Chatbots are used for instant messaging, marketing, and customer support; and they’re starting to be implemented more in sales as well.
According to Outgrow in 2018, around 80% of businesses are expected to use some form of mobile messaging, web or SMS chatbot system by 2020.
Chat-based automation makes life easier for entrepreneurs through data gathering and customer engagement, but did you know that chatbots boost SEO as well?
Integrating a chatbot into your website can turn it from a lowly donkey hiding in the dark into a full-fledged unicorn casting rainbows in the sun.
Entrepreneurs looking to improve their SEO should look into implementing chatbots into their digital marketing strategy.
How Chatbots Can Improve Your SEO
More than 50% of customers expect businesses to be open virtually 24/7, according to Oracle back in 2016. Imagine what that figure is today in an ever-connected world.
Continuous and instant reliability boosts SEO as your brand is recognized as able to help audiences on a consistent basis. A strong brand that gets a high volume of branded search traffic is an SEO ranking signal, as I’ve written about in previous research.
Using a chatbot boosts SEO as it helps people access information faster and more easily, as well as assist them with their needs.
If visitors to your website can’t find the information or assistance they’re looking for in your website, the chatbot gives them another option.
Having a chatbot on your website can lower bounce rate, increase dwell time, and even direct more web traffic. Because these user engagement signals are an SEO ranking factor, as I’ve written about here, improving these metrics using a chatbot can have a positive SEO impact.
After all, the purpose of search engine optimization is to deliver your website to users looking for information it may have.
How to Use Chatbots to Improve Your SEO
Chatbots can indeed help with your website’s search engine optimization by making it better through various means.
They can add better functionality and accessibility in terms of how users can access information about your business.
It can also make your website look better to search engines, which means it can show up in more search results.
Here are some of the best ways you can use chatbots to better your website’s SEO.
Making Your Business Always Available
Chatbots can help make your brand look like it’s “always on,” practically available 24 hours a day to serve customers.
That lets your audience know that you can answer their questions and provide them value at any time.
It was once virtually impossible for small businesses since most don’t have resources or enough need to have night shift employees.
Customers expect a response within 4 hours or less, and a chatbot can do that in a snap, even during off-hours.
Such quick response times can make your business look more dependable and trustworthy, especially when they’re in a bind.
Increasing Website Usability
A chatbot widget can make your website a lot more useful to customers who are looking for information and assistance.
It also makes it more useful to your business as the website becomes more than just a static facade.
The website becomes something that can actively provide information to users, as well as collect information from them.
The chatbot can help users navigate the site, as well as address their concerns and ask questions about your business.
Since the chat widget is right there as soon as the user visits your website, it can pop up whenever it may be needed.
Being Mobile-Responsive
Chatbots are perfect for mobile use, so it can add to a website’s responsive design, which plays a huge role in SEO.
Wherever your users may be, they can go to your website and contact your business through their mobile devices.
They can do it while on the go, not having to stop for more than a few minutes to get what they need from you.
Search engines find this very attractive, so they’ll prioritize your website more if you have that level of mobile responsiveness.
Having a chatbot in your website makes it as convenient to use as sending a message to a friend.
Learning About Your Customers
Having a custom chatbot in your website can gather more information from your customers.
Knowing more about what your customers look for can help you refine your SEO so your content shows up in more search results.
The data your chatbot can tell what kind of people tend to visit your website and what they’re looking for.
Over time, that data will show patterns that can help you figure out why they visit and what products and services they’re interested in.
You can also see what questions they ask most frequently, so you can refine your chatbot’s responses to help users better.
Learning about your customers lets you better serve and market to them, as well as where they’re coming from.
That then lets you understand where and how to gather more new customers as well.
Personalizing User Experiences
By having a chatbot right on your website, they can request for that information in real time while looking through your website.
That lets them use your website for whatever they need, thus providing them a personalized user experience.
Having a more functional and informative website in itself can boost its SEO, which should attract even more traffic.
But having a website that gives personalized user experience can actually make people want to use it more.
The chatbot can provide it according to your particular niche or industry, location, demographic, and goals of the customer.
That can be done easily with a chatbot that can respond to almost any question that people may ask.
It improves your reputation, and that can yield good user reviews and increase user engagement, which can also boost your website’s SEO.
Assisting Throughout Sales Funnel
Aside from answering questions, you can have your chatbot assist customers in purchasing products.
When set up properly, customers can order via text message, which can reduce steps in the ordering process.
Starbucks employs such a system, letting you order drinks either through text or voice commands.
Instead of adding items manually to a cart, then checking out and selecting payment options, you can have a chatbot handle everything.
It can tally up the orders, show you the cost, and then facilitate payment, all in one interface.
Conclusion
The chatbot can be an effective supplement for your website to improve its SEO and online reach.
More people can access your business, get information, and possibly be converted into actual customers.
Your business can then reach out to more people, thanks to having a social media chatbot on your side.
About the Author
Larry Kim is the CEO of MobileMonkey, the World’s Best Integrated Web Chat, SMS & Facebook Messenger Bot Platform for Marketing and Customer Service. He’s also the founder of WordStream, Inc., the leading provider of Google Ads, Facebook Ads and keyword tools used by over a million marketers worldwide. The company employs over three hundred people and manages billions of dollars of ad spend on behalf of tens of thousands of customers. WordStream was acquired by Gannett for $150 million. Larry is ranked the #8 most popular author on Medium. He’s a contributor to CNBC and Inc. Magazine. Key interests include: Chatbot Marketing, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, entrepreneurship and startups. He received Marketer of the Year awards from Search Engine Land, US Search Awards, and PPC Hero.