BrightonSEO was a fantastic conference full of information about everything related to search, content, and marketing. You can read more about my experience of it here. The CRO and UX panel was the first talk I went to and, despite the myriad information I listened to throughout the two-day conference, it stood out as one of the most interesting and useful discussions, providing essential insights into CRO and UX.
The panel was a stellar selection of international experts in the field:
Myriam Jessier, Search Engine Optimization Executive at Pragm and Founder of NeuroSpicy Agency (lead panellist)
Mel Barfield, Copywriter and Co-host of indie business club podcast
Itasoha Akhibi, UX and Experimentational Specialist at Equator
Julie Farley, Head of Marketing and International Lead – EMEA at Semrush
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) and the user experience (UX) are intrinsically linked, and the panellists did an excellent job of identifying and discussing key aspects of both.
Here are my main takeaways for each of the key discussion points.
What Are the Key UX Metrics We Think of as Traditional That SEOs Should Be Adopting?
In addition to the usual metrics of traffic volume and bounce rates, it is also useful to check the length of time users stay on a web page or site as this gives a good indication of demand and links to conversion rates. Look at what customers are searching for, as if it’s not easy for them to find, perhaps the website needs to be restructured to make it easier for customers to find what they want. Listen to complaints as well as what your customers like and tailor their experience to meet their needs. Make sure you can live up to your messaging to increase click through rate (CTR) on adverts.
How Do You Account for the Unaccountable?
Also known as the ‘dark funnel’ in marketing, the invisible part of the customer journey – the part that happens before they land on a website or advert – is very hard to measure. Some customers need to see a company in several places before they will trust them enough to visit their website or buy from them. One way of monitoring this is by working backwards when you reach your business goals to see which tactics are successful. Make sure you track everything so you have a record of your history and how your customers got to you.
Which UX Principles Have Changed How We Approach SEO?
There has been an impact on the quality of content, with people using keywords they would never say in real life, such as “synergy”. It’s important to bring it back to the person reading and make content easy and engaging to read and understand. The total experience is more than the sum of the parts and CRO principles help with this, such as having a really good landing page so that customers provide their real email address. Content also needs to be relevant to the buying stage of the customer journey, not just the research stage.
How Do You Balance Persuasive Copy with the SEO Imperatives of Ranking?
It’s about understanding where your customer is in the journey and that they will often go through more than 20 touchpoints, which need to be trackable. There is often a focus in content on benefits over features, but people want to know the facts and what makes your product or service different to others. Make sure people see your call to action (CTA) and it is easy to act on. Be a thought leader in your industry. There’s pleasure in the imperfect; people don’t want 5 star ratings as having 4.5 stars is more realistic and therefore trustworthy. Don’t use ChatGPT to write content as it’s very easy to tell it’s AI-generated and human touchpoints are essential. Always take account of cultural differences, such as the language used, the impact of different colours, or how phone numbers are spaced.
Valuable Perspectives
As I hadn’t been to a panel at a conference before this, I wasn’t sure whether it would be useful for me. However, the panel’s discussion gave essential insights into CRO and UX which would help anyone listening to improve those aspects of their marketing. This form of presentation provides valuable perspectives from experts in different areas of the industry which may not arise if they were presenting individually. I will definitely look for panels to attend at future conferences.
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