Introduction to CRO and SEO

With Google search being the primary source of traffic for millions of business websites, having a solid SEO strategy is crucial. However, rankings aren’t everything, especially if your site is doing more than generating ad revenue. This is why it’s important to focus more on CRO when creating any SEO strategy.

 

But what are SEO and CRO, and how are they interlinked?

 

CRO or conversion rate optimization focuses on improving the rate of visitors who actively contribute to your site’s success through action. These actions could include making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to a newsletter which is directly tied to a website’s growth.

 

On the other hand, SEO focuses on optimizing a website’s ranking on search engine result pages (SERPs) to increase organic traffic.

 

A strong SEO strategy is crucial to improving website traffic and attracting potential customers, but it is only one piece of the puzzle. To truly succeed in the digital world, businesses must also prioritize CRO to turn website visitors into customers. When combined, CRO and SEO can create a powerful synergy that leads to increased profitability and business growth.

 

Improving CRO is the primary goal for many businesses, and SEO is a powerful tool that can be used to achieve better CRO rates. Let’s explore the relationship between SEO and CRO in more detail, how SEO affects your CRO score, and how to improve CRO through an effective SEO strategy.

 

The Relationship Between SEO and CRO

SEO is often one of the primary pillars of any digital marketing strategy. A solid SEO strategy ensures more organic traffic, which is more cost-effective in the long run as compared to ads. However, SEO isn’t everything and without a proper CRO strategy, that traffic is unlikely to convert into customers.

 

On the other hand, a well-executed CRO strategy can improve the user experience, reduce bounce rates, and increase conversions. However, without a strong SEO strategy, a website may not attract enough traffic to achieve meaningful results.

 

Let’s say you have enough traffic through SEO, but your website isn’t optimized according to the correct CRO guidelines. This could be due to anything from a lack of optimized links to poor UX design of the website. However, many of the same factors that affect SEO will also affect CRO. For example, quality links and a good UX design affect your website’s SEO score, but it also impacts the way users behave on the site.

 

So, it’s important to consider that booth strategies are interlinked and neither is complete without the other. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to consider that it’s better to have a solid CRO strategy and convert the little traffic on your website than to get more traffic that doesn’t convert.

 

Key Factors that Impact CRO Through SEO

To achieve CRO success through SEO, businesses must understand the key factors that impact website performance. These factors include website design and user experience, keyword research and on-page optimization, content quality and relevance, backlinks and domain authority, and mobile optimization and responsiveness.

 

Website Design and User Experience

Website design and user experience are crucial factors that impact CRO through SEO. A well-designed website that offers a seamless user experience can significantly improve website traffic and increase conversion rates.

 

When designing a website, businesses should prioritize simplicity and ease of use. The website should be easy to navigate, with clear calls to action and intuitive design. This will help visitors find what they are looking for quickly and easily, leading to increased engagement and conversions.

 

Additionally, businesses should optimize their website for mobile devices. Mobile optimization is important as more and more users access websites through their smartphones and tablets. A mobile-friendly website ensures that visitors have a seamless experience regardless of the device they are using, leading to increased engagement and conversions.

 

Keyword Research and On-Page Optimization

Comprehensive keyword research and on-page optimization are key factors that impact CRO through SEO. Businesses should conduct thorough keyword research to identify the keywords and phrases that their target audience is using to search for products or services.

 

Once the keywords have been identified, businesses should optimize their website’s content to include these keywords. This can be done through on-page optimization techniques such as meta descriptions, title tags, and header tags.

 

By incorporating relevant keywords into their website’s content, businesses can improve their website’s visibility on search engine result pages, leading to increased website traffic and conversions.

 

Content Quality and Relevance

Content quality and relevance are crucial factors that impact CRO through SEO. Businesses must ensure that their website’s content is informative, engaging, and relevant to their target audience. High-quality content helps establish credibility and trust with visitors, which can lead to increased engagement and conversions.

 

To optimize content for CRO success, businesses should focus on creating content that is relevant to their target audience’s interests and needs. This can be achieved through blog posts, videos, infographics, and other types of content that provide value to visitors.

 

Backlinks and Domain Authority

Backlinks and domain authority are key factors that impact CRO through SEO. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to a business’s website. They signal to search engines that the content on the website is valuable and authoritative. The more high-quality backlinks a website has, the higher its domain authority will be.

 

To improve their website’s domain authority, businesses should focus on building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites. This can be achieved through outreach and guest blogging, as well as by creating valuable content that other websites will want to link to.

