SEO is all about conversion rate

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by aolaybar, Mar 11, 2009.

  1. #1
    How can you measure your conversion rate? I was using Google analytics for a year and i found out that website conversion rate play a huge part in SEO. Why? If you're using analytics, watch your bouncing rate...

    My question, how could someone improve website conversion rate? What factor are you considering. Is it helpful if you develop your site conversion rather than making tons of related spammy pages on your webpages?
     
    aolaybar, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  2. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #2
    No it's not. Whilst conversions should not be overlooked, if you don't have any traffic to "convert" then you have even bigger problems to deal with.
     
    dcristo, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  3. seoz

    seoz Banned

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    #3
    i agree that the new definition of seo is termed in conversion. Ofcourse traffic is a major factor but then after so many social media its not really hard to generate 100 - 200 unique per day. But is it a quality traffic?
    and to increase the conversion first find out your most visited pages. Pick top three and then play with them.
    How? that's what a SEO Job is.... :)
     
    seoz, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  4. dcristo

    dcristo Illustrious Member

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    #4
    Social media marketing makes up about 10-20% of traffic if that. When you talk about traffic generation with regard to SEO it's referring to traffic from the search engines. What's the point of having a high converting site if no one is landing on your site!
     
    dcristo, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  5. seoz

    seoz Banned

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    #5
    Adwords - lot of traffic

    but when you are talkin bout conversion its about QUALITY TRAFFIC.

    Getting a user from query *funny sex* to a site offering analytic software doesn't make any sense..


    having 5visitors and 2 customers is 100 times better than
    Having 100 visitors but 2 customer

    Ever wondered why long tail theories and concepts appear? Whya re people now optimizing there web pages for queries like "how to..." and "why do..."
    :)
     
    seoz, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  6. seosapien

    seosapien Peon

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    #6
    AGREE 100%! Most people want to rank for really highly searched keywords when most of the time is much easier and converts much more a less trafficked but much more targeted keyword.

    If you have a hotel in Orlando don't target Florida Hotels or Hotels, even if you rank highly and receive a million clicks per day you'll convert much more if you rank in the top 3 for Orlando Hotels with maybe 1000 clicks per day.
     
    seosapien, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  7. aolaybar

    aolaybar Peon

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    #7
    SEO people should find ways how to make their new site visitors turn into loyal visitors, what do you think?
     
    aolaybar, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  8. linkmonkey

    linkmonkey Peon

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    #8
    SEO and Conversions are 2 separate things and are not connected.

    SEO (search engine optimisation) main focus is to improve rankings in the SERPs.

    Conversion is the number of visitors that convert into sales (or requesting informartion, subscribing, etc).

    A site could have excellent conversion rates without even doing SEO, from PPC for example.

    In my opinion conversions are the most important factor.
     
    linkmonkey, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  9. alelways

    alelways Peon

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    #9
    Even if they are not connected directly, one should concentrate on SEO first.. Once the visitors increase then you should start on conversion. What do you want to convert is there are no visitor?.. Indirectly, SEO and conversion is related if you talked about income..

    If you have extra money to burn for you campaign (PPC for example as mentioned by linkmonkey), then you should proceed with your plan. If you're savvy type, then start with SEO, target your niche
     
    alelways, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  10. freeflyer

    freeflyer Peon

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    #10
    linkmonkey, i see what you're saying, maybe not technically connected but they're part of the same thing.

    The ultimate goal of SEO is to get more sales and enquiries.
    Conversions are sales and enquiries.

    Improve your SEO rankings, you improve your ROI.
    Improve your conversion rate, you improve your ROI.

    Conversions are King, they are your ultimate aim. SEO is a means to conversions. You need to work on both.. to say they're not related is odd.
     
    freeflyer, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  11. linkmonkey

    linkmonkey Peon

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    #11
    You're absolutely spot on freeflyer. Conversions are king. What I meant though was that you can have good conversions without even doing SEO.

    Conversions are the main metric that I use when reporting to my clients. Obviously for them to have the conversions in the first place they have to rank well. But if they rank well and don't convert, rankings would be useless for them.

    Further, search engine results can vary from one computer to another and are now taylored differently depending on geographic location, user preferences, user habits, computer/browser settings, etc, etc, etc...


