What Is SEO and CRO?
SEO (search engine optimization) and CRO ( conversion rate optimization) are vital aspects of digital marketing. They are two different concepts, but that does not mean they don’t go hand in hand.
The ultimate goal of both SEO and CRO is to generate and increase business revenue. When you combine the two in the right way, you can increase revenue for your website and business.
On this page, we explore how you can combine SEO and CRO to get the best results.
Table of Contents
SEO Vs CRO
If you are new to digital marketing, it is important to understand the difference between CRO and SEO.
What Is SEO?
As mentioned, SEO is short for search engine optimization. This is the process which improves your website’s or platform’s visibility in what is often called organic search results.
What are organic search results? Organic search results are the results you get from unpaid listings that appear on all search engines such as Google and Bing.
Why Is SEO Important?
As far as digital marketing goes, SEO is important for several reasons. Let’s take a look at why SEO matters.
Most importantly, relevant SEO attracts quality traffic to your website or platform. The SEO process includes optimizing your site with the best keywords and phrases for your subject. This is how you increase your rankings and get more clicks from potential buyers.
SEO is important when it comes to building credibility and brand awareness. Search engines use guidelines and algorithms when looking for content. When you improve your site’s authority and credibility, your site ranks higher in search results.
Just like physical businesses, websites have goals and objectives. When you optimize your site for conversion, you generate more leads which can lead to sales. More sales lead to an increase in profit and revenue from organic traffic.
SEO helps you to achieve your website and business goals. When you optimize your website for conversions from the start, you generate more leads and increase sales faster.
How To Perform SEO Effectively
To get effective results from SEO, it is best to have a strategy. This is why digital marketing companies talk about SEO strategies.
On top of your list, you should put keyword search. Then, you should add competitor analysis. Identifying the words and phrases that your audience uses is imperative. It is also important to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your closest competitors.
The technical aspects of your site matter as well. You need to ensure your site loads fast and is user-friendly.
The structure of your content should be optimized. It should be easy for visitors to your site to interact with content. This makes it easier for search engines to find keywords and phrases.
SEO is a continuous process which requires monitoring and improvement. Once you have the right SEO in place, you can take a look at CRO.
What Is CRO?
CRO is an abbreviation for conversion rate. This is the process which increases the number of visitors to your site and encourages them to take a certain action. The action can involve anything from signing up for a newsletter to making a purchase.
Why Is CRO Important?
CRO helps to increase your business objectives. If your business objective is to get visitors to sign up for a newsletter, you should ask them to do so.
CRO helps to improve the user experience. In the long term, you end up with happier visitors who engage with what you have to offer. Your site becomes valuable to them and they return more frequently.
Quality CRO gives your site a competitive edge which should lead to a larger market share. Optimizing CRO on your site helps you to achieve your business goals. It is an asset especially when you sell products.
How To Perform CRO Effectively
If you like, CRO is also a measure of how well your site is performing. CRO lets you define your goals and record your metrics. It Identifies the actions you want visitors to take and tracks success rate.
Use analytical tools to identify problems. When you spot a problem, take action to correct it. Digital marketing professionals use tools to test the success rate of new ideas and solutions.
When you spot a winning solution, you should implement it as quickly as you can. Doing so helps you to stay ahead of the competition.
Just like SEO, CRO is an ongoing process. To stay ahead, you should never take your eye off the ball.
How to Combine SEO and CRO
When it comes to combining SEO and CRO, there a several ways in which you can do so. If you are not sure that this is something that you can do yourself, it is a good idea to get a digital marketing agency involved.
Most companies or online sellers turn to digital marketing agencies. A digital marketing agency can help your site grow and increase your ROI. Getting a marketing agency is often more cost-effective than trying to do it all yourself.
Finding solutions and implementing SEO and CRO takes up a lot of time.
Conducting User Research
User research is one of the founding principles of both SEO and CRO. It is only then you understand your audience’s needs and behaviors and preferences. Don’t rush research – it is important!
You should also try to find out what your audience does not like. Ultimately, it is when you increase what your target audience likes you become successful. You mustn’t lose sight of this.
Conducting research is one of the most important parts of the SEO-CRO process. Stop and think about it, and you realize this is something sales and marketing companies have always done. The only difference is we do it digitally now.
Generating Back Links
Backlinks are important. Where should you place backlinks to your site?
The pharmaceutical companies are the experts at this. By placing backlinks on high authority sites, they add value to the idea or product they are selling.
The aim is to provide the potential customer with quality content through the buying process. The process often starts by discovering information about a medical condition.
Before you know it, you are clicking on a link that takes you through to the company in question. There, you can find even more interesting information about your health condition. Before you know it, you are clicking to buy a product that may help to remedy or treat your condition.
This pretty much describes an excellent way to combine SEO and CRO to achieve a sale. If you can do the same thing, you are a winner!
What About A/B Testing?
If you have a site, you may have heard of A/B testing. What is it? A/B testing is a method of comparing different versions of a page and finding out which one performs better.
It is a bit of a painstaking process. This is why most website owners turn to a digital marketing agency to help. If you decide that going it alone is right for you, there are some tools that can help you.
Optimizely is one of the tools available. You can also try VWO and Google Optimize. Monetate and Adobe also offer A/B testing tools which are fairly easy to use.
Optimizing For Mobile Devices
Why should you optimize for mobile devices? Although not strictly part of CRO and SEO, it is important to consider mobile devices.
