Do higher conversion rates depend on both SEO and CRO

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Do higher conversion rates depend on SEO and CRO working hand in hand? Many digital marketers will focus on search engine optimization and let another team take care of what happens after a visitor landed on a page. Does it make sense? Are conversion rates not intimately related to SEO? Is CRO not depending on how well SEO professionals do their job?

Once upon a time, a CMO analyzed SEO results, while wondering if CRO was getting enough attention… Beyond the humor (and the alphabet soup that makes the marketing industry sound like government agencies), SEO and CRO should both equally take credit for higher conversion rates.

What do SEO and CRO share that can lead to higher conversion rates?

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is the art of better ranking your pages on search engine results page (SERP).

CRO, Conversion Rate Optimization, is the art of transforming a visitor into a customer.

The 2 fields already have ⅓ in common: Optimization.

Both strategies work towards the same goal, albeit possibly not consciously. What would the benefit of ranking first (due to stellar SEO work) if once the visitors land on the page, they don’t purchase, subscribe, watch your video (whichever your conversion goal is)?

On the other hand, CRO done well means your site is a model of user experience, call to action is irresistible, products are efficiently displayed and testing is ongoing so you can constantly improve, yet the conversions don’t happen because nobody can find you.
Here is a perfect example of SEO/CRO collaboration gone awry.SEO and CRO

The search yielded a few results and the San Diego Tribune was ranked 4th. Not a bad performance, good enough that we’d want to check the content.

SEO done right. There was focus on keywords, meta description was good, the source reputable enough that we’d think they could provide useful information.

Obviously, all SEO factors were reunited so Google deemed it worthy to rank well.
Sadly, the content is gone. We won’t even spend time talking about the format, layout and uninviting navigation. Any visitor landing on such page feels cheated. And conversion is unlikely to happen (mainly because nothing happened that could convert anyone, be it merely to subscribe to a newsletter).
Higher conversion rates happen when SEO and CRO know what the other is doing. And let’s not forget that CRO can help SEO in more ways than we realize: acquiring customers, followers, viewers and subscribers, generating positive reviews and shares and traveling across social media will put a site on the SERP map.

Where do SEO and CRO meet?

Search Engine Optimization focuses on allowing access.SEO and CRO

Conversion Rate Optimization focuses on convincing to act.
The objective once a visitor finds a page is to give him the information he was searching in the first place. Both areas can find a compromise in good practices (why would you not want to insert the focus keyword that got you a prospect in your page content?).

Ultimately, SEO work is not over simply because CRO has to take over. Both fields have the user intent in mind. A site that doesn’t log satisfying conversions loses its purpose and SEO becomes a moot point.Let’s not forget that Google Analytics also measure engagement (such as time spent on a given landing page). That metric alone is proof that CRO is complementary to SEO. If the time spent is insignificant, a lot of hard work is lost.
Higher conversion rates do indeed depend on a collaboration between SEO and CRO. Visibility is one step towards conversion. Conversion is one step towards loyalty. By integrating practices and sharing credit, SEO and CRO focus on keeping customers to achieve what they both aim for: Optimization.

Causes and fixes for 406 Error – Not acceptable

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The response “ 406 Error –  Not acceptable ” is not as common as a “404-Page not found” but does happen occasionally and should be fixed.

solve 406 Error

What causes a 406 Error

When you click a page link or access a website, your browser sends a request to the host server. In other words Chrome (for example) requests information (access) from example.com. When sending this request, the browser also informs the server what formats it accepts in return by including an “Accept Header”.

If we were writing in plain language, it would be something like: “Hello, my name is browser. I would like to know more about your page. Please send info in return. I accept such and such formats”.
If the returned response is “406 Error– Not acceptable”, it means the browser does not support a format sent by the server or the request is in violation of some settings.

Accept Headers commonly behind 406 Error

Accept-Charset and Accept-Language

Character set is the method by which tables convert code into readable characters. It mainly covers languages and symbols.

At the beginnings of time, the commonly used table was ASCII. However, ASCII doesn’t include characters used in many countries. The need to decode such characters required the switch to a broader table. Standard is now ISO-8859 to support international symbols and alphabets, though the list includes many more.

