Proven Lead Generation Strategies: How to Generate Quality Leads Through SEO in 2021

What is Lead Generation Marketing?

Lead generation is the process or path you adopt to gain the attention of your target customers, squeeze your sales funnel, and trigger potential buyers to become your loyal customers.

So when you do marketing significantly to generate leads, it is called lead generation marketing.

But generating leads is not easy.

You can’t sit back, move a few strings, and expect quality leads to pour like crazy.

In fact, 63% of marketers say that generating leads is their company’s most difficult challenge.

This becomes even harder when you are living in the online world, competing against so many businesses.

So if you are not working on powerful lead generation tactics, it is difficult to catch big fishes.

What are Different Types of Lead Generation Techniques?

If you are running a business and have an online website, it is impossible that you don’t need more organic traffic and leads.

Obviously, you are having an online presence because you want to enhance your business.

But the real question is:

How to develop winning lead generation strategies that bring leads knocking at your door?

Your target buyers are not always sitting on the same buying stage.

They can be on various stages of the sales funnel, like:

• The Awareness Stage – How your brand can solve my problem?
• The Interest Stage – I think this brand might have a solution for my problems.
• The Comparison Stage – Is this brand the best solution for me in the market?
• The Decision Stage – I think it is really the best possible solution for me.
• The Purchasing Stage – It is time that I should go with this brand’s services/products.
• The Loyalty Stage – Show me why I should keep on sticking with you?

These are the various sales funnel stages your customer might be sitting on.

Now, the next stage is how to create a lead funnel that helps you win a jackpot of quality leads.

You have so many marketing tactics for lead generation. That’s true.

There is:

• Pay-per-click marketing
• Influential marketing
• Online networking
• Blogging
• Video Marketing
• Search engine optimization

So many things to do…

But do all of them work in the best possible form? Well, no.

Here is the answer:

Based on the pros and cons of all these lead generation tactics, you can see that SEO brings the best lead generation conversion rate compared to other methods.

It means that if you want to leverage long term benefits with more lead generation and conversion rate, you should focus on developing a robust SEO strategy.

But before we find how to generate leads through SEO, let’s find out why SEO is so important?

Why is SEO So Important For Businesses?

Now you may ask how SEO has such a huge conversion rate than other marketing techniques.

It is because SEO gives your site a better position on SERPs.

And all the good things happen to top ranking sites.

• They get more traffic.
• They generate better engagement.
• They have a higher CTR (click-through rate).

These metrics start decreasing drastically with the decrease in every search ranking.

First, 95% of searchers stick to only the first page, and just 5% go to the second page.

Second, even results on the first page don’t get an equal amount of traffic and clicks.

According to a study, there is a difference of around 24% in click-through rate between the first result and the second result.

The same is the case with the traffic.

Another study shows that the first position result on SERPs gets 33% of traffic.

This percentage shows a drop with every drop in rankings.

What is Lead Generation in SEO?

Most people think that SEO is only about ranking your site on SERPs against a query.

Yes, it’s true. But it’s just a small part of so many other SEO benefits.

From brand awareness, credibility, authority, driving qualified traffic to giving better ROI, SEO can do so much for your business.

But do you know what the best part of all of the benefits of SEO is?

Answer: They all lead to lead generation.

Whether it is about…

• Ranking your site higher on SERPs
• Garnering brand awareness for your business
• Establishing authority and credibility
• Driving traffic to your site
• Or getting an edge over your competitors

…it all helps you to generate more leads.

And what happens after that?

Your customer acquisition rate increases and you generate more revenue.

So:

“Lead generation SEO simply means working on the search engine optimization of your website so that it ranks higher, its visibility increases, brand awareness enhances, and more customers visit it to buy your services/products.”

How SEO helps on search engine research pages?

In case you are wondering about the trivia of Google, searcher, and SEO, that’s how things work:

So SEO pushes your site throughout the search process to appear against a query.

If you rank higher on SERPs, lead generation becomes a piece of cake.

But before eating this piece of cake, first, you have to bake it.

How to Generate Leads in Sales Through SEO?

How to get sales leads?

This is one of the most daunting questions for marketers.

Coming up with lead generation strategies that push your target customers down the sales funnel is not easy.

But what If I say that you can get this benefit by implementing SEO techniques? You heard it right.

What can be better than that if you can kill two birds with one stone?

Nothing, right?

So that’s what you can do to get high quality leads through SEO:

TACTIC # 1: Write Content According to the User’s Intent

With RankBrain, Google has become way smarter to understand the searcher’s INTENT behind a query.

It first understands the ‘WHY’ factor behind any generated query before showing search results.

So if you want to appear in the search results of your target audience, you have to create your content according to their intent.

But sometimes, Google also shows search results based on more than one type of search intent.

Like, for the keyword ‘home décor,’ there are three types of search results:

1. Location of stores selling home décor related items.

2. Websites of online décor shops.

3. Home décor tips.

So for this particular search query, Google can rank your site if your content is based on these three types of search intent.

It might not be that difficult for you to worry about search intent because you are good to go in three types of categories.

But this isn’t always the case.

Here is an example:

For the ‘professional SEO services’ query, Google is showing sites of SEO companies.

It means, for Google, the search intent behind this query is:

The search wants to know about different online SEO businesses.

That’s what you should also do:

#1: Understand the search intent of the searchers

#2: Write your content accordingly

That’s where you open up the opportunity to meet more leads by playing the right SEO cards.

TACTIC # 2: Develop a Strong Backlink Strategy

Backlinks are one of the most important SEO factors that Google considers to rank a site.

We have talked about…

• What are backlinks
• Why backlinks are important
• How to get quality backlinks

…in our different blogs.

In fact, here is our fully dedicated blog to describe ‘how to do backlinking in SEO.’

You can check out this blog to learn about backlinking in detail.

But here, I am going to just mention why backlinks are an important SEO factor.

The thing is:

Google takes backlinks as a vote of confidence.

If a website has QUALITY backlinks, Google considers that other websites also believe this site as valuable.

So Google also starts giving importance to such a site and ranks it higher.

Now you know how and why backlinks play an important role in SEO.

But all backlinks are not equal.

That’s where a strong backlink strategy and lead generation come into the scene.

Backlinks are not only helpful to rank your site, but they can also be a great source to drive qualified traffic to your site.

However, it only happens if you come up with a well-thought strategy to fetch backlinks.

It means that instead of going for any type of links, you should only target sites:

• With a high traffic flow
• Related to your niche
• Having strong authority in the industry
• That have developed credibility
• With higher engagement
• Having a strong social presence

Targeting such sites for getting backlinks enhances the chances to meet the target audience and generate more leads.

But that’s not the only secret to generate leads through backlinks.

Your selection of the type of link building strategy also matters a lot in defining your lead generation’s bottom-line.

According to a survey by SEMrush, these are some of the most effective link building techniques for SEOs:

Check out the pros and cons of these link building tactics and see which techniques are the best to generate leads.

Go with them!

However, if you are not sure if you:

• Will be able to find quality link building opportunities
• Can conduct link building without touching black hat side of it
• Know which link building method is the best

… then, it is better to hire monthly link building services to stay safe and keep on getting quality links for your site.

TACTIC # 3: Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

As of 2021, mobiles share about 55% of the searches.

Living in 2021, when mobiles are the first option for searchers to search online if your site is not optimized for mobiles, Google will never rank your site.

And if your site will not rank higher, forget about generating leads.

Google has a whole guide that talks about mobile optimization.

And it clearly states that mobile-friendly sites show up higher in search results.

Besides ranking higher, a mobile-friendly website also helps in customer retention.

Obviously, if your website wouldn’t show correctly on a mobile phone, users will switch to better mobile-optimized sites.

So work on mobile optimization to make Google happy along with satisfying the majority of your searchers.

It can become one of the best lead generation strategies for your business.

TACTIC # 4: Feed Your Visitors Valuable Content

Okay, now, this is an old story that Google is in love with the content.

Google ranks sites with…

• High-quality
• Rich
• In-depth
• Valuable

…content.

In fact, 57% of marketers believe that on-page content development has become the most effective SEO tactic.

But Google’s guide has a secret for you:

Valuable content is a great way to attract, engage, retain, and generate leads.

So quality content not only makes Google happy but can also turn into the best online lead generation strategies for your business.

If you are not investing your time, money, and efforts in creating quality content on your website, start doing it now.

It can single-handedly give a tremendous boost to your leads.

Not to forget that around 61% of readers have made an online purchase after reading a blog.

So people are actually searching out for content to make a purchase. So the floor is all yours!

TACTIC # 5: Speed-Up Your Page’s Speed

Congrats to all those web users who were annoyed by the slow loading time of websites.

Sorry to all those website owners whose website is still sitting on the tortoise and who still think that slow and steady wins the race.

Google’s Speed Update algorithm says otherwise.

Google has made the speed of the page a ranking factor.

Yaay… oops!

Page Speed means the amount of time a page takes to load and appear in front of the searchers.

If a page takes more time to load, Google will not rank the site higher.

If a website loads faster, it has a higher chance of getting ranked.

With a slow loading speed, get ready to see a set back on SERPs.

But is this the only reason you should work on your site’s speed?

Actually, no.

Slow page speed can actually kill your customer acquisition.

Around 40% of people leave a page if it doesn’t load in 3 seconds.

