Google’s roll out of Page Experience as a ranking signal is the latest episode in the continued blend between the domains of CRO and SEO, making testing the full funnel from acquisition to what users do on your website more important than ever. This talk will explain the theory behind testing website changes for both CRO and SEO, as well as sharing case studies to convince you to bring together your product and SEO teams.

1. How Testing Stops
Product Changes Harming
Your Organic Performance
Emily Potter | SearchPilot
https://www.slideshare.net/EmilyPotter7
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2. Your organisational
structure is killing your
organic traffic

3. 2 teams
want to
change
sites

4. Marketing
(SEO)
teams

5. Product
teams

6. Most companies Product and SEO are siloed

7. Jira
Backlog (Open tickets: 330) In progress Code review Done

8. Jira
Backlog (Open tickets: 330) In progress Code review Done
SEO
SEO
SEO
SEO

10. Announcing Core Web Vitals
“
Optimizing for [user experience] makes the web more
delightful for users across all web browsers and
surfaces ... We believe this will contribute to business
success on the web as users grow more engaged and
can transact with less friction.
”
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11. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
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12. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
2009
Page Speed
Extension
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13. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
2010
Site speed
a ranking
factor
2009
Page Speed
Extension
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14. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
2010
Site speed
a ranking
factor
2009
Page Speed
Extension
2011
Page Speed
Service
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15. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
2010
Site speed
a ranking
factor
2012
PageSpeed
Insights in
Chrome
2009
Page Speed
Extension
2011
Page Speed
Service
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16. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
2010
Site speed
a ranking
factor
2012
PageSpeed
Insights in
Chrome
2009
Page Speed
Extension
2011
Page Speed
Service
2017
CrUX
Released
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17. Google’s Push for a “More Delightful Web”
2008
Google
Chrome
released
2010
Site speed
a ranking
factor
2012
PageSpeed
Insights in
Chrome
2009
Page Speed
Extension
2011
Page Speed
Service
2017
CrUX
Released
2019
Speed
Report in
GSC
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18. Core Web Vitals is just the latest evolution
“
Web Vitals and Core Web Vitals represent the best
available signals developers have today to measure
quality of experience across the web, but these
signals are not perfect and future improvements or
additions should be expected.
”
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19. Google is trying
to create a
proxy for user
experience

20. Both need to be kept in mind
Core Web Vitals will evolve over time
Core Web Vitals aims to measure user experience
(Which means this will be the aim of future updates too)
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22. CRO is a sustainable tool to optimise for UX
Core Web Vitals will evolve over time
Core Web Vitals aims to measure user experience
(Which means this will be the aim of future updates too)
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24. Jira
Backlog (Open tickets: 330) In progress Code review Done
CRO testing helps with prioritisation

25. CRO & SEO relationship sometimes obvious

26. Other times …
not so much

27. Other times …
not so much

28. Other times …
not so much

29. Yet organic traffic steady over recent years
Source: Sistrix

30. Organic search
and UX are not
1:1

31. That’s why this breaks down in today’s
world

32. [ Image here ]
A focus on CRO without SEO comes at a cost

33. Testing purely for CRO isn’t enough

34. ?
How can we bring
product on side?

35. You need the money numbers

36. Dallas Flights
Search
Austin Flights
Search
Boston Flights
Search
NYC Flights
Search
LA Flights
Search
Seattle Flights
Search
Control Pages
Variant Pages
Dallas Flights
Search
Austin Flights
Search
Boston Flights
Search
NYC Flights
Search
LA Flights
Search
Seattle Flights
Search
SEO A/B testing gives the money numbers
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37. Benefits of testing for SEO
Justifies the value of SEO outside of the team
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38. Benefits of testing for SEO
Justifies the value of SEO outside of the team
Helps prioritise changes in dev queue alongside UX
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40. Testing lets us
prove the impact of
SEO changes

41. Review schema = +13% to organic traffic
sessions
time
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42. New
Product
Initiative

43. Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Reviews
Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus vitae.
View more information
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Add to cart
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi
luctus viverra condimentum. Sed efficitur tellus massa, vel
interdum metus blandit non. Suspendisse sollicitudin imperdiet
mauris. Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus
vitae. Quisque ac tristique est.
Product name
Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Add to cart
Reviews
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi
luctus viverra condimentum
Product name
View more information
“A” Page “B” Page
CRO product page template redesign
Template
fully
modernised

44. New template is a big winner for CRO
conversion
rate
weeks run
Variant
Control
Key
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45. Organic search
and UX are not
1:1

46. Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Reviews
Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus vitae.
View more information
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Add to cart
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi
luctus viverra condimentum. Sed efficitur tellus massa, vel
interdum metus blandit non. Suspendisse sollicitudin imperdiet
mauris. Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus
vitae. Quisque ac tristique est.
Product name
Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Add to cart
Reviews
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi
luctus viverra condimentum
Product name
View more information
“A” Page “B” Page
Follow-up SEO experiment
Template
fully
modernised

47. -6% decline to organic traffic
sessions
time
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48. Net impact on conversions was still positive

49. SEO hypothesis was tabs hurt organic traffic
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
View more information
Key
content
collapsed
into tabs
Read more
Reviews
Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus vitae.
View more information
“B” Page

50. Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Add to cart
Product name
“B” Page “C” Page
Template redesign follow-up
Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Add to cart
Product name
Reviews
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Morbi luctus viverra condimentum
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Morbi luctus viverra condimentum. Sed efficitur tellus
massa, vel interdum metus blandit non. Suspendisse
sollicitudin imperdiet mauris. Quisque ornare odio orci, vel
placerat risus rhoncus vitae. Quisque ac tristique est.
Reviews
Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus vitae.
View more information
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
View more information Bringing
content
out of
tabs

51. +13% increase to organic traffic
sessions
time
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52. ?
What would have
happened without
SEO testing?

53. Unexplained organic traffic loss

54. Unable to accurately weigh trade offs

55. Missed opportunity to grow organic

57. Testing for CRO & SEO together
Testing the full funnel means we can learn the net
impact
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58. Testing for CRO & SEO together
Testing the full funnel means we can learn the net
impact
Testing for both CRO and SEO together brings the
expertise of both teams together
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59. SEO & Product teams need to work together

60. This improves both channels
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61. Jira
Backlog (Open tickets: 200) In progress Code review Done
SEO
SEO changes are better prioritised
Add SEO content
Remove price in title

62. SEO optimisations are beautified
Plain HTML
transformed
in line with
product
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63. Organic traffic starts to grow
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64. And so does the bottom line
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65. Takeaways

66. Core Web Vitals will evolve over time
“
Web Vitals and Core Web Vitals represent the best
available signals developers have today to measure
quality of experience across the web, but these
signals are not perfect and future
improvements or additions should be
expected.
”

67. CWV proxy for UX; CRO offers safeguard

68. Organic and UX not a 1:1 relationship
Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Reviews
Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus vitae.
View more information
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Add to cart
Product information
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi
luctus viverra condimentum. Sed efficitur tellus massa, vel
interdum metus blandit non. Suspendisse sollicitudin imperdiet
mauris. Quisque ornare odio orci, vel placerat risus rhoncus
vitae. Quisque ac tristique est.
Product name
Key product details:
price, colours, sizes
Add to cart
Reviews
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi
luctus viverra condimentum
Product name
View more information
“A” Page “B” Page
Positive for CRO
Negative for
SEO

69. SEO & Product need to work together

70. Harmonisation of SEO & Product is a great
business opportunity

71. Thanks!
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