In ecommerce, two acronyms dominate the conversation: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation). Both are essential for driving growth, but they serve very different purposes. While SEO is about getting people through the digital door, CRO is about encouraging them to complete a purchase once they arrive and complete their desired action. Understanding the difference between ecommerce SEO and CRO and how they work together is key to building a high-performing online store that not only attracts traffic but also converts visitors into loyal customers.
What is ecommerce SEO?
Ecommerce SEO is the process of optimising your website so that it appears higher in search engine results for relevant keywords. When your product and category pages are visible to potential customers on platforms like Google, you increase the chances of attracting organic traffic without relying solely on paid ads.
Key components of ecommerce SEO
SEO is a long-term strategy. It takes time to build momentum, but the rewards are sustainable and consistent.To succeed with SEO in the ecommerce space, your strategy needs to cover several key areas, including:
- Keyword research: Identifying the search terms your ideal customers are using
- On-page optimisation: Tailoring your titles, meta descriptions, headers, and content to match search intent
- Technical SEO: Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly, loads quickly, and is easily crawlable by search engines
- Site architecture: Structure your navigation and URLs logically for both users and search engines
- Content marketing: Creating helpful blog posts, guides, and landing pages to answer common customer questions
- Link building: Gaining backlinks from reputable websites to increase authority
What is CRO (conversion rate optimisation)?
Conversion rate optimisation, on the other hand, is all about what happens once users land on your site.
CRO is the process of improving your website to boost the percentage of visitors who take a desired action, whether that’s buying a product, filling in a form, signing up to a newsletter, or adding an item to the basket.
Key elements of CRO for ecommerce
CRO can offer quicker wins than SEO. Small changes can often lead to significant improvements in performance, especially if your site already has a steady flow of traffic.CRO is a practical, data-driven discipline that revolves around refining the customer journey. Common areas for improvement include:
- Page layout and design – Clear calls-to-action, uncluttered product pages, and mobile responsiveness
- Site speed – Faster load times keep users engaged and reduce bounce rates
- Product imagery and descriptions – High-quality visuals and detailed copy help build trust
- Checkout process – Reducing the number of steps and making forms easy to complete
- Social proof – Reviews, testimonials, and trust badges can increase buyer confidence
- A/B testing – Test different headlines, images, or buttons to see what drives more conversions
The differences between ecommerce SEO and CRO
Although ecommerce SEO and CRO are both essential to online success, they focus on entirely different stages of the customer journey. SEO is about attracting the right people to your website, while CRO is about encouraging those people to take action once they arrive. To get the most from your ecommerce store, it’s important to understand how these two strategies differ in their goals, methods, and the tools they rely on.
Primary Goal
SEO: The main objective of ecommerce SEO is to increase organic visibility in search engines like Google. This means more potential customers can discover your products through relevant search terms.
CRO: CRO is focused on turning those visitors into customers by improving your site’s usability, design, and messaging to encourage conversions.
Focus Area
SEO: Primarily concerned with off-site and on-site elements that influence search engine rankings – such as keyword usage, site architecture, technical performance, and backlinks.
CRO: Focuses entirely on the on-site experience, looking at how users interact with your pages and what can be improved to boost conversions (e.g. clearer CTAs, better product images, faster load times).
Time to see results
SEO: Results often take several months to appear, especially in competitive niches. However, once rankings improve, traffic tends to be steady and cost-effective.
CRO: Changes can deliver results more quickly. You might see an uplift in conversion rates within days or weeks after running A/B tests or improving key pages.
Key Metrics
SEO: Tracks metrics like keyword rankings, organic traffic volume, impressions, and click-through rates from search engines.
CRO: Monitors performance indicators such as conversion rate, bounce rate, average order value (AOV), and the number of completed goals (e.g. purchases or sign-ups).
Tools involved
SEO: Often uses tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Screaming Frog to analyse rankings, technical health, and backlink profiles.
CRO: Relies on tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, and Optimizely to assess user behaviour, run experiments, and test different versions of pages.
Strategy type
SEO: Strategic work often involves long-form content creation, keyword research, metadata optimisation, and technical audits – all with the aim of ranking higher and attracting more relevant traffic.
CRO: Strategy is more experimental and iterative. It’s about using data to identify friction points in the customer journey and testing solutions to improve performance.
Ecommerce agency with expertise in ecommerce SEO & CRO
Your e-commerce journey starts and ends with Imaginaire. From designing your new site to implementing lasting, effective digital marketing strategies, we have an in-house team of SEO experts who will ensure your products, content and copy are fully optimised and getting in front of your customers. We also have expertise in CRO, ensuring those customers we attract, stick around.
With over 10 years of experience, we will ensure that your e-commerce store is home to all the right keywords, metadata, technical SEO and more, whether you’re selling jewellery or home appliances.
To speak to one of our SEO team members, get in touch here or fill out a quote form to get started!
