Conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors, sessions or other units that could have converted, usually shown as a percentage. In SaaS the conversion might be a free sign-up, a trial start, a demo request or a paid upgrade. For SEO, conversion rate by landing page or page type shows which organic traffic actually produces customers and which only produces visits.
The formula, and the choices inside it
The arithmetic is simple. The choices are not: what counts as a conversion, what you divide by, and over what period.
Conversion rate = conversions ÷ eligible visitors (or sessions) × 100
Example: 40 demo requests ÷ 2,000 organic sessions × 100 = 2%Define the conversion and the denominator
Sessions and users give different answers, since one person may visit several times before signing up. Pick one and keep it consistent. State which you use whenever you share the number.
Make sure the numerator and denominator cover the same period and the same segment. Dividing a month’s sign-ups by a partial month of sessions, or all sign-ups by organic sessions only, produces a number that looks precise and means nothing.
Conversion rates along a SaaS funnel
SEO affects the top steps most directly, but the quality of organic visitors shows up further down. A page that converts many visitors who never activate may be attracting the wrong audience.
- Visit to sign-up or trial start.
- Visit to demo request, for sales-led products.
- Sign-up to activation: the share of new accounts that reach a first meaningful use.
- Trial to paid, or demo to opportunity.
- Opportunity to closed-won.
Using it to steer SEO
Compare conversion rate by page type rather than one site-wide figure. Decision-stage pages such as comparisons and pricing usually convert differently from educational posts, and knowing by how much on your own site tells you what a new page of each type is likely to be worth.
Be wary of comparing your rate with figures from other companies. Definitions, audiences and price points differ so much that outside numbers rarely tell you anything useful.
Example
Two pages, two kinds of traffic
Hypothetical company Signetic gets 10,000 organic sessions a month to a guide on electronic signature law and 600 to its comparison page against a rival. In one month, the guide produces 20 trial starts and the comparison page produces 18.
That is 0.2% against 3%. Both numbers are useful: the guide brings more people into the funnel, but each comparison-page visit is worth roughly fifteen times as much. The team uses the gap to prioritize new comparison pages.
Common mistakes
Mismatched periods or segments
Dividing conversions from one window or channel by traffic from another gives a misleading rate. Match them exactly.
Chasing industry averages
Published averages mix different products, prices and definitions. Track your own rates over time instead.
Optimizing the top step only
Raising sign-ups with a lower-quality audience can reduce paid customers. Check activation and revenue too.
Questions
Either works if you are consistent. Users suit products with long research cycles and repeat visits; sessions suit page-level analysis.
There is no single answer. It depends on the conversion, the price, the audience and the traffic source. Compare against your own history and between your own page types.
