How CRO and SEO Go Hand in Hand

Just like web development strategies in the rest of the major cities around the US, CRO in Dallas has to have a customized structure and plan that matches up with the specific needs of the website that is being optimized. When strategists try to compile a plan that is based on a general practice solution, they can miss the important components of the identity of the business they are developing the website for.

Some of the major components that matter in the implementation of CRO are:

• What the website is offering
• The target market of the website
• The tone of the business statement
• What the site users are attracted to

Each website will have its own set of characteristics that sets it apart from other websites. The people that visit the site will have specific needs. Appealing to the needs of the visitors is what counts.

What is CRO?

CRO is short for conversion rate optimization. The conversion rate of a website is the percentage of visitors that visit the site and follow through with a specified goal. A conversion is when a visitor converts from being a regular visitor into a paying customer.

The process of optimizing a site for higher conversion rates is known as conversion rate optimization.

The way that conversion rate experts optimize a website is through various means such as:

• Data analysis
• A/B testing
• Forms and interactive questionnaires
• Feedback from users

Most of the time when a conversion rate specialist implements changes in the content of the website to increase conversion rates it is after a series of trial and error tests that show where the site is failing and where it is doing what it is supposed to do.

Quantitative CRO vs. Qualitative CRO

Because there is no cut-and-dry solution to imploring more people to buy products or services from a website that they visit, the way to optimize for better results will vary from website to website.

There are a number of factors that will cause a person to stay on a website, or flee from a website.

Quantitative CRO is a method that uses numeric data to paint a picture of how many people visit the website and where they come from when they get there. In addition to the number of visitors to the site, data collecting platforms such as Google Analytics can provide information that shows where visitors go when they visit a site, how they progress towards a goal and the duration of time that they stay on certain pages.

Qualitative CRO is a method that obtains intelligent data such as why a visitor visited the site in the first place, and what made them stay on the pages once they were there. Instead of using software applications to collect the necessary data, a webmaster can use forms, emails, and other types of questions to ask the users questions about their visit to the site.

After the analysis of the data, a webmaster can strategically implement changes on the website that could contribute to a higher conversion rate. Many of the changes that are made are:

• Images
• Heading content
• Call to action locations
• Meta descriptions on pages

When the developer gets a feel for the audience of the website, they can try various means to attract more attention and inspire users to move along towards the goal of conversion.

What Does SEO Have to do With It?

SEO, also known as search engine optimization, is a method of creating an environment that compliments the visibility of a website in the search engines based on specific keywords and key phrases.

There are two forms of SEO:

• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO

Both of these types of SEO are crucial, and necessary, in order to have powerful search engine visibility.

The bottom line is that if a website is not visible in the search engines the odds of them making conversions is pretty slim.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is when the developer of the website has search engine optimization in mind during the creation of the site. There are several factors involved that help to raise the importance of the website in the eyes of the search engines.

• Page titles
• Page headings
• Page content
• Page structure
• Link structure

In order to create a perfect environment for search engine visibility the pages must have keyword content, however, it has to be balanced out in a way that does not appear spammy or false.

One of the factors that can get overlooked at times is the importance of titles and meta descriptions. The meta description of the page is the little block of text that appears beneath the search result in the search engine.

That little tiny paragraph, which should not be longer than 160 characters, tells the world a brief description of what the page has to offer. While it is arguable whether or not the meta description has anything to do with search results, the fact is that it has everything to do with whether or not somebody will click on the result and visit the site.

Off-Page SEO

One of the main strategies for off-page SEO is when a developer creates multiple quality backlinks around the internet. Some of the best backlinks come from business listing sites that provide general information about the business behind the website along with a link back to the site.

Another common strategy is to have high-quality blogs written and posted on websites that have high domain authority. The blogs will contain backlinks to the site.

Some of the components of effective off-page SEO are:

• Quality backlinks
• Off-site mentions
• Off-site citations
• High-quality articles

Off-page SEO helps to give a solid identity to the website that shows it to be important and trustworthy.

SEO and CRO Together

Both search engine optimization and conversion rate optimization require quite a bit of work and planning. In some instances, the website needs to be visible in the search engines in order to create more conversion rates, and in other cases, the website appears everywhere in searches, but people that visit the site fail to convert.

We mentioned the importance of meta descriptions earlier in this article. Where the meta descriptions in a site provide information in search engine results, the data and content on the site will guide users from one side of the spectrum to the other.

Visitors will react to the first thing they notice on the site when they visit. Whether it is a great, vibrant graphic, or an attention-grabbing phrase what the visitor feels when the see the content will be the deciding factor on where they travel throughout the site, or if they simply bounce away.

SEO provides a link for people to find what they are searching for:

• Keywords
• Keyphrases
• Locality
• Availability

If users are searching the web for “dish soap” and they find your site in the results there is an opportunity that could result in a conversion for you. If you sell dish soap, of course.

When searches find content that leads to your site once they get to your pages it is important that there is a clear path for them to get to where they are looking for.

When a website is visible in the search engines and has an optimal conversion rate strategy in place there is no stopping it. Visitors can easily find what they are looking for in the search engines, and once they get to the site they can easily get to their goals. This is exactly why SEO and CRO go hand in hand in order to make a successful web endeavor.