This document discusses the relationship between SEO and conversion rate optimization (CRO). It emphasizes that SEO should be approached as a business case focused on conversion rather than just a marketing channel. Discovery and analytics are important to understand customer behavior and improve the user experience. Site search, content structure, and making information accessible can significantly increase metrics like visit duration, bounce rate, and pages per session. The document also provides tips for auditing an existing site search feature.

1. SEO & CRO:
Can’t we just be friends?
Stephen Kenwright @stekenwright

2. 1.
SEO is a business case – not a channel

3. 2.
Google is playing catch-up

4. We use CRO as a business case too
branded3.com/site-speed-conversion-rate

5. Framework
Discovery
Analytics
Paid search data Social listening
CONVERSION
•Category landing pages
•Product pages
CONSIDERATION
•Guides
•FAQs
AWARENESS
•Events calendar
•Campaign plan
•Social content calendar
•Blog content calendar

6. I’m not going to talk about conversion

8. Only…
Discovery
Analytics Social listening
CONVERSION
•Category landing pages
•Product pages
CONSIDERATION
•Guides
•FAQs
AWARENESS
•Events calendar
•Campaign plan
•Social content calendar
•Blog content calendar

9. Consideration is everything for SEO

10. …but only if you start with conversion

11. I don’t give a f*ck what Google says

12. I care what customers think

13. This is why discovery is important

14. Conversion rate
Lead gen website
Mobile
6.79%
Desktop
4.30%
Tablet
4.57%

15. Traffic trends
Ecommerce
Desktop Mobile Tablet Linear (Desktop) Linear (Mobile) Linear (Tablet)

16. Mobile rate of growth
Ecommerce
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
16.0%
18.0%
20.0%
Feb-13
Mar-13
Apr-13
May-13
Jun-13
Jul-13
Aug-13
Sep-13
Oct-13
Nov-13
Dec-13
Jan-14
Feb-14
Mar-14
Apr-14
May-14
Jun-14
Jul-14
Aug-14
Sep-14
Oct-14
Nov-14
Dec-14
Jan-15
Feb-15
Mar-15
Apr-15
May-15
Jun-15
Jul-15
Aug-15
Sep-15
Oct-15
Nov-15
Dec-15
Jan-16
Feb-16
Mar-16
Apr-16
May-16
Jun-16
Jul-16
Aug-16
Percent of mobile traffic from Google organic Percentage of mobile traffic excluding Google organic

17. Mobile
40%
Tablet
23%
Desktop
37%
Search volume by device
Search volume vs. actual traffic
Ecommerce
Mobile
14%
Tablet
36%
Desktop
50%
Organic data sources

18. Ranking position
Ecommerce: mobile vs. desktop
-9000
-8000
-7000
-6000
-5000
-4000
-3000
-2000
-1000
0
1000

19. A (brief) history of Google and mobile
Apple launches
the iPhone
2007
2010
Responsive Web Design
Google launches
1998
Google launches
its first Android
2009
2015
Mobile search
overtakes desktop
Google pays $1bn to be
iPhone search default
2014

20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CTR Decrease -10.00% -20.00% -30.00% -40.00% -50.00% -52.00% -54.00% -55.00% -56.00% -57.00%
CPC Increase 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 30.00% 35.00% 40.00% 55.00% 60.00% 85.00% 105.00%
-80.00%
-60.00%
-40.00%
-20.00%
0.00%
20.00%
40.00%
60.00%
80.00%
100.00%
120.00%
Programmatic flattening
Frequency and CTR vs. CPC

21. Other sources of conversions

22. Other sources of conversions

23. A story about location extensions

25. 90% of users start a task on one device
and complete it on another
LukeW

26. Good luck with that

27. Framework
Discovery
Analytics Social listening
CONVERSION
•Category landing pages
•Product pages
CONSIDERATION
•Guides
•FAQs
AWARENESS
•Events calendar
•Campaign plan
•Social content calendar
•Blog content calendar

28. Build a knowledge database
Use:
1. Analytics
2. Talk to your call centre(s)
3. User surveys
4. Keyword research
To:
Create a database of questions customers want
answers to
Create an inventory of answers
If you want to be lazy…
…use keyword research for wording and rank-check to
find relevant pages.

