Today – in 2022 SEO seems to get most of the concentration when it comes to internal marketing efforts, however, you cannot forget about the power of SEM!
Now… what is SEM? For starters, it stands for search engine marketing – it is the art of how you make your brand look on Google, Bing, as well as other search engines.
Foremost, let’s chat about the fundamentals: SEO refers to search engine optimization – it is the free (no ads) route that focuses on improving your company’s website as well as the content on pages such as words/phrases that potential users might search on Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
Let’s say you run an eCommerce site for health and fitness supplements in Canada, your SEM keywords and phrases may look something like the following:
As you continue to improve your site and build trust with Google, it is imperative that you provide users with high-quality, original content.
The more value you can bring users that cannot be found elsewhere is the secret sauce to perfecting SEM in 2022.
Google uses a very complex and everchanging algorithm to select which domain or page best answers a user’s search query.
Other SEO variables that come into play are the trust flow of your site (no suspicious backlink), clean framework, organized tagging, and crawler-friendly copy setup.
When you get SEO correct – you not only have to rely less on your paid efforts, but you will take up more real estate of Google’s SERP (search engine results page) where users will naturally gravitate towards you more and more as you gain better rankings.
SEO is great, however, it is important to keep in mind that this process takes time.
We cannot stress this enough – so many business owners expect results in month 2 or 3 and I’m here to tell you don’t get your hopes up.
The good thing here is that the saying “persistence and consistency move mountains” has never been more true. SEO, when sustained over time has the power to change your online presence tenfold.
When it comes to needing quicker results – you should turn your focus to SEM (whilst continuing your SEO efforts).
SEM includes the ever-popular digital marketing channel known as Google Ads.
With a notable budget to test, you can see results in as little as 24 hours when integrated correctly.
So let’s chat more about search engine marketing – or for the purpose of typing… SEM.
SEM means search engine marketing if I haven’t already hinted at it. This is the most commonly practiced paid marketing tool in 2022 – Google Ads, so let’s just focus on that today.
By implementing a paid marketing channel, such as Google Ads you can quickly open up your eCommerce online storefront (Shopify store) to hundreds, if not thousands of new users.
The method of operating online paid search ads (shorten to PPC, standing for pay-per-click) as part an essential part of your SEM eCommerce strategy might include::
Using Google Ads also allows you to learn more about your brand.
Regardless of what you think people are searching for, your Google Ad Manager will literally show you word by word how users find you online.
Now how much you spend when it comes to SEM and Google Ads is completely up to you. Sure you do have the ability to target the top of Google’s first page – however, that comes at a price.
When you are just starting out, it is simpler to go after lower-hanging fruit. Keywords or phrases with lower (but still adequate) monthly search volume.
The clicks here will be cheaper and this will allow you to generate users and revenue via conversions while building up more competitive keywords/phrases.
Another great benefit the Google Ads Manager offers when creating new campaigns is the ability to not only target locations but timezones.
A large part of the testing process is learning when and where users are that convert the most – this tool allows you to test smaller budget campaigns in various time slots to expedite the learning phase.
Google ads are NOT just a plug-and-play tool – you need a good value proposition to offer users.
People are getting smarter – they know what looks scammy, so take time and invest resources into your CRO and landing page creation.
Take your time here – the worst thing you can do is overanalyze after day one or two. Let Google do through the learning process that may time a week or so before you really start turning knobs.
As fun as SEM is it is certainly no game – you are playing with money and other companies’ revenue when you think about it.
SEM, just like SEO, is an art – these two channels should work together in synergy.
So how do you know your SEM or SEO efforts are paying off, or even effective? Take notice of your CPC and CPA over time. A lower CPA proves your efforts are paying off!
If there is one SEO tip I would emphasize above all else would be page load time. Make sure your website loads as fast and efficiently as possible. Check out my SEO blogs to learn more.
The worst thing is curating the perfect ad, and getting clicks because receiving an astronomical bounce rate thanks to a slow website loading time.
Not only are you overpaying for users that are basically leaving right away – Google sees this and may lower your domain’s quality score making it more expensive all around.
To wrap things up, SEO is a long-term fix and plan for evergreen users. SEM is implemented when you need to forcibly gain market share in a shorter period of time.
SEO should always be the main focus – the higher you can rank organically the less you potentially have to spend on your advertising efforts.
These two powerful marketing processes work for hand and hand, hopefully, this article help uncover the benefits of implementing both for your eCommerce business.
To learn more or even just to chat about your business goals, click the button below.
Table of Contents As a business owner, you need to understand your customers’ behavior and their journey with your brand. Life cycle marketing is a marketing approach that focuses on understanding the customer journey,
Table of Contents Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) is a powerful advertising tool available in Google Ads that helps advertisers automatically target relevant search queries based on the content of their website. DSA was first
