Correlation Between Conversion Optimization & SEO

As SEOs, our job is to increase the amount of qualified traffic to clients’ brands with the intention of having end users buy something, fill out a form, download a brochure or perform other actions on a site.

While enhancing traffic is great, it does not necessarily result in more sales. So how do we actually get our clients more business through organic search? The answer is very simple: conversion optimization.

Conversion optimization is the strongest way to improve your customers’ earnings and conversions from end users. We can optimize every component of a website (e.g., technical, links, on-page, social and so on), but if users do not convert, our efforts toward driving qualified traffic through organic search aren’t as useful (unless traffic is your primary KPI).

There’s an extremely close correlation between conversion optimization and Search Engine Optimization. So, the two must work together to turn visitors into customers.

How Can We Improve Conversion With SEO?

This really is the million-dollar question that a lot of us scratch our heads about. Yet, there are some things that you should do to enhance conversions through organic search.

Simply stated, it’s all about intent. Google’s Digital Marketing evangelist, Avinash Kaushik, came up with See-Think-Do: A Content, Advertising, Measurement Business Framework, a framework that categorizes users into different consideration phases predicated on motive.

See refers to your greatest potential audience. Think is the audience “delineated by even the tiniest quantity of intention.” Do is the consideration stage for users who are truly looking to buy something.

Understanding and making sure you have the right content based on intent at all stages of the user journey can greatly improve your conversion rates. If you serve end users with something that they desire in “the second” — whether they’re studying something, thinking about doing something or looking to buy something — your likelihood of enhancing conversions will substantially raise.

Work really closely with your analytics team to uncover why users aren’t converting and one more way to increase conversions from SEO is to look at user behavior.

Numbers do not lie. Have a look at your analytics and see where users are rebounding at various landing pages on your site. Also, consider answering the following questions from an end-user perspective.

1. Is your website easy to navigate?
2. Do you use simple call-to-action statements?
3. Is it true that your site have a one-step conversion process which makes it simple for end users to accomplish the best end goal (e.g., a booklet downloading or purchase)?
4. Does your page load quickly enough, and is your site mobile-friendly?
5. Does your site have content that matches the needs of end users, and is your content valuable?

In case the reply to any of those questions is “no,” you should take a closer look at your site and content strategy and make some changes.

Where Are Your Users Going? What Exactly Are They Doing On Your Website?

There are a number of different analytics instruments, among them Crazy Egg, that will provide insights from a heat map on where users are clicking on your site.

If you determine that users are clicking on a particular section of your landing pages instead of your call-to-action triggers, make changes and keep testing until you come closer to reaching your conversion goals.

Naturally, you must always examine components and different landing pages of your site using A/B and multivariate testing. There are several different instruments, like Optimzely, that can help you discover what works best for your audience.

What Are Users Saying?

Another way to figure out why your users aren’t converting would be to ask them by conducting usability evaluations with tools like Clicktale and by conducting surveys using different survey platforms.

This may enable you to find insights into what challenges users face when navigating through your website and find out why they don’t convert.

Closing Thoughts

Conversion optimization and SEO are joined at the hip. SEOs must focus on increasing conversions when delivering qualified traffic to their clients’ websites.

In order to do that, we must make sure all of our clients have sound content strategies based on intent at all stages of the user journey and moment. Then we must work closely with the analytics team and review data, taking the necessary steps to find out why users are not converting and turn them into customers.