customers and then you may integrate it with major email marketing tools to set up email workflows for your prospects based on their actions in the funnels.

For example, you may craft a simple 2-step lead generation funnel where you promote a lead magnet on the land page along with an opt-in form to get access to it. Opting in will take the prospects to a thank you page where you may ask them to check their emails and follow your own social media.

Meanwhile, you may send the data of your customers to an email marketing tool to initiate automated emails to give access to the lead magnet. You may consider using Mail Mint as it has a direct integration with WPFunnels.

Learn more about WPFunnels for lead generation.

Using Pop-ups and Strategically Placed Opt-in Forms

Find areas around your website to initiate pop-up forms to collect leads. For example, you may have a great article that most people find useful. You may trigger a pop-up on that page and request readers to subscribe to your weekly email newsletter.

Apart from pop-ups, you should also place opt-in forms in various places on your website to get leads. You may use in-line forms in between long articles, or in the footer of your website to collect leads actively.

To use such tactics, you will need to get a tool that will let you collect leads via pop-ups and opt-in forms, manage leads, and run email marketing campaigns.

In this regard, we recommend you use the plugin Mail Mint, the easiest email marketing automation tool in WordPress

What Is Mail Mint And How To Use It To Collect Leads From Organic Traffic?

Mail Mint is a powerful email marketing automation tool in WordPress that allows you to capture leads using a lead form, manage leads and segment them, create email campaigns, set up email marketing workflows, and manage transactional emails for your website.

The lead capture form of Mail Mint allows you to customize it intuitively and lets you place it on any page or post as an opt-in form or a pop-up.

Since it in itself is an email automation tool, collecting leads through its form allows you to set up automated email follow-ups to try and convert the leads in an autonomous environment.

In short, Mail Mint can be a perfect addition to your tools when planning to use SEO for lead generation.

• Learn more about Mail Mint for lead generation.

Wrapping Up

As you saw, using SEO for lead generation is a great option provided that you have all the right strategies in place.

The 7 strategies explained in this guide can help you develop a complete lead generation process that will bring in relevant organic traffic, increase your brand reach, and collect potential leads actively.

At the same time, you will need to use the right tools to set up ways to collect leads from the traffic you generate. We recommend you use the combination of WPFunnels and Mail Mint to craft a powerful lead funnel journey that will increase your lead list significantly.

Go ahead and start using SEO for lead generation. Collect targeted leads and boost your conversions to become a prominent business in your industry.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Are there specific on-page SEO elements that are crucial for driving leads?

Yes, crucial on-page SEO elements for driving leads include optimizing meta titles and descriptions, using relevant keywords, creating compelling content, and ensuring a user-friendly website structure. These are mandatory factors you should not ignore when planning to use SEO for lead generation.

2. How can local SEO be leveraged for location-specific organic lead generation?

Local SEO can be leveraged for location-specific organic lead generation by optimizing Google My Business profiles, obtaining positive reviews, including location keywords in content, and ensuring accurate business information across online directories. Partnering with an experienced SEO marketing company can help you implement these strategies effectively for better local visibility.

3. How can businesses utilize long-tail keywords to target niche audiences for lead generation?

Businesses can utilize long-tail keywords for lead generation by incorporating specific and targeted phrases into their content, addressing niche customer needs, and tailoring their SEO strategy to attract a more qualified and interested audience. So, in short, long-tail keywords can help generate organic traffic that you may convert into leads.

4. Are there any technical SEO considerations that directly impact lead acquisition?

Technical SEO considerations, such as site speed, mobile optimization, proper URL structures, and secure HTTPS protocols, directly impact lead acquisition by enhancing user experience, search engine rankings, and overall website performance.

5. What analytics and metrics should be monitored to evaluate the success of SEO strategies in generating leads?

Key analytics and metrics to monitor for evaluating the success of SEO strategies in generating leads include organic traffic, conversion rates, keyword rankings, bounce rates, and user engagement metrics like time on page and click-through rates.