SEO vs CRO

So if you stumbled upon this article, chances are you’re looking to grok some basic marketing principles – either to improve your company’s profits or to become a marketing specialist and use that skill as a way to make a living. At the end of the day, entrepreneurs, both big and small, can profit greatly from becoming marketing literate; and in fact, it’s safe to say that you can’t build big as an entrepreneur without becoming an adroit marketer.

In this short piece, we are looking to break down two of the key concepts that play a big part in every marketing campaign: SEO and CRO. The two are often confused, so we will stress the differences and give you examples. By having a firm understanding of this basic vocabulary, it becomes much, much easier to focus on the principles for and methodology of successful and effective marketing.

You’re probably thinking, what is CRO, anyway?

Don’t be ashamed if you didn’t recognize the acronym, as It’s the newest term on the block. In short, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) focuses on the conversion percentage as the sole metric when it comes to optimizing a given page.

CRO and SEO: The Building Blocks

It might sound like a marketing cliche, but it’s true – Conversion Rate Optimization and Search Engine Optimization should never hinder or impede the progress of the other. Everyone talks about CRO vs SEO, as though the two are competing against one another; however, focusing on both can bring about the most profitable results.

With SEO, the ultimate goal is to rank for a targeted query in popular search engines like Google or Bing. It’s really a long term process that takes time – but totally worth the investment, given that those who invest in the services can make three or four times their money, or sometimes even more, in just a few years time.

But a first page ranking doesn’t necessarily guarantees success. There’s a lot more to marketing than meets the eye, and a keen understanding of CRO is just the tip of the iceberg.

How do they relate exactly? How can CRO help with one’s SEO campaign?

The answer is simple. If the page that you rank for doesn’t get the user to ultimately take action, the ranking is worthless.

So it is incumbent upon marketing experts to make sure that they are doing SEO for their pages with the highest CRO. To fail to do so would be a massive waste of resources.

Putting CRO to Practice
Okay, so you may have the theory down, but how do we put it to practice?

We can talk all we want about what needs to be done, but without action, we’re wasting our time. So let’s get down to it.

We’ll use an example to make the concepts as clear as possible. We’re hoping that it’ll be clear enough so that you can use it as a blueprint for your own campaign.

The Scenario

So you’re ranked for the term “mathematics tutor” in your area. You notice that a lot of people are searching for “calculus tutoring information.” How can you change your math tutor page to include information about calculus tutoring information without hurting your Google ranking?

What you need to do is alter the text slightly. Incorporate content that relates to the term “calculus tutoring information” but make sure not to take anything away from your main keyword, “math tutor.” Base your headline on the term math tutoring, but the title tag and internal links should still stay focused on math tutor. The breakdown can be seen below:

Example SEO Elements
Title: Mathematics Tutor | Robert’s Math Tutoring Center
Headline: Math Tutoring Center
Starting Text: Looking for a mathematics tutor that can help you get that A? Under our tutelage, you will develop the necessary knowledge to pass your class in no time. From the basics up to hardcore calculus tutoring, know that you will be in good hands.
Internal Link Anchor: “mathematics tutor”
External Link Anchor: “mathematics tutor” and related

Networtech Consulting Group is web design and marketing firm located in the heart of Houston, TX. With decades of combined experience, our marketing experts have used their skill and expertise to rank for highly competitive key words in Google – from Houston SEO to Texas Marketing, among many others. It is our pleasure to share a small piece of our knowledge with anyone eager to to learn.