SEO andConversion Optimization

Dave Bascom, CEOSEO.com

Scott Miller, CEOVertster.com

Maximize Your SEO EffortsBy Increasing Conversion Rates

How Do SEO and CRO Fit Together?

SEO widens the top of the funnel

CRO makes the bottom of the funnel fatter

End result – more leads, sales, customers, and happiness

What is Search Engine Optimization?Doing the things that will get your site to

the top of the organic search results

Organic/SEO

What’s the Business Impact of SEO?Substantial increase in traffic, leads, and sales

How much? Depends on rankings and search volume keywords

Real Life ExamplesB2B – Marketing Services company 18,484 monthly organic search visits 2.53% conversion rate 467 sales leads

B2C – Niche Software Product 46,691 monthly organic search visits 3.08% conversion rate 1,437 sales, $56K in revenue

B2C – Ecommerce 407,437 monthly organic search visits .36% conversion rate 1,479 transactions, $414K in revenue

SEO Conversion RatesConversion rates are normally high due to the nature of search traffic.There are no “typical” conversion rates for SEO traffic. Varies by keyword and search engine.Depends on several factors including:

− Buying stage of customer− Keyword− Landing page− Offer− Competition

Use Analytics to Identify Top Performers

Landing Pages

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Proactive marketing designed to get more customers from existing traffic

Improves your sales efficiency

More sales without more expense

It is way easier to double conversion rate than traffic

10% increase in

Order clicks

What is a Conversion and Whatcan be Optimized?

Leads Sales Revenue Stickiness Engagement Videos Ad Clicks Registration

Flow

40% Increase

Static Optimization Tactics

Bigger Buttons

Use the word “Free”

Credibility Seals- McCaffee, Thawte, BBB, Verisign

Testimonials

Guarantees

Promotions (20% off)

Scarcity (deal ends on [date], only 100 seats left!)

“ProActive Optimization”

A/B Testing Multivariate

Optimization Content Targeting Behavioral Targeting Dynamic Insertion

20% increase in

RPV

The Risks and Reward of CombiningSEO and Organic Traffic

Risks• Could Hurt Rankings?• Traffic is not targeted• Noisy Data == hard to get clear

results• Uncontrolled – SEO can help with

this• Unclear stance from Google

Google Says…

“Google doesn’t view the ethical use of MVT testing tools as cloaking.”

But…

“When a redirect link is embedded in JavaScript, the search engine indexes the original page rather than following the link, whereas users are taken to the redirect target. Like cloaking, this practice is deceptive because it displays different content to users and to Googlebot, and can take a visitor somewhere other than

where they intended to go.”

The Risks and Reward of CombiningSEO and Organic Traffic

Risks Could Hurt

Rankings? Traffic is not

targeted Noisy Data ==

hard to get clear results

Uncontrolled – SEO can help with this

Unclear stance from Google

Rewards Lots of traffic The traffic is “free” Potential for

significant increase in sales

Use segmentation to “mine” the data

Q & A