Definition
An index term, subject term, subject heading, or descriptor, in information retrieval, is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document. – Wikipedia
Relevance in CRO
Largely more of an SEO thing, keywords are important words or phrases that you want to be associated with your company/brand/whatever, so that your website shows up (hopefully high in the list) when people search for them in search engines. Keywords are still relevant to CRO because your on-page content affects conversion. Sometimes content writing falls victim to over-emphasis on SEO optimization; it’s written to fit in a lot of keywords and doesn’t sound natural. Often this can create confusion or uncertainty with users and hurt conversion rates. There should be a balance in SEO/CRO focused copywriting. Google gets smarter every day; they’re on to your keyword stuffing tactics. Write for humans.
Monitor what keywords your site ranks for value proposition mismatches and missed opportunities. If you start ranking well for “red widgets” but you don’t sell red widgets, maybe you should think about it, or maybe there’s some bad news coming down that could hurt the brand. Since CRO is concerned with what users do once they’re on your site, you should have systems in place for identifying, monitoring, and evaluating what you’re ranking for. SEO gets them to the dance, CRO makes sure they have a good time.
Additional Reading
- What’s the Difference Between SEO and CRO? – Webtrends Optimize
- The Intersection of SEO and CRO – CXL