406 Error

Accept-Encoding

The Accept-Encoding header lists the HTTP compression methods the user agent accepts. A 406 Error – Not Acceptable will return if the file format is not supported by the server. Accept encoding headers commonly used include gzip, deflate, compress..

HTTP compression is necessary to compact files so they travel between server and browser without drastic loss of speed.

Accept-Ranges

A request can specify that only data within a certain range of bytes be included in the response. In that case only a portion of what is available will be delivered back.
It can also happen that a server has set security parameters that a request violates, Mod_security, a firewall program running on Apache server.

Fixing 406 Error – Not Acceptable

When a 406 Error occurs, the first sources to investigate are the Accept-Headers by either accessing the source code or requesting the developer to check them.

With the web being truly worldwide and giving access to the most obscure information (while still interesting and needed by the searcher), you need to make sure you are set to be visible. If you think the headers are responsible for such error, scan your coding and make sure you are set for acceptable mimes.
In case the response violates security settings, they can be disabled (though they may have been implemented for a reason). It is recommended to check with the provider to avoid conflicts.

If the response 406 Error- Not Acceptable occurred while working on WordPress, you can get information on fixes through this support forum.

406 Error – Not Acceptable doesn’t happen often, mostly because any type of character or data is accepted by browsers nowadays. However, it can pop up, in which case the query is left unsatisfied and you count one less visitor that day.

How to Identify ‘Not Provided’ Keywords in Google Analytics

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In the SEO world where keywords play an important role, not being able to identify ‘not provided’ keywords in Google Analytics (the search terms that brought visitors to a site) is comparable to sailing through heavy fog. The imposed blindness weakens our performance and productivity. In the absence of actionable data, what can we do to gain some insight on what works? There are a handful of methods that help us get the information we need.

What are ‘Not Set’ Keywords in Google Analytics

not provided Google Analytics

Back in 2011, Google implemented a way to hide search terms issued from a secure connection linked to a Google account (Gmail, YouTube, Analytics, and a few more) in its Analytics reports. The move was officially motivated by privacy concerns: any query keyed in using the secure protocol “https://” would not reveal the keywords in Google Analytics Reports. In other words, it became impossible to identify true organic traffic to a website. (Since then, some browsers have defaulted to this standard).

keywords Google Analytics

The exception to the rule is that keywords associated with paid Google ads are exempt from the lockdown.

Between a secure search connection and a website Google filters the search terms: PPC associated keywords pass through and show up in your data; independent search terms do not.

As a result, you are getting traffic on your pages (and possibly conversions and sales), but you don’t know what visitors searched for to land there, making it difficult to know your audience and implement action plans and targeting campaigns or improve your SEO.

Methods to Identify ‘Not Provided’ Keywords in Google Analytics

Create a Custom Report for Landing Pages
Creating a report that filters ‘not provided’ keywords per URL can help weed through the unknown, at least for new visits.

• From a profile in Google Analytics account, select Filters
• Select ‘+ New Filter’
• Add (advanced) Filter to Profile

Google Analytics optimization

The output will list all pages that were visited while the search terms are unavailable.

If you are confident the pages carry relevant keywords, you will have a better idea of their performance based on number of visits.

If you are running PPC campaign, you can correlate the ranking with ‘not provided’ keyword analyze the trends.

Use Google Webmaster Tools Reports

Another way to identify ‘not provided’ keywords is to use the queries report from Webmaster Tools. It displays the Google search queries that generated the most impressions for your URLs. All you need is to set up Webmaster Tools data sharing.
Analyze the traffic sources to understand where the searches are coming from. The queries report allows you to identify the most popular keywords and provide new keywords to consider. With this data, you can isolate the pages that have a good position but low click-through, and focus on improving content.
The inconvenient of this method is it works for one website at a time. If you manage several sites, you have to manually change the association between Webmaster and Google Analytics each time.

Google Analytics keyword analyze

Use Adwords reports to identify ‘not provided’ keywords

Paid search is not subject to the privacy filter, so this is a good place to go fish.

The Adwords keyword report gives the whole data of traffic sources  in “Matched Search Queries”.

If Adwords is part of your campaigns, comparing page data between paid and organic searches is useful.
Where it gets interesting is to analyze your competitors’ performance in the Google Adwords Auction Insights Report.

