CRO & SEO: the Combination of Strategies for Efficient Results

‍Let’s say that you’ve recently driven a successful SEO campaign. The targeted visitors see your website, Google recommends it to everyone with a related search, and you gain the desired traffic. Congratulations! It is indeed enough for a blog or an educational website. But not for businesses.

‍In today’s realities, SEO optimization cannot fulfill businesses’ needs. After attracting users, you want them to buy your products in services – in marketing language, to get conversions. And that’s the moment when a good marketer uses CRO. Conversion rate optimization attracts people and convinces them to purchase (or at least fill in the lead form). See how SEO and CRO work together and why CRO is not a reason to neglect SEO optimization.

‍First of all, let’s see what those approaches are apart. Talking in simple terms, here’s how it works:

• SEO brings traffic, and CRO brings conversions;
• SEO attracts visitors, and CRO brings customers;
• SEO makes people see you, and CRO convinces them to engage with you.

‍This is possible due to special optimization states — both machine optimization and your marketer’s job matter. But let’s dive into both tools before combining SEO and CRO to drive engagement.

SEO: a Practice to Increase Your Website’s Visibility

‍SEO is a whole range of techniques with one goal. They improve your content ranking in search engines like Google, Bing, and others. Basically, search engines look for keywords in your texts and videos to understand the topic and relevancy of your content. The word “content” is used for a purpose – unlike a common opinion, SEO is not limited to websites. It also sees subtitles in your YouTube videos and descriptions under Instagram and TikTok posts. That is why businesses cannot neglect text even in the era of media content. Text and keywords are what drive SEO.

‍What about the result? After typing their request, people see you in search engines. They open your content more often than other pieces of content. You become visible. But that’s not the final purpose.

CRO: Gaining Customers

‍CRO is all about website optimization. While SEO is focused on bringing users – and uses keywords for it, CRO makes them stay and take the desired action. It includes several methods:

1. Researching current users. Experts use tracking tools that record user’s actions on the site. It helps to see the strong and weak points. For example, if your customer cannot find the shopping cart, it is time to move it somewhere.
2. Testing. What if you don’t have users at all? In this case, tests are conducted. Online tools allow us to find people, ready to participate in research. Send them to the website and see how they interact. After that, CRO specialists conduct and survey and see the records of people interacting with a product.
3. A/B testing. Who said you could test one hypothesis online? By creating several website versions, you can see which one is better for a user. It concludes different types of catalogs, buttons, or text – different anything, depending on what you test.
4. UX and UI design. For a good CRO result, the website must be intuitive, user-friendly, and motivate people to engage. All this is possible with the help of design, button placement, headers or bottom menus, etc.
5. Personalization. You’ve heard about this trend everywhere, but it indeed works. Personalization includes individual recommendations, real-person support, optimizing websites to a user’s location, etc. All this breaks the ice of a digital world.

‍Overall, CRO is about making the site good enough for people to use it. That’s it!

SEO and CRO vs. Ads

‍Despite differences, SEO and CRO have one thing in common – they are free. Those are no-cost methods of optimization. SEO attracts people with the help of search engine ranking. CRO engages with them with the help of friendly optimization. Basically, you don’t pay for this traffic.

‍Meanwhile, social media or search engine ads are paid. You attract traffic using advertisements, and the ads tool finds people related to your content. Which tool is better? The truth is that they cannot work separately. You won’t convert even the best-paid traffic if your website is not CRO-optimized. So, before spending budgets on ads, consider what is CRO in SEO and use their strategies.

‍Using CRO tips and SEO tools separately will not yield much. See what strategies combine both marketing spheres and bring the best results.

Optimize for SEO, Write for People

‍UMake sure your content is primarily created for real people. Include promotion materials, useful information, and advice, or engage people to communicate – all this depends on your strategy and TOV. However, don’t forget about optimization. For instance, don’t use only SEO keywords and try LSI words as well. Here is the secret – when your content is related to the topic and is written well, you won’t need to insert keywords and LSI intentionally. Why? Because they’ll appear in the text on their own.

