Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a practice of optimizing your website or landing page experience based on website visitors’ behavior to help improve the percentage of users who complete a specific action. According to Niel Patel, a renowned digital marketing expert, CRO is all about getting the maximum percentage of your site’s visitors to take the desired action. This action could range from signing up for a newsletter, downloading a free ebook, completing a purchase, etc.
CRO isn’t just about driving more traffic to your site; it’s about improving the overall site experience and persuading users already visiting your site to take action. It typically involves numerous elements from site design, UX, content, to testing different versions of your site or specific pages to identify which performs best
As per MOZ, an authority in SEO, while CRO and SEO are distinct disciplines, they complement each other. Here’s how:
1. Better User Experience: Because Google favors user-friendly websites, a well-optimized site with a good user experience will likely rank higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). The better the user experience, the higher the conversion rate will tend to be.
1. Lower Bounce Rates: When users spend more time interacting with your page (a potential result of good CRO), they are less likely to bounce away — a feature that search engines perceive as a positive user experience.
1. Stronger Organic Presence: The combination of SEO-friendly content, powerful keywords, and high conversion rates can help boost your site’s organic visibility. The more people click and convert, the better your site will seem to Google search bots.
CRO, when combined with SEO, can greatly improve the online visibility, traffic, and conversion rates of your site, which would eventually lead to increased revenue.
To illustrate, think of SEO as a vehicle to bring visitors to your site, while CRO is the mechanism that converts those visitors into customers. Only by using both strategies can you ensure your website is as potent as possible.
To sum up, CRO is purely about turning visitors into customers. It works hand in hand with SEO, intersecting in areas such as site speed, mobile optimization, user experience, and content quality. Together, they can create a synergistic effect that leads to greater website success.
Sources:
- “The Definitive Guide to Conversion Optimization,” Neil Patel.
- “The Relationship Between SEO and CRO,” Moz.
- “What is Conversion Rate Optimization?” Crazy Egg.
- “How SEO and CRO Can Work Together to Drive Business Growth,” Hubspot.