Conversion rate optimization (CRO) goes hand-in-hand with search engine optimization (SEO). As an SEO program matures, web pages will rank on page one in SERPs and begin driving significant traffic to your website. It is the goal of CRO to convert as much web traffic as possible with whichever conversion goal you have set, whether that’s a demo request or a piece of downloadable content.
Conversion rate optimization is the process of refining your site to encourage visitors to take the desired action that results in them entering your sales funnel as qualified leads. Conversion rate is most commonly measured as a simple ratio or percentage. If you get 1,000 people to visit your site, but only ten of them fill out a contact form, you’ve achieved a 1% conversion rate.
There is a different set of tactics for CRO compared to SEO. The main goal of CRO is to maximize the gain from your organic traffic. Another motivating factor for marketers is Google’s algorithm, which weighs in favor of web pages that have good user engagement metrics, thus allowing effective CRO can improve keyword rankings even further.
It’s not enough to just get your content to appear in search results. That will get people to come to your site, poke around, and learn a little about your company — but your real goal is to get people to engage with your site on a deeper level. You want them to fill out a form, download a piece of premium content, and ultimately introduce them into the sales cycle.
Conversion rate optimization should be treated as part of your SEO strategy despite CRO being so different. Improving conversion rate involves looking at the page itself, understanding the intent of each user, and determining how to better meet each of those users’ needs. In other words, you can optimize your conversion rate by improving your site’s user experience. Making pages as attractive and intuitive to navigate as possible is a great way to channel visitors toward the conversion actions you want them to take.
Prioritizing your site’s user experience not only paves the way to more inbound leads but also feeds back into the Google algorithm. The more conversions you secure, the better your website looks through the algorithm’s eyes. By maintaining a high-quality user experience visitors want to engage with, you’re demonstrating to Google that your content is relevant to users and deserves to be ranked highly.
So, if you currently have a poor conversion rate, you should address the problem by improving your user experience. Conversion rate is going to vary by industry, and MQL conversion is going to be a lower percentage than content downloads. Do some research on your industry and set targets on what qualifies as a “good” conversion rate for your conversion goals. Improving conversion rates will gradually increase the value of your search traffic and better user engagement will translate into improved search rankings.
