SEO strategy for conversion-optimised home page

[LondonAli]

I'm working on a very conventional-type site with a home page (why come to us), methods we use, pricing, reviews, FAQs and contact us.

After reading the Moz case study at (http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/seomoz-case-study/), I have been working on a conversion-optimised home page that consolidates much of content in all these pages.

At the bottom of the home page, I then plan to add a list of blog posts "Want to read more? We have a lot of useful information on our blog. Here are the most popular articles:" with articles that explain more about the methods we use for example (content that was formerly on our methods page). Obviously this new blog will also have more interesting information (but a lot that could actually be converted into pages)

This radically changes the site into just a home page full of selling points and calls-to-action and a blog.

I have some questions about this strategy:

1. How do we keep our search engine ranking for keywords such as "[our service] prices" or "[a particular method] London". We rank quite well on Google for these and it goes straight to the relevant page. Shall we keep the pages active somewhere even though the information is also on the home page?
2. Is a blog actually necessary here (SEO wise)? The things I'm planning to write could easily be made into more pages.
3. Am I going about this completely wrong by trying using the CRO guide? Should this sort of page be reserved for landing pages? The reason why I'm considering making a conversion-generating home page is because we only sell one service pretty much (although there are differences in how we do it on children vs. adults) and because we are quite niche so most of our traffic comes from organic sources.

Thank you

[Unleaded]

My first suggestion after reading your question, is to create a plan before making any changes to the website architecture. I have seen on numerous occasions, websites lose up to 90% of their organic traffic after a website redesign due to poor planning. Every page holds value, and each link on that page passes value to the page being linked to. For instance, if you are planning on removing links from the navigation menu on the home page, that page is in jeopardy of losing rank.

Look at Your Top Pages in Webmaster Tools

You will see a link in the left menu, "Search Traffic." That will expand, then click on the first item below it, "Search Queries." Once you have clicked on it, you will see a tab over the graph labeled "Top Pages." Once you have clicked on that, you can view your most popular organic landing pages. If the page is receiving enough traffic, there will be a toggle arrow next to it. By clicking on the page link, it will expand with a list of search queries used to find that page. Take a look at each page's keyword list and look for semantic patterns or correlations they have to that page. You may not think that every keyword you see is relevant for that page, but that doesn't mean that keyword shouldn't be there. The keyword in question may pass semantic value to the primary keyword your page is ranking for.

Take a look at one of Rand's slide decks he posted, Cracking the SEO Code for 2015. Focus more on topic association rather than keyword matching. You may also find a blog I posted on Semantic Search useful. It covers some evaluation techniques you could use.

Check Your Backlinks Using Open Site Explorer

If you plan on removing pages that are ranking well for high converting keywords (which I would not advise), you may be losing important backlinks to that page. Remember, even though those backlinks are directed toward that specific page, doesn't mean that it won't affect the rankings for your entire website. Any link on that page is passing authority to the pages they're linking to.

If you decide for sure that you have to remove a page, make sure you at least create a 301 redirect pointed to the page taking its place. If that page happens to be the home page, then direct it to the home page.

Think about every SEO factor and content asset

When it comes to Organic Search, there are many variables that come into play. Here are just a few that come to mind:

• Semantic Structure of each page
• Number of pages indexed by Google
• Backlinks passing juice to each page (even nofollow links should be considered as a factor)
• Internal Link Structure of the Website
• Keyword Specific Anchor Text
• Structured data
• Indexed PDF files
• Self-Hosted Video assets
• Images and alt text (consider universal search)
• Keyword Specific URL aliases

Conclusion

One of the reason's Moz did so well was because they told a great story about the brand and it was easy to digest. I would keep your blog as well. Moz definitely didn't get rid of their blog. Instead, I would think of some new ideas to make your blog interesting and engaging.

As far as the pages are concerned, I would keep them where they are at, and I wouldn't remove any links that are currently directed toward them. Instead, since they are already ranking well and garnering traffic, leverage them as an asset you can build into your conversion strategy. Somehow funnel them to your landing page. Set up Google analytics events and goal funnels to evaluate what works and what doesn't.

I'm not sure if that answers your question, but at the very least, I hope it helps guide you in the right direction.

[RyanPurkey]

I think one of the best takeaways from Rand's work with Conversion Rate Experts is the understanding Rand got from talking about his services in person and how well such conversations "converted" versus how Moz was talking about what it did and offered on the site.  For your specific case the solution is probably somewhat similar, how would you first describe and introduce your product (home page, very well crafted)  and then how you would address specific examples and use cases (blog post, referencing your core service) or other pages.

Home pages can often rank for a robust set of terms so you might be alright in ranking with the smaller site format, still spend the time going through your Analytics carefully to see what pages you should keep and redesign versus what pages you could most likely redirect to the higher converting new ones.  Also, test test test. Make sure you're making improvements with the changes you're making. Optimizely should be able to help you in that regard: https://www.optimizely.com/statistics

If you're very local, spending time seeing how your referrals and leads arrive via sites like Yelp, Google Local and others would be good too.  It sounds like you're on the right track though and just need to tie things together with Analytics.