Mobile Optimization and Responsiveness

Mobile optimization and responsiveness are critical factors that impact CRO through SEO. As more users access websites through their mobile devices, businesses must ensure that their website is optimized for mobile use. A mobile-friendly website is responsive and adjusts to fit the screen size of the device being used.

 

By optimizing their website for mobile use, businesses can ensure that visitors have a seamless experience regardless of the device they are using. This can lead to increased engagement and conversions, as visitors are more likely to stay on a website that is easy to use and navigate.

 

In the next section, we will provide tips for using SEO to improve CRO success, including how to conduct a website audit, optimize website speed, implement responsive design, optimize for user intent, use relevant and targeted keywords, improve website content quality, build high-quality backlinks, leverage social media, monitor and analyze website data, and continuously test and optimize.

 

Tips for improving CRO with SEO

To improve CRO with SEO, businesses need to focus on several key areas. Here are some tips to help you optimize your website for both search engines and conversions:

 

Conduct a Website Audit

Before making any changes, it’s essential to conduct a website audit to identify any technical issues that may be affecting your website’s performance.

 

A website audit can help you identify broken links, slow-loading pages, and other issues that may impact user experience and search engine rankings.

 

Optimize Website for Speed

Optimizing website speed is a critical factor in improving CRO through SEO. In today’s fast-paced world, users have little patience for slow-loading websites. According to research, if a website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, 40% of users will abandon it. Slow-loading websites not only frustrate users, but they also negatively impact search engine rankings.

 

To optimize website speed, you should start by conducting a website speed audit. This will help identify any areas of the website that may be slowing it down, such as large image files, unnecessary plugins, or excessive code. Once these issues have been identified, you can fix the root cause of the problem.

 

If your website is still too slow, try compressing images, removing unnecessary plugins, or minimizing code for better optimization.

 

Another way to improve website speed is to use a content delivery network (CDN). This is a network of servers that store website content and deliver it to users based on their geographic location. By using a CDN, you can reduce website load times and improve website performance.

 

Ever since Google’s recent update, optimizing website speed has become a crucial part of SEO. It’s also common sense for improving CRO, and something that you should never compromise on.

 

Optimize for User Intent

User intent has recently become a crucial part of SEO, but it’s always been a priority for better CRO. User intent is more about understanding why users search for certain phrases as compared to looking just toi rank for keywords. Knowing the intent behind a search will ensure that your website content is optimized for conversions.

 

Follow these steps to optimize your website for user intent:

 

  1. Start by conducting keyword research to identify the search terms that are relevant to your business.
  2. Create content that meets the needs of users who are searching for those terms. This could include creating blog posts, videos, or other types of content that provide answers to users’ questions or help them solve problems.
  3. Add relevant links and CTAs organically to get the visitor to complete a certain action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

 

With the right user intent, your SEO  strategy will be more streamlined and it will be easier to get users to be engaged on your site.

 

Use Relevant and Targeted Keywords

One of the most important steps you can take to improve your CRO through SEO is to use relevant and targeted keywords. Your keywords should reflect the language that your target audience uses when searching for products or services related to your business.

 

To identify these keywords, start by conducting thorough keyword research. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to find keywords that have high search volumes and low competition. Then, incorporate these keywords into your website’s content in a natural and relevant way.

 

Also, remember that keywords are not everything when it comes to SEO, so avoid keyword stuffing and unnaturally inserting keywords in the content.

 

Improve Website Content Quality

If you want to improve your website’s conversion rate through SEO, one of the most effective strategies is to improve the quality of your website’s content. Quality content helps establish your brand as an authority in your industry, and it can also attract more qualified traffic to your site.

 

To improve your content quality, start by creating comprehensive, informative, and engaging content that meets the needs of your target audience. Make sure your content is well-organized, easy to read, and free of spelling and grammatical errors.

 

Another effective way to improve your content quality is to incorporate visuals such as images, videos, and infographics. Visual content can help break up long blocks of text and make your content more engaging.

 

Build High-Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are a crucial ranking factor for search engines, but they’re also essential for CRO. By building high-quality backlinks from reputable sources, you can increase your website’s authority and improve its visibility in search results.

 

Building high-quality backlinks requires a strategic approach, and there are many different tactics you can use to attract valuable links to your website. Here are a few examples:

 

  1. Guest Posting: One effective way to build backlinks is to contribute high-quality content to other websites in your industry. However, don’t do guest posting simply for the sake of getting a backlink. Remember, guest posts are all about getting credibility, so aim to post on high-authority websites.