    I have to disagree with you mate! PPC is not burning money. You can get excellent ROI on PPC, and is almost 100% measurable.
    SEO is not 'free' anymore, it's hard to rank for any decent keywords without some investment. You should do both PPC and SEO.
     
    linkmonkey, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  12. linkmonkey

    linkmonkey Peon

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    #12
    ......................................
     
    linkmonkey, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  13. shorething

    shorething Peon

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    #13
    Conversion rates are the fundamental aspect of SEO, and should not be overlooked. It's important to monitor conversion rates and make relevant changes to your online marketing campaign based on your findings. Whilst there has been a disagreement over the role PPC plays in improving your ROI, I have my own thoughts.

    Firstly, I agree that it is an extremely valuable asset, particularly at the outset of an SEO strategy. The data collected can massively affect the keyword terms which you target, the structure of the site (ie., if you should take the time to add more pages to the site in order to increase the relevance of the site against particular keywords) and inform you of previously unknown opportunities and target audiences.

    Unfortunately, whilst PPC has it's benefits, I have to disagree that PPC is almost 100% measurable. Over recent times, I've come to understand the risks associated with PPC a little more, and the idea of click fraud is extremely worrying. A recent blog post discusses this in a little more depth - have a look if you want to! A colleague of mine put the post together.
     
    shorething, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  14. RockyMtnHi

    RockyMtnHi Active Member

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    #14
    0 percent conversions render SEO, PPC, etc. a moot effort. Conversions is all that matters and a good balance of SEO and PPC along with testing tools like split-testing and multivariate testing will increase the conversions for all. Google Website Optimizer is a free tool that everyone should look into.
     
    RockyMtnHi, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  15. Nigel Lew

    Nigel Lew Notable Member

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    #15
    To finally answer the ops question.... you set up funnels in analytics to see where you are loosing, and or, not converting visitors that are already on your site. This has absolutely nothing to do with SEO. SEO gets visitors to the site for the proper terms. Usability, site navigation, and things of that nature address conversion rates.

    hope that helps,
    Nigel
     
    Nigel Lew, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  16. Canonical

    Canonical Well-Known Member

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    #16
    I try to target the best converting keyword phrases (typically the longer tail phrases which as posters have mentioned are easier to rank for). However, I frequently also target and optimize around keyword phrases that do NOT convert... intentionally.

    The keyword phrases you target for SEO should depend on your goals... as well as possibly various characteristics of your product and the typical sales cycle for your product to name a few.

    If you sell something online that is a "here and now" or impulse buy kind of product where people looking for the product typically convert right away... then target conversion words.

    But if the product your selling, for instance, requires a long incubation period from the time people start researching the product till when they are ready to buy then it would likely be prudent to ALSO target those phrases they search for early in the process that you are not going to convert.

    This way you bring the visitor to the site early in the process, they get familiar with your site and products, and they start to see you as a valuable resource for finding out information about the product they are wanting to eventually buy. You can build a certain level of trust between you and the customer, which when purchasing online means a lot. Chances are they will be more likely to buy from you when it comes time to purchase days, weeks, months down the road.

    Major purchases tend to fall in this category like appliances, cars, mortgages, computers, etc. where you will want to target non-converting keywords as well. Similarly this will often apply when building a brand. I also do it to reduce the amount we are spending on PPC campaigns for words that don't convert so the PPC budget can be spent on other words that I can't rank naturally for.

    I typically buy my computers online... I usually buy them from Dell. Why? Because I 'trust' them to deliver a good product and when it breaks, they make it good. Could I get a computer with the same graphics card, same motherboard, same hard drive, same speed memory, practically same everything from some Taiwanese online computer sales company? Of course... Why don't I? Because I don't 'trust' them to consistently build quality machines and to service them to my satisfaction if it breaks.

    SEO is not ALL about targeting keywords that convert... It can be about targeting keywords that don't convert. It's more about targeting the right keywords for the right situation (regardless of conversion).
     
    Canonical, Mar 11, 2009 IP
  17. aolaybar

    aolaybar Peon

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    #17
    Its really good throwing some few words here...

    Conversion rate play a huge part on how important your website to the visitors, Google like websites who loved by visitors.

    SEO - CONVERSION RATE - GOOGLE
     
    aolaybar, Mar 12, 2009 IP
  18. newlogo

    newlogo Peon

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    #18
    simple thing i learn is if u have 100 visits per day then how much u got inquiry but if u have 1000 per day then ?
     
    newlogo, Mar 12, 2009 IP