Which is better? Site optimization or traffic optimization?

Marketers often have limited budgets and resources and need to decide where that money goes. The two most common options are to optimize the site and increase conversions or optimizing traffic and bring higher quality traffic. If you can’t afford to do both, which way do you go?

Of course, we know that there is no “one size fits all” answer for everyone. Every business unique, even those operating in the same category.

Site optimization is also known as Conversion rate optimization and is the process of making changes to your website and measuring the corresponding conversion rate. The changes are not blind, and you should base them on an understanding of the average user. The typical changes involve design, flow, navigation, and content.

Traffic optimization is tweaking ad campaigns with the goal of eliminating wasted ad spend to decrease the cost per conversion. For example, a 20% reduction in low-quality clicks can reduce the cost per conversion by as much as 40%.

So which is it? Looking at real-world tests run by various marketing firms, the answer is: it depends. If you are confident that your ad campaign is optimized and only high-quality traffic gets to your site, then using CRO should see massive returns. However, there is no point optimizing a site if the majority of your traffic is of poor quality and would not convert anyway.