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A Blog about Conversion Improvement

Conversion Optimization and SEO – successful together

By Joerg Dennis Krueger on November 24, 2009

A high ranking in search engine results is critical for nearly all businesses. And rightly so: organic users are inexpensive, highly interested, and sustainable. But how should websites be designed so that they are easy to find with search engines?

Simply put, content and internal links are said to be the keys to success. How can websites be designed along these criteria without losing sight of conversions? From a usability (and conversion) point of view, a wall of text is just as undesirable as overhanging and unclear navigation menus. Are we stuck with the clash between SEO and conversion optimization?

To keep it short: no! Websites can be optimized for search engine crawlers as well as user conversion. Not only can they be optimized for both, but they should be. A full scope analysis, with both SEO and conversion optimization experts at the table, guarantees a user and search engine friendly website design. Conversion rate optimization is very important for a website’s success. The earlier this exchange takes place, the more time, stress, and unnecessary costs can be saved in the end.

Optimizing the conversion rate is crucial for a website’s success, because rather than taking the expensive and costly route of always buying more traffic, you can take advantage of streams of existing users. Reservations about conversion optimization are often heard, that tests influence Google rankings, or that changes can’t be made to the page without negatively influencing on-page optimization. This is somewhat short-sighted, since conversion optimization and SEO fit together very well.

Testing does not influence rankings

For Google and co., these tests are completely undetectable. All leading testing-tools work with JavaScript (AJAX) to replace the page’s original content with text content in the browser. Since the HTML source code is unchanged, the tests have no effect on search engine rankings. Furthermore, Google supports conversion optimization with its website optimizer and the Google Conversion Professionals program, and emphasizes somewhat that such JavaScript replacement are not interpreted as spamming.

On-page optimization for SEO and better conversion rates are not mutually exclusive

Websites with good conversion rates can be listed at the top of organic searches. When conversion specialists and experts work together for SEO, such as the case is with QUISMA, each new test variant allows for the best possible on-page optimization. Moreover, many SEO relevant adjustments can be made to conversion-optimized pages without affecting the conversion rate.

To take a closer look at overhanging  menus from the introduction: for usability and conversion, a compact and well-arranged menu could be placed at the top of the page. Further down on the page, all of the subcategories can be listed and linked. This achieves a compromise where both goals are compatible with each other.

Finally, all traffic should be measured well to see if it leads to a good conversion rate. If new users gained by SEO don’t generate any revenue due to bad usability, then the search engine optimization was for nothing. Accordingly, holistically thinking SEOs will keep conversion rate in mind, and use the conversion rate optimization to ensure that the client benefits from good results in the end.

(Original article was published in German at Twoqubes.com)

The author

Jörg Dennis Krüger (Xing/LinkedIn) is Senior Manager Conversion Optimization at QUISMA – a GroupM company.

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Filed under: Conversion, Search Engine Optimisation — Tags: , , —

We’re collaborating on and sponsoring the WhichTestWon testing awards… enter now!

By Scott Miller on November 3, 2009

WhichTestWon.com is a cool new site built by Anne Holland.  In case you are not familiar with Anne, she was the founder of Marketing Sherpa.  This site is sooo much fun if you are into testing and doing site conversion optimization.  Basically, each week the site features a real test- and asks visitors to “use their gut” to pick which version resulted in more sales, more conversion, or higher stickiness- before showing the correct answer and some expert analysis.

The first annual awards were announced last week, and you have until November 20 to get your entry submitted!  There will be an awards webcast in the beginning of December (we’ll announce it here or you can follow whichtestwon.com to stay up to date.)

Winners will get links from us, whichtestwon.com and a number of other sites that choose to cover the awards.  Furthermore, you get a cool badge to place on your site indicating that you were a winner.  Plus it’s a great resume bullet to say your AB test won an Award!  This has the potential to earn you or your agency a lot of free publicity!

The categories  include things like Best: Homepage Test, , , , , , , .

The rules are pretty simple, but one important thing to note is that your test does not have to use Vertster.  In fact if you have a good test to enter that you did with Google Optimizer, Omniture, or any other software, feel free to enter it!  We’ll keep your results anonymized as well!

