SEO impact of adding a lead gen form to a #1 ranked page

[jfmonfette]

We have a page that ranks really well and gets a lot of traffic. We're wondering what would be the SEO impact of putting a lead gen form before visitors can download what they want.

Currently, entrepreneurs can download a free business plan template kit. It's a zip file that include 6 files like a blank template, an blank Excel for the financials, examples files and links to related articles.

The page is : http://www.bdc.ca/en/advice_centre/tools/business_plan/Pages/default.aspx

Do you think that adding a form before downloading the zip file would cost us rankings?

Thanks,

[CommT]

Hi,

I don't think it will affect rankings so long as the text on the page stays the same.

I would A/B test this change though, because you may find fewer people download the pack. Or, if that doesn't matter so much as harvesting contact details then I guess it's not a massive concern.

We have a downloads section on our site, and we have a popup newsletter sign-up form which appears when they click the download button. It's not currently compulsory to sign up for the newsletter, but this is something we are considering. I'd be interested to know how you get on with yours!

Best of luck,

Amelia

[jfmonfette]

Thank you for your answer !

I fear that maybe Google's quality rankers team could find the page less valuable now or that the content in the ZIP file contributed to the overall SEO score of the page and that would now be out of range for the crawler.

We will A/B test it for sure and I'll try to share the results, if possible.

Regards,

JF

[TimHolmes]

I agree, that it shouldn't really hurt from a content perspective providing existing elements remain in place, but make sure you consider that by adding a barrier to the downloadable files, this could lead to a higher bounce rate for the page.

Bounce rate I believe has been considered as having a potential part to play in the algorithms for a while now. As such monitor what affect the changes have and you can always look to roll back should you see any signs of a drop taking place.

[HashtagHustler]

Morning!

A long time ago I had a mentor who taught me something which has stuck with me through everything. He told me about the Rule of 3's, and I use it as a rough guide. The end user has 3 pieces of currency, and your website is going to take it. Every time the user gets to a new website that currency refreshes. If a user can't find what they are looking for in 3 seconds (ie. page takes too long to load) or 3 clicks, then there is a good chance they will leave.

Obviously if you have a decent fan base and dedicated followers that number goes up, if they individual is driven and knows that what you have is worth the time that number goes up. But, anything that you put in front of your end user is a potential barrier to entry. The less obtrusive you can make the lead generation the better. From an SEO standpoint, adding a pop up or something that asks for an email won't do anything, but if it causes people to leave etc, then you are looking at a different type of SEO impact.

We are in an era in digital media of people seeking information they want WHEN they want, that is why auto play videos are so annoying. Let your followers decide when and if they want to download something, and then provide them with the easiest way to do it. People are hesitant to give out emails, I know I am, I have a specific email that is dedicated to signing up for stuff that I know I'm never going to check.

I personally think it's better to build trust and then ask for their information. What good is a lead that just goes to a spam email?

Best of Luck!

Let us know what you end up doing!

[jfmonfette]

Thank you for your answer. We will test the new gated content on a small sample of the visitors first and monitor bounce rate closely.

[jfmonfette]

Thank you for you answer and comments. We're a little scare of putting a hurdle in front of the visitors and will monitor the impact closely, but they do get a lot of valuable information. We will still measure and compare the rate of downloads before and after the changes.