If you’re building a website or running an online business, you’ve probably heard about search engine optimization (SEO) and conversion rate optimization (CRO). But do you know how they work together to improve your website’s conversion rate?
This article will explain SEO, conversions, and CRO and how they can help your business succeed online.
What Is a Website Conversion?
A website conversion occurs when a visitor completes a desired action on your website, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing to your newsletter.
There are two types of conversions: macro conversions and micro conversions. Macro conversions are the primary conversions that directly impact your bottom line, while micro conversions are minor actions that often lead to macro conversions.
Examples of micro-conversions include:
- Signing up for a newsletter
- Downloading a guide
- Adding a product to a shopping cart
- Viewing a specific page on the website
A macro conversion is the ultimate goal of the website, such as completing a purchase or submitting a form. It is important to track both micro and macro conversions to understand how visitors interact with the website and to optimize for better conversion rates.
What Is SEO?
SEO entails optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). There are different types of SEO, including local, national, and global. Local SEO is primarily focused on improving your website’s visibility in local searches, while national and global SEO is focused on improving your website’s visibility in broader search results.
Local SEO includes strategies like optimizing your Google Business Profile, building local citations, and targeting local keywords. While national and global SEO develop keyword strategies that are not necessarily specific to a location, country, or language.
To improve your website’s SEO, you’ll need to optimize your website’s content, technical aspects, and user experience. This includes using relevant keywords, creating high-quality content, improving website speed and performance, and making your website mobile-friendly.
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
CRO is the process of optimizing your website to improve its conversion rate. It involves using data, user feedback, and experimentation to improve website performance and increase the likelihood of visitors taking desired actions.
Unlike SEO, which focuses on driving more traffic to your website, CRO focuses on converting more of your existing traffic into customers. CRO involves testing different elements of your website, such as layout, design, and content, to see what works best for your audience.
While SEO and CRO are different, they work hand in hand. SEO helps drive more traffic to your website, and CRO enables you to convert more traffic into customers.
How To Use SEO Traffic to Improve Conversion Rates
Now that we’ve covered the basics of SEO and CRO let’s discuss how you can use SEO traffic to improve your website’s conversion rate.
Here are some key factors to consider:
Keyword Selection – Target the Correct Intent
One of the most critical factors in improving your website’s conversion rate is targeting the right keywords. This means choosing keywords relevant to your business and the intent of your target audience.
There are three key phrases to consider when determining keywords: top of the funnel, mid-funnel, and bottom of the funnel.
Top-of-funnel keywords are informational, while mid and bottom-of-funnel keywords are more transactional.
To find the right keywords, you can use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, and Uber Suggests, which are incredibly powerful and accurate in their results to help you identify the most relevant and impactful keywords for your content, your goals, and your target audience.
High-Quality Content
Creating high-quality, helpful content is critical to improving your website’s conversion rate. Your content should be informative, engaging, and relevant to your target audience. It should also be optimized with the right keywords and structured to make it easy to read and navigate.
If you do not provide visitors with the information they are looking for, they will not only leave your page, they will be unlikely to convert now or at any time in the future.
This is why you cannot simply stuff keywords into a piece of content and expect it to produce conversions. Not only is the search engine algorithm smart enough to recognize thin content, but your target audience will also be unimpressed.
High-quality content with high-value information can increase brand trust and potentially increase conversions.
Page Experience
A good page experience is crucial for guiding users toward conversion. This includes page layout, formatting, media, and calls-to-action (CTAs). The page layout should be clean and easy to navigate, with a clear information hierarchy. Headers, bullet points, and short paragraphs can make the content more scannable and easier to consume.
In addition to layout and formatting, using media such as images, videos, and infographics can help break up the text and make the content more engaging. However, it’s vital to ensure that the media is relevant and supports the content rather than distracting from it.
CTAs are also a critical component of page experience. They should be clear, prominent, and placed strategically throughout the page, such as at the end of a section or following a critical point. It’s essential to test different variations of CTAs to determine which ones are most effective at driving conversions.
Finally, page speed is another crucial factor that can impact page experience. Users are less likely to convert if a page has a slow load time. Optimizing images and videos, minimizing HTTP requests, and using a content delivery network (CDN) to improve page speed is essential.
Overall, a good page experience involves creating a user-friendly, engaging, fast-loading page that guides users toward conversion. By paying attention to these factors, website owners can improve their conversion rates and, ultimately, their bottom line.
Guide Users Down the Conversion Funnel
A good internal linking strategy can guide your visitors down the conversion funnel. This means linking to relevant content and pages within your website to help visitors find what they want and move toward a conversion.
For example, if you have a blog post discussing the benefits of a particular product or service, you can include links to the product page or a landing page with more information about the product. This way, users can easily access the information they need to make an informed decision and are more likely to convert.
It is wise to incorporate internal links to provide an optimal user experience strategically. However, overusing them can give your website a spammy appearance, so it is best to use them judiciously.
Additionally, having a clear and logical website structure is crucial to guide users down the sales funnel. The website structure should reflect the different stages of the buyer journey and make it easy for users to move from one step to another. For example, a straightforward navigation menu highlighting key product categories or services can help users quickly find the necessary information.
Finally, providing a clear call-to-action (CTA) on each page can help guide users down the sales funnel. As previously mentioned, the CTA should be prominently displayed. The goal of a CTA is to encourage users to take action, whether it’s making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter, so a well-placed CTA can be the final push a user needs to convert.
Encourage Signups/Subscriptions
Encouraging signups or subscriptions is a great way to increase your website’s conversion rate. By capturing the user’s email address, you can continue to market to them and build a relationship over time, eventually leading to a sale or conversion. It’s important to note that these conversions are considered micro conversions, as they are not the end goal but rather a step in the conversion process.
To encourage signups or subscriptions, it’s crucial to have an enticing offer or incentive. This can be a free guide or resource, exclusive access to content or promotions, or a newsletter with valuable information. The offer should be displayed on top and mid-funnel content, as these are the pages where users are still in the research phase and more likely to be receptive to signing up.
Be sure the signup process is simple and straightforward. Avoid asking for too much information upfront, which can turn users off and lead to a lower conversion rate. Instead, ask for just the essentials, such as their name and email address, and make the process as simple as possible.
It’s important to note that you should avoid adding signup forms or pop-ups to bottom-funnel pages, such as checkout or thank-you pages. These pages should be kept clean and focused on completing the final conversion without any distractions. However, you can still capture the user’s email address during checkout by including an opt-in checkbox for your newsletter or other marketing communications.
A strong email list can also provide valuable data and insights into your audience, helping you better tailor your marketing efforts and improve your overall conversion rate.
Key Takeaways
SEO can greatly improve your website’s conversion rates by targeting the right audience, creating high-quality content, improving page experience, guiding users down the conversion funnel, encouraging signups and subscriptions, and utilizing remarketing. Optimizing your site for conversion can turn more visitors into customers and grow your business.
If you want to improve your website’s conversion rates through SEO and CRO, consider partnering with WDK. We offer comprehensive SEO services, including local SEO services, designed to help businesses like yours succeed online. Contact us today to learn more!
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