So hurry up and enter- the deadline is Nov 20.

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Filed under: A/B Testing, Case Studies, Landing Page Optimization, Multivariate Testing —

Ecommerce Home Page Test- Featured on WhichTestWon.com

By Scott Miller on October 15, 2009

Think you know what is going to convert the best?  If so, put your ego where your mouth is and head over to WhichTestWon, the new site from Anne Holland (founder of MarketingSherpa) to see how good you are at picking the winner from a selection of split tests.  Even if you have no idea which won, there is still a lot to be learned from this collection of test results.

This week,  a test run on the Vertster Optimization Platform appeared on WhichTestWon.  In this test, two significantly different home pages were pitted against each other.  One featured traditional sales copy, and the test version had a big video, as well as use of an authority endorsement.   Place your vote for the winner and read the full case study on the site!

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Filed under: A/B Testing, Case Studies —

Case Study: Did a headshot help or hurt webinar signups?

By Scott Miller on October 8, 2009

In this experiment, a banner campaign was used to drive visitors to sign up for an on demand webinar.  Two versions of the banner were tested, with the goal of increasing sign ups.  One banner included a picture of German analytics and testing expert Dennis Kruger, and one did not.  Also the button “View Now for Free!” was shifted to the left or right to make room for the image.

Both banners drove traffic to same landing page. So it would stand to reason that any change in the number of conversions was a direct result of more people *clicking* on one or the other banner.

Here are the two versions of the banner ad.  Which do you think resulted in more conversions?

or

Text Translation:

On demand webinar
Landingpage Optimization 101

Contents: Introduction Conversion Optimization, Benefit of landing pages?, What are good landing pages? Best practices for successful landing pages. Conversion clinic.

View now for free

Results:

The second version generated 65% more sign ups.  This clearly shows that including a picture of yourself is something that needs to be tested!  In our experience, unless you are super hot and wearing a bikini, or super famous, the picture is better left off your page.  What is interesting to note is that moving the button to make room for the image could have actually helped the head shot version- because in western countries we read left to right and left button placements often outperform right placements.  (This is an example of a possible interaction effect- best sorted out with a multivariate test.)

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Filed under: A/B Testing, Case Studies —

Thoughts on Optimizing Search Pages

By Scott Miller on September 29, 2009

On-site search is a big deal, especially for e-commerce sites.  Many sites rely on internal search engines to drive thousands or millions of dollar in revenue, yet there is very little written about optimizing them to improve conversion, revenue per visit, or simple click-through rates.  On-site search consists of two transactions of interest, both of which can be optimized to improve usability, and the visitors ability to find what they are looking for:

1. The search box itself:

The primary goal of optimizing the search box itself is to make certain visitors on the site can find it and understand what it does. Typical tests would revolve around the placement of the search box, size of the text field, color, and the appearance and text on the button.

2. The search results page:

Once people complete a search, they arrive to a results page which displays matching products or content.  The goal of the results page is for people be able to quickly see the results and then link to the content found.  Certainly, the effectiveness of this page will be highly dependent on the relevance of the results, but on-page factors (which can be optimized) play an important role as well.

We have seen simple changes and optimization increase search result page engagement by over 40%, which is a very big lift for something most people would think has little to do with testing.

The results page offers up many more areas of testing and optimization.  Here are a few to consider:

  • How many results do you display?
  • Do you use a regular site template or a scaled down page design which makes it easier for the user to focus on results?
  • What visual cues do you provide within the results (such as highlighted matching text.)
  • Do you allow people to purchase or add to cart directly from the search results?
  • Do you show prices in the results?
  • Do you show a “related searches” section to help the user refine their search (this has potential to distract them from the main results though.)

When you test these, you should make sure to track both result page engagement (did people click on the search results) as well as revenue per visit.  Subtle changes in the search system can make a big difference in revenue for many e-commerce sites, so never rely on engagment metrics only!

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Filed under: A/B Testing, Multivariate Testing, Test Design, Testing Ideas —
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