There once was a time when digital marketers chased traffic.
The more traffic a website attracted, the more marketers felt satisfied and closer to attaining their goals.
But, this once golden metric is no longer a tell-tale sign of success.
Gone are the days of forecasting growth solely on the number of visitors coming to a website.
Today, lower traffic might actually be better than driving a plethora of unqualified, uninterested leads to your website.
Undoubtedly, consumer search behavior looks much different than it once did. AI is stealing click-throughs, third-party cookies are essentially disappearing, and audiences give more thought to whether to click through to a website.
Quality over quantity is the name of the game, and marketers are now shifting their focus towards driving better traffic rather than more traffic.
In this post, we’ll dissect why less traffic might be “more” and better for your business, how to shift your content marketing strategy to attract high-quality visitors, and share actionable insights for driving business results with your target audience.
The Traffic Trap: Why More Isn’t Always Better
At first thought, a high volume of traffic sounds ideal. The thought of hundreds of thousands of visitors flooding your site and purchasing your products or services would be a dream. But, that’s unfortunately not reality in most cases.
It’s a vanity metric that looks impressive in presentations but doesn’t necessarily move the needle when it comes to sales.
According to a recent study, the average website conversion rate across 14 different industries is a dismal 3.3%. That means for every 1,000 visitors, fewer than 25 of those will actually convert. And, depending on your sector, your conversion rate might be even lower.
Additionally, consider if your content isn’t optimized for the right keywords. You could be attracting traffic with zero intention or motivation to convert.
In this case, these searchers are likely to bounce once they realize what you’re selling, they have no interest in buying.
The numbers may look inflated, but if the quality is lacking, those numbers are meaningless.
At the end of the day, sales and revenue are the ultimate goals for any business. Drawing in the right audience leads you closer to that goal, even if the numbers aren’t legendary.
Because here’s an uncomfortable truth: Traffic is easy to obtain; quality traffic is hard.
AI Has Forever Changed The Search Landscape
There’s been much discussion around the impact of AI in the search landscape, and even some of the most seasoned SEOs are scratching their heads, wondering what to do.
Google’s rollout of AI Overviews and the rising use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools have significantly altered the way users search for products and services.
Searchers no longer need to click through on a website to get the information they need. Instead, they’re receiving AI-generated summaries that often answer their question right away.
This has resulted in businesses across the board seeing a notable decrease in traffic. Even top-ranking content that’s been thriving in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for years has taken a hit.
Bustle, the entertainment and lifestyle site, saw search traffic behave erratically last spring, around the time AI summaries were introduced. Some stories surged to 150,000-300,000 views, while most others barely cracked 1,000.
In turn, SEOs and content marketers are being forced to face a new reality – what many are referring to as “zero-click search 2.0.”
But, just as we have done with all the previous major changes in the search landscapes, the good news is we’ll live and we’ll adapt.
It takes a mindset shift, where instead of relying on high-ranking content to drive traffic, the new goal must be to create valuable, intent-focused content that targets long-tail queries, offers helpful information, solves a problem, and is well-written (which means not relying on AI to fully draft content for you).
Subject matter experts are in higher demand than ever before as relevance and trust become more paramount than ever before.
The Power Of Qualified Traffic
When we talk about qualified traffic, it’s important to clearly define what exactly this means, as it can have divergent definitions.
For the purposes of this post, quality audiences include searchers who:
- Match and align with your target personas and demographic.
- Arrive with specific intent (ready to make a purchase or are further along in the sales journey).
- Engage meaningfully with your content (visiting multiple pages on your site, higher dwell times).
- Often find you through word-of-mouth, email, referrals, reviews, or targeted search.
- Use long-tail queries to help them solve a problem they’re facing.
Now, think about the content you’re creating and what’s in your pipeline.
If you’re drafting generic blog posts, surface-level articles, or are relying entirely on AI to draft your content for you, you may be attracting visitors, but you likely aren’t motivating buyers.
The same can be said for advertising efforts that cast too wide of a net. The result? An influx of searchers that may have no intention of converting and no interest in your business.
Your traffic count may look great, but there’s no success behind drawing in these visitors.
Consider that an email marketing provider found that email marketing has an average return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every $1 spent.
It’s well known and documented that email marketing tends to be one of the highest drivers of ROI.
The reason for this is that your email audience is usually pre-qualified and opted in to receive communication from you. They know your business and what you sell, and are therefore more likely to take action.
Similarly, referral traffic and direct traffic often yield higher conversion rates than social media or display ads.
Getting the right people to your site is essential, and the tactics that accomplish this should be your primary focus.
Quality Content = Better Business Outcomes
There’s a reason why nearly half of technology companies say their content marketing budgets will grow this year. Because content works – when it’s done right.
Content shouldn’t be created to cast a wider net. It should be created with intentionality to grow your brand recognition, build trust with your audience, and offer the type of value that keeps people coming back.
Here’s how quality, helpful content focused on the right audience and pain points pays off:
1. Higher Conversion Rates
Personalized content is a powerful driver of consumer behavior.
In fact, 76% of people say tailored content influences their decision to consider a brand, and 78% say it makes them more likely to buy again.
This statistic highlights the need for content that’s personalized and targeted to searchers’ needs.
Content that speaks to a specific persona or pain point is more likely to convert than a pointless listicle that’s stuffed with basic information.
