I’m sure that we all know how easy it is to drift along on the internet, floating from website to website, clicking on links to other sites, wasting spending lots of time and generally achieving very little, but when doing this we often stumble across a website that we like and interests us.  Most of these web rambles start off with the user picking a topic and just searching, using a search engine to start them off and following the leads that it offers them.  So how can you help your website be one of those that people stumble on when they are aimlessly just searching? Although certainly not part of a strategic SEO campaign, this is a consideration when thinking about the way your website looks to visitors and can certainly have knock on SEO benefits too.

If you think about your current Search Engine Optimisation campaign (if you have one) and how it works by targeting users who are likely to use certain search terms when they look for your kind of product or service, then you can see how important keyword choice is to your SEO campaign.  Keywords which honestly reflect the products and services you offer obviously work best, because a user who comes to your website after using certain search terms and then finding what they want gives you much more kudos with search engines than a large number of users who instantly ‘bounce’ away from your site again as soon as they see it doesn’t contain what they were just searching for.  Therefore there is no point trying to capture those users who are aimlessly just searching by attaching irrelevant keywords to your site, quite simply it won’t work in the long term because users won’t be finding what they want with your website.

A great way to improve your chances of attracting those who are just searching is to work on building links with other websites.  In SEO, the more relevant the links with other good quality websites, the better and this is also true when trying to draw in the casual user just searching anything related to their chosen topic.  If a user ends up on a website which they like, and it has a link to your site, all the better for you because users are more likely to trust links from a good quality reputable website than if they end up on a spammy site which doesn’t help them as they are just searching for information, whatever that info may be.
The best chance you have of keeping those users who come to your site via them just searching for anything that comes to mind is by having a great website with great content.  Not every user who comes to your website this way will be interested in your products or services, but some may well be and they will only convert into customers if something grabs their attention.  Having clear site navigation and well-written copy is a must if your want to take those who started their internet meander just searching and found their way to your website.

So for SEO purposes, tailoring your website to the user helps you to tailor it to search engines too.  All well known useful SEO techniques like the link building, the good quality and well written content, the simple and clear navigation system and of course, providing an excellent product or service will ensure that you get the best of both worlds, the traffic driven straight from search engines and the smaller but sometimes valuable traffic from those who stumble upon your site from just searching for anything.

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