If you’ve just started learning digital marketing, it’s easy to confuse SEO and CRO. They share some similarities and often cross paths, not to mention both are three-letter marketing strategies.
However, they serve very different purposes.
Here’s a quick metaphor. Have you ever walked into a convenience store, like 7-Eleven?
SEO is all about getting your store found. Think of it as listing your business in a business listing or promoting the business on the community bulletin board.
CRO, on the other hand, focuses on turning those visitors into buyers. It is much like placing products where they’re easy to spot, setting up the cashier near popular items, or running a “buy one, get one free.”
Let’s discuss both.
What exactly are SEO and CRO?
Search Engine Optimization is all about making your website more visible to search engines (but to be real, most just focus on Google). The goal of SEO is simple: to bring in a steady stream of visitors by ranking higher in search results.
Conversion Rate Optimization steps in once those visitors arrive at your website. It’s the process of fine-tuning your website to guide users toward taking a specific action. Its purpose is to increase the number of visitors who actually take action.
The key differences between SEO and CRO
SEO and CRO focus on very different goals.
SEO is primarily about gaining traffic. Specifically, getting people to your website from search engines by improving its visibility.
Key metrics in SEO include:
- Organic traffic volume: How much organic search engine traffic a page receives.
- Keyword rankings: This is how highly a page ranks in the search engines.
SEO has quite a few subcategories:
- On-page SEO: Optimizing individual pages on your website.
- Off-page SEO: Mostly about building backlinks and the process behind it.
- Technical SEO: Ensuring your site is fast, mobile-friendly, and easy to crawl.
- Local SEO: Optimizing for location-based searches.
Success in SEO is mainly measured by how many people find and visit your site through search engines and the quality of that traffic.
CRO, on the other hand, is about conversions. Once visitors land on your site, it ensures they make a purchase, fill out a form, or click on a specific button.
Key metrics in CRO include:
- Conversion rate: The percentage of users that take the desired action. For eCommerce, it could be sales or adding an item to their cart.
- Bounce rate: Percentage of users who immediately press the back button or close the browser as soon as they see your website.
- Average session duration: The average time your users spent on site.
And like SEO, CRO has a few subcategories, too:
- A/B Testing: Comparing two versions of a page or element to see which performs better.
- User Experience Design: Improving site usability to encourage actions.
- Landing Page Optimization: Designing pages specifically to convert visitors.
- Personalization: Tailoring the user experience based on demographics or behavior.
TL;DR: While SEO brings people to your door, CRO gets them to engage with what you offer.
How are SEO and CRO similar?
While SEO and CRO have distinct goals, they share some common ground, making them a perfect pair in digital marketing.
Both focus on improving the user experience. SEO ensures users can easily find your site through relevant search results, while CRO ensures they have a smooth and enjoyable experience once they’re there. Both processes involve optimizing your website to meet user expectations.
They also share a reliance on data-driven decisions. Both strategies benefit from analytics to see what’s working (and also what doesn’t).Finally, the end goal of both is the same: growing your business.
The synergy between SEO and CRO
SEO and CRO, when done right, complement each other beautifully. It creates a seamless flow from attracting visitors to converting them.
For example, good SEO drives high-quality traffic to your site. These are people who are genuinely interested in what you offer. But without CRO expertise, that precious traffic can go to waste if your site just frustrates them into leaving.
On the flip side, even the best CRO efforts won’t matter if you don’t have enough traffic to convert.
The magic happens when the two work together. For instance, optimizing your landing pages for keywords (an SEO tactic) while ensuring they’re clear and user-friendly (a CRO tactic) means you’re both attracting the right audience and making it easy for them to start buying.
Another synergy between the two is how good CRO indirectly influences search engine positions. Search engines assess user engagement (such as time spent on your site or bounce rates) and reward those with high engagements with higher placement.
Tips for combining SEO and CRO in your marketing efforts
Balancing SEO and CRO is a key to creating a high-performing website. Here are some actionable tips:
Never lose sight of traffic intent
This is super important. A lot of marketers focus so much on traffic volume that they forget user intent. For example, if you’re targeting keywords with “buy” or “best” in them, be sure to match that expectation. Don’t give them a single product. Offer them product comparisons or lists.
If the intent is not a match, then your visitors will just go back to searching, which hurts both your conversion rates and search engine rankings. Always think like your users and ask, “What would I want to see here?”
A fast site is a sticky site
Page load speed impacts everything: your rankings, user satisfaction, and ultimately, conversions. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, visitors are likely to abandon it, no matter how great your offer is.
Here’s a handy checklist to keep your site speedy:
- Compress images.
- Use caching tools or plugins.
- Choose a reliable hosting provider.
- Sign up for a CDN (like Cloudflare).
Simplify your site navigation
A well-organized site structure is a win-win for both SEO and CRO. Search engines love clear navigation because it makes crawling and indexing your pages easier. Users love it because it helps them quickly find what they need.
Here are a few tips:
- Use clear, descriptive labels for your menu.
- Limit the depth of your navigation (three clicks max when finding key landing pages).
- Include breadcrumbs to guide your users through your site.
Final thoughts
SEO and CRO might have different goals, but they work together for your business growth. Strike a balance between these, and you can create a website that drives both traffic and action.
Now’s the time to evaluate your site. Is your SEO bringing in the right traffic? Is your CRO turning that traffic into tangible results? If not, why are you still here? Go and take action!