Why You Need to Integrate SEO And CRO to Increase ROI

Intro

Optimization. It’s a term known by anybody in business whose company has an effective digital presence.

You’ve doubtless read the question ‘Is your site optimized?’ dozens of times in articles like this one. And, very often, that question would have referred to SEO – another term millions of business owners will be familiar with.

Yet, when it comes to optimizing websites and landing pages, SEO is only part of the deal. An effective website has to implement CRO, too.

The online world is becoming increasingly complicated and competitive. But whether you want to improve your company’s digital ecommerce experience or create compelling content that sells a service, you must balance SEO to bring customers to your website with CRO that delivers conversions once they’re there.

Rather than competing, SEO and CRO should work in harmony. Easier said than done? Of course. Yet, it certainly can be done – and this article will show you how.

What is SEO?

According to The Business Research Company’s 2021 SEO Services Global Market Report, the global SEO market value is expected to exceed $103bn by 2025, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CADR) of 20%.

It’s safe to say businesses recognize SEO as being critical to their own growth. But what exactly is SEO, and why is it so impactful?

SEO is short for search engine optimization. It refers to the optimization of a website or a single web page in an effort to improve the page’s ranking in the organic results on search engines (i.e. Google).

The most recognized aspect of SEO is the inclusion of SEO-friendly keywords in a web page’s content. That is, one or more keywords or phrases that a user will type into a search engine when looking for a product or service that that business can deliver through its site.

Should a web page contain those keywords among its well-written, original content, then the likelihood of its link making it to the top of Google (or equivalent) considerably increases. The link will take a user to that page, turning it into what’s called a landing page.

(Image Sourced from researchandmarkets.com)

But nowadays, an effective SEO strategy extends beyond keywords. It also includes analyzing customer data and calculating customers’ retention and lifetime value. These activities ensure a company’s entire online presence – and all channel interactions – can be optimized for improved SERP rankings.

Given the sheer volume of content on the web today, it’s safe to say that without effective SEO, a business simply isn’t going to get the traffic it needs to its web pages.

What is CRO?

While well-executed SEO is terrific for obtaining traffic, getting that traffic is only a means to an end. That is, it’s only worthwhile if you do something with it. This is where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in.

CRO aims to increase the rate of users taking a predetermined action on a landing page. That action may be to purchase a product or service, download a brochure, or subscribe to an email newsletter.

Essentially, CRO involves improving the user experience on your website. By understanding user behavior, actions on landing pages, and conversion goals, you can improve your CRO.

So, for example, just as call center operators have to get to the bottom of each query in their call queues by identifying and understanding their callers’ needs and wants, a company must understand its customers, their needs, and their wants to do CRO right.

With that in mind, to increase CRO, a landing page must strive to deliver a great user experience with a well-executed and easy-to-follow customer funnel.

That requires empowering optimization by analyzing SEO data and understanding those landing page visitors by leveraging the data.

Why should SEO and CRO be integrated?

SEO and CRO are powerful strategies in their own right. Yet, while they’re often categorized and approached as two separate entities, for either to be successful, they have to work towards the same aim: increasing traffic and customer conversions to ultimately generate more ROI.

In other words, SEO and CRO are intrinsically linked. Ultimately, one leads to – and facilitates – the other to achieve the same thing.

According to Hubspot’s 2021 State of Marketing Report, more than 50% of marketers cite keyword rankings and organic traffic as the key ways they measure their SEO strategy success.

(Image Sourced from Hubspot.com)

So, are they right to prioritize these two SEO aims ahead of all others? While it may seem like a solid SEO strategy, it depends on what an individual business deems most important from their SEO efforts.

That’s to say, should they deploy an SEO strategy that achieves traffic and that alone, or should it also work to enable their CRO strategy to deliver the conversions they need? Should its SEO and CRO processes be integrated into one overall strategy?

Failing to recognize that SEO and CRO must work in harmony can cause either or both to essentially become useless and ineffective. For instance, let’s say that, due to the results of A/B tests, a team focusing on CRO alters the content on a company’s landing page.

The team adds CTAs and customer reviews to the page, making room for the new content by removing SEO-friendly, carefully selected keywords. The result? The page’s conversions improve, but its SERP ranking drops off a cliff.

Alternatively, suppose a team focuses on SEO without considering the effects on CRO. In that case, they may end up replacing customer testimonials and snackable video content on a page with keyword-rich, descriptive SEO copy.

The result? You’ve got it – better rankings on Google and more traffic, but fewer conversions.

The fact is the relationship between SEO and CRO is so symbiotic they must be planned and implemented together. That way, the aims of both are met and the overarching aim of improved ROI can be delivered.

How to balance SEO and CRO

When it’s done right, making CRO changes to improve the user experience should boost page conversions as well as SEO processes, enhancing rankings via smart SERP checks.

How so? Well, less can definitely be more. You don’t need to clutter a web page with all manner of different products for users to choose between, otherwise it can crowd SEO-friendly keyword content and be overwhelming for users.

Similarly, CTAs with demanding orders can be too much (try ‘Click here’ instead of ‘Purchase here’), as can above-the-fold CTAs (they really can look a bit desperate).

What tends to work better is a CTA offering a user-required solution that immediately follows a question in a keyword-rich paragraph – a question prompting that very solution. This is a brilliant example of well-planned and well-realised content that satisfies the aims of both SEO and CRO.

(Free to use image sourced from Unsplash)

Don’t forget that CRO is about delivering an improved user experience. That means applying digital tools to ensure visitors experience your landing page more naturally and intuitively.

For instance, the page’s design needs to be responsive and easy to navigate. Page speed is critical, too, as users today simply don’t tolerate slow sites or apps.

Think of it this way: if customers call your business, you can implement a call waiting setting to help your team manage incoming calls and avoid sending customers to voicemail.

However, in the online world, there is no call waiting. Website visitors will expect to be put through to their chosen page at the click of a button and have a quick and seamless experience. Simply put, if you want to convert leads, your website can’t afford to be slow, clunky, or unintuitive.

Final thoughts

Today’s online landscape means companies are vying for customers’ attention and business. Chances are you’ve already implemented a few streamlined processes that help you to achieve your goals. For example, perhaps your content team uses a social media inbox to manage communications across all platforms as part of a wider strategy.

Similarly, creating a content marketing plan that combines quality SEO with effective CRO is the ultimate way to make your business stand out in the digital world.

But your work doesn’t stop there. It’s vital to analyze and leverage data in order to improve. Embrace analytical tools to continuously test your content and improve your SEO and CRO practices to drive growth.

While SEO and CRO can work separately, integrating the two is essential for enticing visitors to your website and converting them into customers. Working hand-in-hand, the successful implementation of these practices can boost your SERP rankings, website, traffic, macro conversions (customer purchases), and micro conversions (newsletter sign-ups) even further.