Way back I read Perry Marshall’s e-book on Google AdWords. One thing he pointed out was that it was important to use the same keywords people were searching with in the title of your ad.
Why?
Because the user expresses their intention in those keywords. They are looking for something in particular. You want to make sure that your ad gives them what they are looking for in a way they recognize so they will see it and want to click. This idea has a name: scent. And it doesn’t apply only to ads. The concept has a much broader application.
Quick example. Say you search for “digital camera reviews”. Two ads come up. One ad shows this headline: “Pay too much for your camera?” and the other comes up with “Digital Camera Reviews”. Which one matches your intention? Which are you more likely to click on?
If you actually do that search in Google, you’ll see that most of the ads use the appropriate keywords in the headline. The natural search results show the same thing. Makes sense: poorly titled content is not going to rank well and properly named content will. This concept is the same for page titles, headlines and even URLs. You’re trying to meet the reader or prospect where they are.
If you use Google Analytics, read this post for optimizing your site for scent and you’ll get a better idea of what it’s all about. You’ll also get a practical, step-by-step method for optimizing your site. It depends on your site but going through this process and implementing a few changes could make a big difference in bounce rate and site stickiness.