2. Improved Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
You don’t want your customers to be one and done. Instead, you want them to come back to you any time the need arises. You want to be the brand they choose and trust over your competitors.
When you draft content that is deeply relevant, helps users understand your products, educates them on all your services, or guides them towards making a more informed decision, they’re likely to keep returning for more.
3. Lower Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)
No salesperson wants to sit through a multi-year process, anxiously awaiting the day a prospect may or may not decide to move forward.
Targeted content and lower funnel content attract qualified leads that lead to shorter sales cycles and lower the cost to acquire a new customer.
This empowers sales teams to focus on closing rather than convincing, educating, or determining if a prospect is worth their while.
4. Stronger Brand Equity
When customers find your content to be valuable, they’re more likely to share your content with their followers on social media and refer you to their friends.
Bridging the gap between awareness and consideration means building trust and drafting insightful, research-backed content.
This is why content drafting can’t be left solely to AI but should be left in the hands of skilled human writers who’ve consulted subject matter experts to deliver the highest value content possible.
Content Quality Indicators
As aforementioned, traffic alone isn’t enough to measure the quality of your content. There are numerous signals that can help you assess whether your content is working.
A few key metrics content marketers should assess when evaluating the strength of their content marketing efforts include:
- Bounce Rate: The bigger the bounce rate, the bigger the concern. According to Siege Media, a good bounce rate for a blog is 70%, with the average being 80%. Anything more, and there is likely a fatal flaw between content and audience expectations that should be examined.
- Scroll Depth: Similar to bounce rate, it’s unhelpful if your browsers aren’t scrolling down enough to potentially become buyers. This could suggest myriad issues, such as your call to action (CTA) being too far down on the page or your content not resonating with your target audience.
- Time on Page: Are customers coming to your website but leaving shortly after? Short sessions on your website may imply low engagement, or your content simply isn’t relevant to the audience. This is often the case when your keywords don’t align with search intent, which raises the importance of thorough keyword research.
- Conversion Pathways: Each of your website pages likely has the goal of getting people to take action, whether that’s filling out a form, requesting a demo, or purchasing a product. If people aren’t clicking your CTAs, it’s important to assess what the problem is. Perhaps your CTA is the wrong color or doesn’t use compelling language. A/B testing can help you assess where the real problem lies.
These metrics help you understand not just how many people arrived, but how many stayed and why.
The Go-To Content Marketing Strategy To Drive Qualified Traffic
It’s time for a mind shift for content marketers. We’re not abandoning growth, and we’re not neglecting traffic, but we’re being more intentional about our goals.
More traffic doesn’t mean more sales. It’s time to redefine our strategies to secure success and highlight content marketing as a value-add. Here’s the new playbook for driving qualified traffic:
1. Redefine What Success Looks Like
Success looks different today than it did even a few years ago. Today, success is contingent on attracting quality leads, keeping people on your website, assessing the time to conversion, and digging into your content engagement rates.
We’re also looking at any red flags in user experience, such as long page load times, CTAs that are too far down, and intrusive ads popping up.
2. Segment Your Audience
Your target audience is likely diverse, which means they inherently have different needs and preferences.
To ensure your content hits the mark, it’s crucial to segment your audience appropriately by buyer personas, new versus returning users, behavioral signals, age, and more to ensure your content lands.
For example, a Gen Z customer searching for a financial services business will want vastly different information than a Boomer, who may be looking for information about retirement or estate planning.
3. Align Content With The Funnel
Content must be created for all stages of the funnel.
For example, a first-time buyer will likely want more awareness-level content, whereas someone at the decision stage likely wants to read case studies or product reviews.
Audit your existing content to ensure you have a healthy mix of content at each stage of the funnel, including:
- Top of Funnel (ToFu): Awareness content that builds trust and captures attention (but should still target a specific persona).
- Middle of Funnel (MoFu): Educational content that helps users compare solutions, such as whitepapers, ebooks, product one-pagers, and more.
- Bottom of Funnel (BoFu): Case studies, reviews and testimonials, product demos, and more.
4. Invest In First-Party Data
Knowing who’s interested in your business can help you reach the right people at the right time.
First-party data is invaluable, and can be sourced through email subscribers, webinar attendees, and form fills.
These are the people your business wants to develop relationships with, and can do so through drip campaigns, feedback loops, and tailored content offers.
5. Optimize For Intent, Not Just Keywords
Informational keywords can be helpful, but they often aren’t going to lead to quick conversions.
It can be helpful to focus on human-centered SEO, long-tail keywords (which usually are specific and solve a problem), and other types of intent-based keywords.
Leverage third-party tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or MarketMuse to uncover the why behind searches, how competitive search terms are, and how often they’re searched for.
Quality Will Win The Future Of Content Marketing
In a digital-first era that’s rife with competition, it’s necessary to differentiate your business from others.
While your competitors may be generating content quickly and at scale using AI, your brand can gain a competitive edge by doubling down on authenticity and building human-first content.
Lower traffic may be getting your business down, but it’s important to remember that doesn’t necessarily translate to lower value. In fact, for many brands, trimming the fat and focusing on quality audiences only leads to greater wins.
The next time you’re analyzing your data and notice a dip in traffic, there’s no need to get into panic mode. Ask yourself:
- Did the right people visit?
- Is our content useful?
- Are these visitors driving growth?
After all, traffic is just a number.
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Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock
