Occasionally, after a site has been search engine optimised and traffic to the site has increased, things still may not seem right. The traffic counter may be up, but profitability of the site is down. This can be caused by a number of factors. Bad flow within the site is one of them.

The focus of SEO is on boosting rankings, thus increasing traffic flow. If your business doesn’t benefit from this boost, however, the SEO plan has ultimately failed. This is one of the reasons search engine optimisation needs to be monitored beyond the first implementation. Although assessment of your site’s structure will be a part of the initial analysis of your site before SEO, some problems will be missed until users actually use your site.

Once your site’s search engine optimisation plan is implemented and live, your results will come flowing in. It is at this time that the real effect of your work will tell, and usually at this time you can spot problems with flow on the site. If your site’s users are entering your site but not exploring very far within the site, if they are entering on unexpected pages, or if they are exiting the site in an unplanned area, this indicates that there could be a problem.

Target user analysis is a basic element of search engine optimisation, and should be undertaken in the very early stages of development for your site’s SEO plan. During this stage, you will have mapped out who your target users are, how you want them to behave, and what the triggers will be for that behaviour. There are usually a number of target user groups for each business, and so your plan will map out various paths your site’s users will take.

Blockages happen with these paths even with the most meticulous plan. Even a business with the best of intentions can project the business’ desires onto users, overlooking subtle clues that lead to problems down the line. Consulting an expert is a way to gain objectivity at this stage. Our consultants at SEO Consult can help you with the analytical stages of SEO.

Dissolving the barriers that block your site’s traffic first requires that you detect the blockage. To do this, it’s often best to enter the site as a user. Keep in mind what the user wants from your site, and enter the site through that target user’s landing page. Is what the user wants clearly visible and above the fold on the page? Does the page load swiftly? Is the user’s goal within one or two clicks in the site, and are these paths clearly marked? Is the user encouraged toward the right pages?

Next, compare the site’s statistics with desired behaviours. Are users landing on the right pages? This can be an answer in itself, if the search engine optimisation tactics on internal pages is attracting traffic directly to those pages.

Finding the barriers within your site is the first step to removing them. Often, all it requires is a quick fix. Once you realise what is preventing your user from getting from point A to point B, particularly if it’s point C, just remove it. Don’t make your users work to get what they want. Remember that it’s what you want, too.

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