So working on your page’s speed can give you a competitive edge on search engine result pages and also help in lead generation.

In case you are wondering about: how to check your site’s speed, it is easier than you think.

You can use Google’s speed checker tool.

Put your site’s URL into the search bar, and you will get a score regarding your site’s performance.

It divides page performance into three categories:

• Poor: 0-49
• Needs Improvement: 50-89
• Good: 90-100

Here is how this tool assesses your page’s performance:

So if you want to use the page’s speed for business leads generation, you should work on…

• Loading
• Interactivity
• Visual stability

…of your site.

TACTIC # 6: Increase CTR Through Compelling Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions were once Google’s helpers to tell what the page is about.

But today, Google not ‘ONLY’ focuses on meta description to understand the page.

So now, have meta descriptions lost their place in SEO?

No.

Ahrefs found a small correlation between the use of keywords in meta descriptions and rankings on Google.

But that’s not the only role of meta descriptions.

They also impact SEO indirectly in two ways by:

• Enhancing user experience and engagement
• Increasing the CTR (click-through rate) that is a ranking factor

So don’t just write a meta description; craft it.

Here are a few examples to make things easier for you:

The meta description is like your site’s first encounter with your target audience.

And it:

• Tells them what you have for them on the site.
• Helps in decision-making whether the site is worth investing time or not.

Here are some tips for writing your page’s meta description that can play an important role in creating lead generation strategies:

• Add a relevant keyword so that the readers know it is relevant
• Focus on your unique selling points or specs to gain attention
• Insert a CTA (call-to-action) to increase lead generation chances
• Make it unique and creative to entice customers
• Make sure to follow the limit of characters to give a powerful punch
• Use structured data option to add more CTAs and details at the end

A compelling meta description can become the base of your lead generation strategies that levy the foundation of lead generation.

TACTIC # 7: Work on Structured Data

Structured data is one of the most underrated SEO factors despite that it can be a key player in high quality lead generation.

The part of the reason is that people don’t know what is structured data.

In case you also don’t know, here is what Google has to say about it:

Structured data is a standardized content format that you can use to provide meaningful information about your page’s content.

Here is how structured data looks like:

Now you may ask how it can help you in SEO?

Here is the answer:

Once you start appearing in the search results with the structured data, your appearance gets a distinct touch from your competitors.

That’s what helps you grab attention and more leads.

TACTIC # 8: Target Keywords Smartly

SEO without keywords is nothing. And I mean it!

You can work on any aspect of SEO, but it will be useless if your page doesn’t contain those words that your users are using to reach you.

Yes, I am talking about keywords.

I know keyword stuffing is forbidden but ‘adding’ the right keywords is essential.

Your target audience searches your business through keywords.

So adding the right keywords in your content is important to rank it higher on SERPs.

That’s the SEO part of keywords.

But keywords can also play an important role in answering: how to generate sales leads.

The thing is that you can use different secondary keywords, long-tail keywords, and keyword variants to rank your site for different relevant key terms.

Like, this article is ranking for its main target keyword.

… and also for several other relevant keywords.

Like this one…

…and this:

So how does it happen?

Because the content used different terms to acquire more traffic.

That’s what you should also do:

Search out all possible terms your target customers are using, and then add these terms into your content.

It helps you cater to a wide range of potential customers that are choosing different terms to reach you.

For example, if you run a home décor website, the primary keyword for the blog can be ‘home décor tips.’

But you can also use some other keywords in the same blog like home décor methods, home décor ideas, and tips for home décor to enhance the search visibility.

This helps you in SEO, but it is also one of the best strategies to generate leads.

However, here are some important tips:

• Don’t target too competitive keywords
• Use long-tail keywords to reach definite search queries
• Using keywords with no search volume is also useless
• Use different variants to enhance the relevancy of the content

Conclusion

Getting in front of the target audience at the right time sounds so good, right?

That’s what SEO does.

It puts you in front of the right people.

But isn’t it even better if you polish your SEO efforts to get a bit closer to your lead generation target by employing other marketing techniques?

Well, that’s what SEO lead generation strategies do for your business:

It takes you closer to your leads along with optimizing your content.

Here is a brief of what you should do:

• Give the best user experience by working on page’s speed and mobile optimization
• Speak with your users in their language by targeting keywords they are using to search you
• Provide value to customers through unique and in-depth content
• Catch your customers’ eye through creative meta tags and structured data
• Outreach high quality sites for link building that have relevant and high traffic

Remember that these tips are only to get high quality leads. Whether they will convert or not depends on your sales process.

So besides working on the lead generation strategies, don’t forget to work on your sales team that matures your leads.

Share with me your thoughts about this blog. Did you find it helpful? How are you planning to tweak your lead generation strategies with the help of this blog? Just chime in…