This reveals great information on keywords that hit, along with a glimpse of your competition’s strategies: if a keyword consistently makes it to the top, it could mean they are focusing on it…for a (good) reason.

When Google pulled the plug and created the ‘not provided’ keywords creature, they sparked a fierce controversy. Solutions to identify organic search or circumvent the absence of data exist but are far from providing satisfactory results (not to mention the amount of work it represents to get information that was available before). Third party developers are working around the clock to bring back sanity to the SEO world.

Best Mobile Analytics Apps 2016

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Mobile devices have become an extension of our desk and mobile analytics apps let us do our job anytime, anywhere.

Running an online business, managing websites, or optimizing digital marketing campaigns… We are not necessarily sitting in front of a screen all day; we need access to data when we are off work. Such is the virtual world that it changes constantly and necessitates we take prompt actions.

Imagine being out of the office for hours. No desktop computer, no laptop. At any given moment, something could happen that needs fixing.

Without the possibility to react, we lose control of productivity. In fact, even a few minutes can make a difference. That’s how fast the world moves.
In our job, in our business, all depending upon virtual behaviors, we rely on numbers, reports and graphs to continually assess our position, visibility and performance. It can all be in our palm and at our fingertips, thanks to mobile analytics tools.

Mobile Analytics Apps Best for SEO Essentials: iWebmaster Tools

iWebmaster screen

(available for iPhone and iPad- free)
For digital marketing professionals and online business owners, SEO is at the forefront of operations. The need for outstanding execution calls for powerful tools that give access to data and key metrics.
iWebmaster Tools is a mobile analytics app that scans all aspects of SEO and deliver the results in clear design. From SEO reports to Alexa stats and social analytics (counting shares, tweets and attached comments), you can monitor your performance in seconds.

The Directory Listing Checker allows you to make sure you are listed in the most popular directories, essential to your visibility.
The app is kind enough to highlight your website vulnerabilities and offer advice to improve along with providing website diagnostic (including potential malware threats using our trusted guardians Norton, McAfee and AVG).
The Resources tab and E-Learning Center offer videos from the likes of MOZ and SEOBook so you can keep up to date with the industry news and happenings, and courses about Email marketing list building or how to conquer social media (with titles like “secret strategies” and “plan of attack” , you’re set to dominate the virtual universe).

To put it simply : must have mobile analytics app.

Mobile Analytics Apps Best for in Depth Reports: Google Analytics

(available for IOS and Android – free)

Google Analytics

Digital marketers, online retailers, website owners all rely on reports to track productivity, analyse traffic and retention and increase conversion. Chances are Google Analytics is installed on their desktop.

The mobile version offers the same functionalities with the added benefit of manageable size.
Data are displayed in real time so the slightest anomaly can quickly be detected and addressed.

The mobile analytics app lets you configure your favorite views, controls are easy to master and navigation is user friendly.

While it’s loaded with reports, the one page overviews make it less daunting than the desktop version. A smaller scale forces you to look at the whole before digging in, allowing for better evaluation of your audience, acquisition or conversions, to name a few . One glance and you immediately notice if traffic is timid, giving you the opportunity to react. This mobile analytics app also features automatic alerts if it detects anomalies so you don’t wait hours before being able to fix them.

To put it simply: robust mobile analytics app.

Mobile Analytics Apps Best for at a Glance: Dashboard for Google Analytics

(available for iPhone and Android – free)

Dashboard for Google
One might think Google dominates, but we have to admit they know a lot about online business and the best tools to run it. The mobile analytics app “Dashboard” brings the essence of Google Analytics without the overwhelming effect.

In a matter of seconds, you can see if you met your goals thanks to auto-updating charts. Anything displayed in red alerts you of a matter that requires your attention. The app is particularly useful at critical times of a campaign (at launch for example), special events or promotions when you must be able to track performance and cost effectiveness. Dashboard for Google Analytics drills through over 80 reports to deliver their essence in simple, understandable form.

To put it simply: mobile analytics app for pros on the go.
Internet users are using their mobile device more and more to search, surf and shop on the net. It’s only common sense that we too use those devices to make sure we cater to their exact needs.