SEO & CRO: can't we just be friends? #CROElite17

transcript

SEO & CRO:Can’t we just be friends?

Stephen Kenwright @stekenwright

1.SEO is a business case – not a channel

2.Google is playing catch-up

We use CRO as a business case toobranded3.com/site-speed-conversion-rate

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

I’m not going to talk about conversion

Only…

Discovery

Analytics Social listening

CONVERSION

•Product pages

CONSIDERATION

•Guides

•FAQs

AWARENESS

•Events calendar

•Campaign plan

Consideration is everything for SEO

…but only if you start with conversion

I don’t give a f*ck what Google says

I care what customers think

This is why discovery is important

Conversion rateLead gen website

Mobile

Desktop

Tablet

Traffic trendsEcommerce

Desktop Mobile Tablet Linear (Desktop) Linear (Mobile) Linear (Tablet)

Mobile rate of growthEcommerce

Percent of mobile traffic from Google organic Percentage of mobile traffic excluding Google organic

Mobile40%

Tablet23%

Desktop37%

Search volume by device

Search volume vs. actual trafficEcommerce

Mobile14%

Tablet36%

Desktop50%

Organic data sources

Ranking positionEcommerce: mobile vs. desktop

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

A (brief) history of Google and mobileApple launches

the iPhone

Responsive Web Design

Google launches

Google launchesits first Android

Mobile search

overtakes desktop

Google pays $1bn to be iPhone search default

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%

20.00%

40.00%

60.00%

80.00%

100.00%

120.00%

Programmatic flatteningFrequency and CTR vs. CPC

Other sources of conversions

A story about location extensions

90% of users start a task on one deviceand complete it on another

Good luck with that

Framework

Discovery

Analytics Social listening

CONVERSION

•Product pages

CONSIDERATION

•Guides

•FAQs

AWARENESS

•Events calendar

•Campaign plan

Build a knowledge databaseUse:

1. Analytics

2. Talk to your call centre(s)

3. User surveys

4. Keyword research

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.

*The* search engine for cruise information in 2013

web.archive.org/web/*/cruise.co.uk

Making information more accessible…2013 style

virginholidayscruises.co.uk/cruise-guide

294% higher avg. visit durationvs. site average

138% improvement in bounce ratevs. site average

273% increase in number of pages clickedvs. site average

Content structured for conversion

Category page

ProductAuthor page

Content hub

Campaign page

Content hub

Content Content

Rankings Conversions

We built it for SEO

We didn’t build any links

…but search for “drinks packages”…

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

The website makes it easy for me tofind what I want

The website offers a cutting edgeinteractive experience

The website has a beautifulappearance

What’s the most important factor in the design of a website?

HubSpot

Friction hierarchyLow friction

High friction

SEARCH

IA / NAV

WEBSITE

CONTENT

30% of visitors will perform an onsite search

econsultancy.com/reports/site-search-report

Searchers generate more revenue than non-searchers

Non-site search users Site search users

Average conversion rateNon site search users vs. site search users

84% of companies don’t optimiseor even measure site search

Turn on site search analytics

Turn on site search analyticsClick

Turn on site search analytics

Make sure this is checked

Find your report

Visitors whose search returns 0 resultsare 2.5x more likely to leave

Create variables in Tag Manager

What text is displayed for 0 result searches?

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

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

Variable #3 scrapes the searched keyword

Create a tag to fire the event on Search Results pages

…and get this back

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

The Search Meter plugin does this for you

wordpress.org/plugins/search-meter

How to audit your site search

Questions to askTechnology

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?

Questions to askResponse

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?

Questions to askFunctions

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?

What’s happening now?

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

Natural language CXSEARCH

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 questionand expect a good answer

• Simple example is an FAQ

• Most chatbots and Alexa skills are at this level today

CONSULTATIVE AI

Customers require specific adviceor want to achieve a goal

• Requires a complex conversational interaction

• AI can automate this but typically hard-coded today

Example interactionsSEARCH

> fund fact sheet

> fixed rate mortgage

> login page

RESPONDER AI

What is APR?

CONSULTATIVE AI

Am I eligible for your fixed rate mortgage?

careers.branded3.com

Thanksstephen.kenwright@branded3.com

@stekenwright

SEO & CRO: can't we just be friends? #CROElite17

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