Increasingly, we use mobile devices to search for the information we are looking for online. Yes, many still use laptops and desktop computers. But, the majority of searches are from mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
Aligning Goals And Metrics
Successfully combining CRO and SEO means you need to align both your goals and metrics.
If you want to target organic traffic to increase sales and conversion rates, you need to ensure your efforts are consistent. Your website’s blog should be on point and talk about what can be found on the site.
That way, you emphasize both products for sale and the information you share online.
Website performance can be measured by visitor numbers, conversions and revenue. The more information you can gain from your site the better. For instance, it is good to know how much revenue you gain from individual visitors to your site.
What About The Benefits of Combining SEO and CRO?
Ultimately, the reason you combine SEO and CRO is because doing so has enormous potential. Let’s take a look at the benefits.
Improving Ranking and Traffic
When you optimize your website for conversions, you also improve its relevance to search engines.
It is important to have clear headlines and meta descriptions. This makes it easier for search engines to find your site.
When you use quality headlines and meta descriptions, the click-through rate (CTR) increases. Reducing your site’s bounce rate means you get more visitors which improves your chances of increasing your sales.
Content is still king on the Internet. It is a vital factor when it comes to ranking. Providing users with valuable and meaningful content increases your odds of getting noticed. SEO is a crucial part of this.
Needless to say, when you provide valuable content, website visitors are much more likely to share your site on social media. This leads to more visitors and better CRO.
Website Usability
SEO and CRO also enhance your website’s usability. When you are selling products or services, you want visitors to take some kind of action.
To make it easy for them to do, you need to have a website which is easy to use and navigate.
This happens when you increase the website’s speed and layout. A website that loads fast and has a user-friendly layout helps to retain visitors. They are less likely to navigate away from your site.
You should also consider implementing WCAG guidelines. Visitors to your site may have impairments which make it challenging for them to use the Internet. Keep this in mind when you plan your SEO and CRO.
For instance, someone with dyslexia may find it hard to read certain words and longer phrases.
Structured Data
Most sites that have gone through an SEO and CRO improvement process have better-structured data. Not only does this make it easier for potential customers to follow through with a purchase. It also makes it easier to find information.
When you list products, you should do your SEO research before you put production descriptions together. Customers find it easier to make a buying decision when data is well structured.
Taking an action or selling a product is what you hope to improve by using CRO and SEO.
CRO Makes It Easier to Buy - And Sell!
CRO makes it easier to buy from you. Although you may have to do research or turn to a digital marketing agency, CRO makes it easier for visitors to buy from you.
Not all visitors may arrive on your site with the attention of buying something. They may have found your site by picking up the right keywords for their search in a search engine.
But, all of a sudden they find themselves on your site which happens to sell something related to their keyword search.
Having the right SEO and CRO combination means you have the opportunity to turn them into impulse buyers. You may now have gained a new customer that comes back to you and will probably share your site on social media.
Competitive Advantage
More than anything, using the right combination of SEO and CRO gives you a competitive advantage.
It is important to appreciate how SEO and CRO evolve. As mentioned, you need to stay on top of your site. When you do so, your site will rank above your competitors. This means your ROI, conversion rate and revenue are going to be better.
To have a competitive advantage, you need to continue to market and find ways of improving your website or platform.
FAQs
While SEO focuses on boosting traffic to your site, CRO aims to convert that traffic by encouraging more people to take action.
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) don't have a rivalry—they can actually enhance one another. Instead of working in isolation, these two functions in your business should join forces. This team effort can significantly boost your profitability and streamline the performance of your conversion funnel.
SEO and CRO join forces to bring in quality traffic and convert that traffic into customers. SEO gets your site recognized by search engines, drawing in targeted visitors with strategic keywords and high-quality content. Concurrently, CRO steps in to ensure your website is finely tuned to guide these visitors to take the desired action - whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or filling out a contact form.
You can start by optimizing your website for SEO. This involves creating high-quality and engaging content that features targeted keywords, improving your site's loading speed, ensuring it's mobile-friendly, and securing backlinks from reputable sites. These SEO practices help your website rank higher in search engine results, attracting more targeted visitors.
Once these visitors land on your site, CRO techniques come into play. Start with a user-friendly website design that makes navigation easy for your visitors. Use persuasive and clear call-to-actions (CTAs) that guide your visitors towards your end goal - whether it's buying a product, signing up for a subscription, or downloading an eBook. You should also carry out A/B testing on various site elements like CTAs, headings, images, and forms to identify what works best for converting visitors into customers.
Remember, SEO brings the right people to your website, but it's CRO that gets them to take action. So, both should be a vital part of your digital marketing strategy.
CRO, or Conversion Rate Optimization, in marketing refers to strategies and techniques aimed at boosting the percentage of website visitors who complete a specific action, such as making a purchase. It involves analyzing visitor behaviour to discover what motivates them to convert, then altering elements on your site to encourage that action. Ultimately, CRO is all about making your marketing more effective by turning more of your website visitors into customers.
Final Thoughts
SEO and CRO are two of the most powerful tools in your arsenal when you want to increase business revenue and profit.
The trick is to know how to combine them strategically. When you combine SEO and CRO in the best way possible, they will work for you and help you grow your business.
Your most important tools are research, optimization for mobile devices, goals and metrics. Finally, don’t forget to throw in A/B testing.
