Can SEO Improve My Conversion Rate? (If So, How)-SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing websites to improve organic visibility and rankings on search engines like Google and Bing. Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, such as filling out a form, buying a product, or subscribing to a service.

Although these two digital marketing strategies are different, you may be wondering if they can work together. This leads to the question:

Can SEO improve my conversion rate?

In this article, we will explain if SEO can improve your conversion rate, and if so, then how does SEO increase conversion rates for your products and services across your website.

Can SEO Improve My Conversion Rate?

SEO can improve your conversion rate by attracting more relevant and engaged visitors who are interested in your products or services. SEO can also be highly effective at driving website conversions by persuading visitors to take action.

How SEO Can Improve Your Conversion Rate

1. SEO Optimizes for User Intent

User intent is the goal or purpose behind a user’s search query. It reflects what they want to know, do, or buy when they use a search engine.

By using SEO to optimize your website for user intent, you can match your content with what your visitors are looking for, and provide them with value and solutions. As a result, SEO can improve your conversion rate optimization because you’re attracting the right type of visitor and delivering the exact content they want to consume.

To optimize for user intent, you need to conduct keyword research and understand the different types of search intent: informational, navigational, transactional, and commercial.

For example, if someone searches for “how to fix a leaky faucet”, they have an informational intent and want to learn how to solve their problem. Therefore, your web page should list a step-by-step guide on how to fix a faucet.

Compare that example to someone searching for “best plumber near me”. They have a transactional intent and want to hire a service provider. Therefore, you should create and optimize a web page that lists your plumbing services, contact details, and pricing, to help rank in Google for the search query and convert that visitors into a lead, customer, or sale.

By creating content that aligns with the user’s intent, you can increase your relevance and authority on search engines, and improve your click-through rate (CTR) and dwell time. You can also guide your visitors through the buyer’s journey and persuade them to take action.

2. SEO Improves Site Speed

Site speed is the time it takes for your website to load on a browser or device. It is one of the ranking factors that search engines use to evaluate your website’s performance and user experience. It is also one of the factors that affect your conversion rate.

According to Google, 53% of mobile users abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. A slow site can frustrate your visitors, increase your bounce rate, reduce credibility, and lower conversion rates.

On the other hand, a fast site can impress your visitors, retain their attention, increase their satisfaction, and boost website conversions.

To improve your site speed, you need to use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom to identify and diagnose the issues that are slowing down your web pages.

Some of the common issues are:

• Large or unoptimized images.
• Excessive or render-blocking JavaScript or CSS.
• Unnecessary redirects or broken links.
• Poor web hosting or server response time.
• Excessive use of videos.
• Slow web host.
• Too many website plugins.

By fixing these issues, you can improve your site speed and enhance your website’s performance and usability to help increase your conversion rate with SEO.

3. SEO Improves Conversions On Mobile Devices

Mobile devices are increasingly becoming the preferred way for people to access online content. According to Statista, 54% of global web traffic came from mobile devices in 2021 and that number continues to grow.

Optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial for SEO and conversion rate optimization. Mobile optimization means making your website responsive, user-friendly, and fast on different screen sizes and platforms.

It also means following the best practices and guidelines for mobile SEO, such as:

• Using a mobile-friendly design that adapts to different devices and orientations.
• Using legible fonts, images, and buttons that are easy to read and tap.
• Avoiding pop-ups, flash, or other elements that may interfere with the user experience.
• Using structured data and schema markup to enhance your search results.

By optimizing your website for mobile devices, you can improve your ranking on mobile search results, increase your mobile traffic, and boost your mobile conversion rates.

4. SEO Creates Engaging and Valuable Content

Content is the core of SEO and conversion rate optimization. Content is what attracts, informs, entertains, and persuades your visitors to take action on your website.

Content can be in various formats, such as text, images, videos, podcasts, infographics, ebooks, and more to attract website visitors.

Creating engaging and valuable content is key for SEO and conversion rates. Engaging content means content that captures and retains your visitors’ attention and interest. Valuable content means content that provides your visitors with useful information, solutions, or benefits so they don’t feel like they have to visit other websites to satisfy their needs.

To create engaging and valuable SEO content to increase conversion rates, you need to:

• Conduct keyword research and use relevant keywords in your content.
• Conduct audience research and understand their needs, pain points, and preferences.
• Create content that matches the user intent and the stage of the buyer’s journey.
• Use catchy headlines, subheadings, bullet points, images, videos, and other elements to make your content easy to scan and consume.
• Use storytelling techniques to make your content emotional and memorable.
• Use social proof, testimonials, case studies, statistics, and other elements to make your content credible and trustworthy.
• Update your content regularly and keep it fresh and relevant.

By creating engaging and valuable content, you can improve your ranking on search results, increase your organic traffic, and improve your conversion rate optimization.

5. SEO Enhances Your Call-to-Action

SEO can improve your call-to-action (CTA) by making it more visible, relevant, and persuasive for your website visitors. A CTA is a word or phrase that prompts your visitors to take a specific action, such as buying a product, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a free ebook. CTAs can be displayed as a button, a link, a form, or a text.

CTAs are essential for conversion rate optimization because they tell your visitors what to do next and how to achieve their goals. Without clear and compelling CTAs, your visitors may not know what action you want them to take or why they should take it.

SEO can help you optimize your CTAs for the following aspects:

• Visibility: SEO can help your web pages rank higher on search engines for keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for, and drive more organic traffic to your website. Additionally, SEO can also help you use design elements, such as colors, fonts, images, and placement, to make your CTA stand out on your web page and catch your visitors’ attention.
• Relevance: SEO can help you understand the user intent and the stage of the buyer’s journey of your visitors, and create content that matches their needs and expectations. SEO can also help you use keywords, headlines, subheadings, bullet points, and other elements to make your content easy to scan and consume. As a result, SEO can help you align your CTA with your content and offer value and solutions to your visitors to help increase clicks and conversion rates.
• Persuasion: SEO can help you draw attention to power words, emotional triggers, social proof, testimonials, statistics, and other elements to make your CTA compelling and trustworthy. SEO can be used with A/B testing methods so you can test different variations of your CTA on multiple web pages to see which ones perform better.

By improving your CTA with SEO, you can increase your click-through rate (CTR) and conversions for an increase in leaders, customers, and sales.

Summary for If SEO Can Improve My Conversion Rate

SEO can improve your conversion rate by attracting more relevant and engaged visitors who are interested in your products or services. SEO can also be highly effective at driving website conversions by persuading visitors to take action. By using SEO effectively as explained in this guide, you can optimize various aspects of your website that affect your conversion rates, such as user intent, site speed, mobile devices, CTAs, and content.

The Editorial Staff at SEO Chatter is a team of search engine optimization and digital marketing experts led by Stephen Hockman with more than 15 years of experience in search engine marketing. We publish guides on the fundamentals of SEO for beginner marketers.