Mark Johnson, Founder and CEO of WebSearch SEO Ltd commented on the results of the survey as being expected but wanted to challenge the common perception. He commented, “We understand that most SEO clients want to see traffic increase and to reach number 1 in the search engines for their keywords, but we believe that these targets and aspirations divert us, the SEO Services providers and the clients away from the true objective and outcome we should be striving for, which is increased sales and return on investment.”
After further research WebSearch SEO determined that they could generally increase sales and conversion of a website much easier and more cost effectively than they could increase traffic and rankings.
WebSearch SEO performed a number of experiments, comparing the results of conversion optimisation versus link building and traffic generation.
“We tested a number of websites that were operating in niches of similar competition and had similar traffic and conversion rates. With equal investment in time and cost, we optimised half of the sites for conversion and half for increased traffic and rankings. Over a 3 month period the results were quite surprising.”
The sites optimized for conversion had a dramatic increase in sales, converting almost 2.5% more of their visitors into buyers, their traffic also increased slightly.
The sites optimized for traffic and improved SERPS increased their traffic volume by an admirable 2.7% but this increase in traffic didn’t translate into anywhere near as many buyers as the sites optimized for conversion. Only an increase of 0.4% converted visitors was experienced.
Mark concluded “We acknowledge that there are many other factors to consider, such as how well the sites are optimized and how targeted the traffic is in the first place but from the spread of our sample sites the results were very consistent. This research has confirmed our belief that every website should be optimized for conversion to its full potential, before we get obsessed with traffic volume and SERPS. If you increase your average conversion rate from 1% to 4% you will enjoy a much better return on investment, then when you do increase traffic and SERPS, you will properly enjoy the benefits. We are now trying to educate all our SEO Services clients to focus on conversion more, rather than just rankings and traffic.”
Whilst rankings and traffic are easier to measure and provide the feel good factor when we see it on the rise, it is important not to forget that converting that traffic into sales or leads is the ultimate goal.
For more information on conversion tracking and conversion optimization contact WebSearch SEO Ltd an
SEO Services, UK company focusing on Sales and Leads as well as traffic and SERPS.
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