If you're pretty well versed in digital marketing and reading this then your first reaction to this question would probably be "of course not", but in this blog I am going to show you that if you dig a little deeper into the different elements affecting SEO rankings, you will notice that ChatBots might play a bigger role in SEO than expected.
Let's look at just a few of the different factors that come into play when deciding your domain authority (SEO ranking)
Quality Backlinks
Bounce Rate
User Experience
Before diving into everything, it's important to understand that there are, roughly, 23497 other things that affect your SEO ranking. These are just a few of the different elements that ChatBots can directly affect.
When somebody clicks onto your website, what currently happens? Are they told what to do, or do they get there and say "now what..?" Your website should always be developed in a way that improves the user's experience, and there's no better way to do that than to make sure your site visitors don't feel "lost" when they click onto your site. Imagine showing up to your local supermarket looking to buy a loaf of bread, but you can't find the bread aisle. Instead of searching down every aisle looking for bread, you'd more than likely search for the nearest store employee so they can steer you directly towards the appropriate aisle.
Now, what happens when somebody visits your website and they can't find what they want right away? They click off your website and visit a different one. But, let's say you had a "store employee" on your website that was able to direct your site visitors exactly to what they want. Not only would that improve your site's overall experience, but it would also result in more sales. Well, that's exactly the power of ChatBots. You wouldn't leave your brick & mortar location unstaffed during open hours, so why would you do that to your website? Let's not forget, ChatBots like to work 24/7 for free and you won't catch them giving your customers a bad attitude! Well, unless it's programmed to...
"That's great, Ryan, but what the hell is a bounce rate and how can a ChatBot bring my website more quality backlinks?" I'm so glad you asked! Your domain's bounce rate is concluded by how many people visit your web page and click off before actually interacting with the site. Therefore, a high bounce rate is bad and a low bounce rate is good. If your site visitors see a ChatBot pop up on their screen to assist them, the likelihood of them further interacting with your website is much higher. Part of this could be because of the single most powerful psychological tool that marketers have at their disposal, curiosity. ChatBots are such a new technology still that people are intrigued by it. Many people are just interested in testing the efficacy of these bots, but we are able to use this curiosity to our advantage. Now that you've used the ChatBot to grab their attention, you can lead them directly down your desired path to make the sale. Kinda like having a salesperson permanently on your web page, one that has a pre-determined sales process that, if built properly, can increase your site conversion rate significantly. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the CTR of your ChatBot. That way you can find out where your customers are falling off the sales process and optimize it accordingly.
So at this point, your ChatBot is not only lowering your bounce rate numbers but also increasing your customer's overall experience on your website. This means that more people will have a chance to gain value from your business, resulting in more people linking back to your page.
In conclusion, ChatBots are an incredibly powerful tool that marketers now have at their disposal. This blog barely scratched the surface of what ChatBots can do for a business, but with companies currently looking for anyway possible to get ahead of their competitors in the never-ending SEO war, it is safe to say that ChatBots will cement themselves as a MUST HAVE for every business site. The sooner your company implements a ChatBot onto their website, the sooner they can begin climbing up the SEO rankings.