29. *The* search engine for cruise information in 2013
web.archive.org/web/*/cruise.co.uk

30. Making information more accessible…2013 style
virginholidayscruises.co.uk/cruise-guide

31. 294% higher avg. visit duration
vs. site average

32. 138% improvement in bounce rate
vs. site average

33. 273% increase in number of pages clicked
vs. site average

34. Content structured for conversion
Category page
Product
Author
page
Content
hub
Campaign
page
Content hub
Content Content
Rankings Conversions

35. We built it for SEO
We didn’t build any links

36. …but search for “drinks packages”…

37. Wouldn’t the results below the fold have been better?

38. The website makes it easy for me to
find what I want
The website offers a cutting edge
interactive experience
The website has a beautiful
appearance
Other
What’s the most important factor in the design of a website?
HubSpot

39. Friction hierarchy
Low friction
High friction
AI
SEARCH
IA / NAV
WEBSITE
CONTENT

45. 30% of visitors will perform an onsite search
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

46. Searchers generate more revenue
than non-searchers
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

47. 2.41%
5.45%
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
Non-site search users Site search users
Average conversion rate
Non site search users vs. site search users

48. 84% of companies don’t optimise
or even measure site search
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

49. Turn on site search analytics
Click

50. Turn on site search analytics
Click

51. Turn on site search analytics
Make sure this
is checked

52. Find your report

53. Visitors whose search returns 0 results
are 2.5x more likely to leave
econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

54. Create variables in Tag Manager

55. What text is displayed for 0 result searches?

56. Variable #1 looks for CSS Selector called “#search-results”

57. Variable #2 codifies all pages with results as “Results”

58. Variable #3 scrapes the searched keyword

59. Create a tag to fire the event on Search Results pages

60. …and get this back

61. branded3.com/blog/track-internal-site-search-using-
google-tag-manager

62. The Search Meter plugin does this for you
wordpress.org/plugins/search-meter

63. How to audit your site search

64. Questions to ask
Technology
✓ Which product/platform/tool powers it?
✓ Was it implemented in house or externally?
✓ Whose job is it?
✓ Is there a functional spec/search user journey document available?
✓ Is there another site with a search experience you think is good?

65. Questions to ask
Response
✓ Are there known use cases where search results are poor?
✓ Are the results returned (particularly first page) highly relevant to your query?
✓ What happens when you add more complexity to a query?
✓ How fast are results returned?
✓ Is relevance/speed consistent?

66. Questions to ask
Functions
✓ Is there an autosuggest/autocomplete feature?
✓ Can it cope with typos?
✓ Can you sort the results?
✓ Are queries for dates/numbers/special characters supported?
✓ Is the number of results shown correct/useful?

67. What’s happening now?

68. “Alexa, ask Virgin Holidays what drinks packages
are available on Celebrity Equinox”

69. Natural language CX
SEARCH
Customers typically show one of
three intents
• Research your products and
services
• Lookup a specific file or
document
• Navigate sitemap e.g. login
RESPONDER AI
Customers have a direct question
and expect a good answer
• Simple example is an FAQ
• Most chatbots and Alexa skills
are at this level today
CONSULTATIVE AI
Customers require specific advice
or want to achieve a goal
• Requires a complex
conversational interaction
• AI can automate this but
typically hard-coded today

70. Example interactions
SEARCH
> fund fact sheet
> fixed rate mortgage
> login page
RESPONDER AI
What is APR?
CONSULTATIVE AI
Am I eligible for your fixed rate
mortgage?

72. careers.branded3.com

74. Thanks
stephen.kenwright@branded3.com
@stekenwright