 

  1. Broken Link Building: Another tactic is to search for broken links on other websites in your industry and offer to replace them with a link to your own content. This not only helps the website owner fix broken links, but it also provides an opportunity for you to gain a valuable backlink.

 

  1. Influencer Outreach: In the age of social media stars, getting quality backlinks has become easier than ever. Don’t shy away from spending a few extra dollars on getting quality backlinks from a popular influencer’s social account.

 

  1. Local Listings: If your business is local or has a physical location, listing your business in local directories and on review sites can help you build high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources. These directories are also crucial to local SEO and can give your website more visibility.

 

  1. Resource Link Building: Another effective tactic is to create high-quality resources on your website, such as guides, tutorials, or infographics, and reach out to other websites in your industry to encourage them to link to your content as a valuable resource. You can get creative and try publishing books or creating your own YouTube channel if it’s relevant to your product or service.

 

It’s important to note that building high-quality backlinks takes time and effort, and it’s important to focus on building natural, organic links rather than resorting to spammy or black-hat tactics.

 

Leverage Social Media

Social media is a crucial part of CRO success. Nowadays, customers require social proof before buying a product or service. Social media presence shows that your site is legitimate and gives an extra level of trust to your brand.

 

Besides, social media is a great place to get quality backlinks and can drive direct website traffic, which is great for SEO.

 

Monitor and Analyze Website Data

Knowing how your site is performing will allow you to ensure your SEO strategy is working to improve CRO. This will also ensure you identify any content quality issues with your website before they get out of hand.

 

Tracking your website’s traffic, bounce rates, conversion rates, and other key performance indicators are all crucial parts of data monitoring. You can also use tools like Google Analytics to track and analyze your website data. With this data, you can gain insights into how users interact with your website and identify areas for improvement to increase conversions.

 

Continuously Test and Optimize

Finally, it’s essential to continuously test and optimize your website to improve your CRO. A/B testing allows you to identify issues with SEO before they have a significant impact on your website or conversions.

 

With A/B testing, you can create two versions of a page and randomly show each version to different visitors. This allows you to see which version performs better and make data-driven decisions about how to improve your website.

 

Also, it’s important to track and analyze your website data to identify areas where you can make improvements. Tools like Google Analytics can provide valuable insights into your website traffic, including where your visitors are coming from, how long they’re staying on your site, and which pages are most popular. This can help you identify areas where you can improve your website to boost your CRO.

 

Case studies of Businesses That Have Successfully Used SEO to Improve CRO

There’s no better way to learn how to use SEO and CRO together than to explore practical cases of businesses that successfully increased their CRO through good SEO practices. Let’s explore 2 cases of businesses that have done so and the lessons we can learn from them:

 

1.   HubSpot:

HubSpot has one of the most advanced digital marketing strategies on the web, and thousands of marketers use the site for digital marketing information, software and as a learning tool. In 2014, HubSpot conducted a website redesign and optimization project to improve its SEO and CRO.

 

They implemented several changes, including updating their website design, conducting extensive keyword research, and improving their website’s content quality.

 

As a result of their efforts, HubSpot saw a 30% increase in organic search traffic and a 55% increase in lead generation. Additionally, their website’s bounce rate decreased by 10%, and their time on site increased by 16%. These improvements were achieved in just six months and provide the perfect example of how good SEO practices can increase both traffic and conversions.

 

2.   Airbnb:

Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects travelers with hosts who have spare rooms or entire homes to rent. In 2012, Airbnb identified SEO as a key driver of their growth and implemented several changes to improve its search engine ranking.

 

They conducted comprehensive keyword research, optimized their website’s content for search engines, and built high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites.

 

As a result of their efforts, Airbnb saw a 600% increase in organic search traffic and a 3x increase in their conversion rate. Additionally, they achieved a 4x increase in their revenue in just six months.

 

These improvements were achieved by focusing on SEO best practices and creating high-quality content that met the needs of their target audience.

 

These case studies show how strong SEO strategies can improve your website’s CRO. By focusing on key factors like website design, keyword research, content quality, and backlinks, you can increase both the traffic and conversion rate of your site.

 

However, it’s important to remember that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to SEO and CRO. Also, SEO isn’t everything, and having a good website design, reliable PR, and successful branding can significantly improve your site’s CRO as well.

 

Final Thoughts

Despite being the primary target of marketers, CRO is often overlooked. Many websites focus more on producing content than delivering quality to their visitors, which often results in low conversions, despite successful SEO strategies.

 

However, as SEO changes towards ranking for natural and quality content, it’s becoming more integrated with SEO. As the above success cases demonstrate, a good SEO strategy can lead to a good CRO and vice versa.