‍UUse tools like Google Keywords Planner and other systems to ensure you insert related words, popular in web searches. But don’t rely on them too much; of course, never adapt your content to put as many keywords as possible. Search engines like content for humans.

Incorporate Clear CTAs

‍UCall to action is what makes clients engage with your product and makes the desired action. Whether it is “place an order”, “add to cart”, “log in”, or other CTAs, make sure they are understandable both for people and search engines. How? Incorporate keywords naturally.

Use the Power of Social Proof

‍UFirst – it matches Google’s attention to personal experience in texts. Since 2024, search engines check the quality of your text and examine if the content contains personal thoughts and experiences. Basically, that’s what makes content unique and human. Luckily, it matches CRO strategies as well. Testimonials, reviews, and cases show your experience and make people trust you. Add a little storytelling – and you’ll also expand the reading time.

Ensure Site Speed for People and Machines

‍UIn the era of fast Internet, no one will wait for your website to load – neither machines nor people. Use website optimization tools to make it load faster. It includes media content compression, better website building, and reduction of unnecessary elements. Review your site map to find unnecessary pages (bet you didn’t even know about a part of them). Finally, use automatic tools that speed up loading.

‍UFirst, it is beneficial for SEO tools. Search engines consider your site’s loading speed during indexation. Secondly, you help your viewers to receive content faster.

Ensure Mobile Versions

‍UStatistics say that 50% of web traffic globally comes from mobile devices. Isn’t it proof that websites’ mobile versions are no less important than full ones? And, once again, it contributes both to SEO optimization and CRO. But don’t get it wrong – a mobile website is not just a vertical version of your platform. Make sure it is indeed comfortable for real people:

1. Buttons and menus should be large enough for touchscreens.
2. Cater to a hamburger menu structure, so it is easy to navigate through a smartphone.
3. Don’t make users scroll too much – make content short and easy to open.
4. Don’t forget about the “go up” functions to limit scrolling, too.
5. Make content scannable – use bold font and subheadings. It makes reading on smartphones easier.

‍Finally, adapt media content as well. Sometimes it means cutting images – for example, vertical photos are more common for a mobile device than horizontal ones.

Personalize Your Pages

‍Use customers’ browser history and demographics to make the website individual. First, it attracts more people and makes content related. For example, an online shop that automatically detects a client’s country is easier to use than a global one. Secondly, you can optimize SEO search to geographical locations as well. Use narrow keywords in your dynamic content like catalogs.

Optimize Landing Pages

‍That’s what many marketers forget. Even if you create a landing page for ads, use keyword optimization as well. It creates a perfect combination of promotional and optimized content. While the landing structure is explicitly created for conversion, keyword optimization can attract more visitors from organic searches.

‍However, don’t over-spam here. On a landing page, SEO specialists should be especially cautious – it is the last step of the client’s communication, aimed at conversion. Don’t use too many keywords or LSI since a person reads this page attentively. Just insert keys in CTAs, meta tags, and subheadings.

Consider Other SEO Metrics

‍Keywords aren’t the only things important for SEO. But it is good news. In 2024, metrics for SEO and CRO are similar. Both consider how much time a person spends on a site, how many buttons they click, and what particular pages they open. How to get a good result? Easy – create a high-quality website using CRO tools. This way, you contribute both to search engines and real visitors.

‍For a busy reader – here’s what you should know about CRO and SEO strategies:

• SEO optimizes your site for more visitors using keywords.
• CRO is the website optimization that makes users engaged.
• Unlike paid ads, those are free measures aimed at organic traffic.
• Combined together, SEO and CRO provide the best possible result.
• Strategies include a combination of visual content with keywords, crafting SEO texts, focusing on real-human readers, and using keywords for conversion-focused landing pages.
• Incorporate social media into your website. This way, you can add more keyword value without spamming.

‍Finally, the whole idea lies in planning. Ensure your SEO and CRO campaigns are organized to support and suit each other. Attract visitors only to an optimized site, and optimize the site according to your visitors’ actions.