The Importance of Search Engine Marketing for Ecommerce

Paid marketing on search platforms such as Google is known as Search Engine Marketing or SEM and it is one of the most important methods of digital promotion and advertising today. 

To understand the relevance, importance and impact of search engine marketing for ecommerce platforms we must first look at a variety of online search statistics and internet user behaviors.

There are around 5.16 billion internet users in the world today and a Digital Global Overview report by Datareportal showcases that 43.2% of internet users aged between 16 to 44 state researching products and brands as that one their primary reasons for using the internet and the same study also found that 58% of internet users purchase products and services online on a weekly basis.

Furthermore according to SmartInsights data provided by HigherVisibility showcases that paid search marketing accounts for 27% of all trackable website traffic second only to organic search engine traffic which accounts for 53% of all trackable website traffic.

These statistics not only showcase search engine marketing to be the second highest generator of online traffic for websites but also highlights the importance of SEM to be made part of a comprehensive digital marketing strategy for ecommerce platforms. You do not want to be missing out on online traffic which constitutes 27% of all global trackable website visits.

The USP’s of Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing enables you to advertise on search engines as well as on their display networks, which are a variety of websites, apps, social media and social networks associated with or owned by them via their paid marketing platforms & ad serving tools like Google Adwords & Microsoft Advertising among others. These paid marketing platforms & tools enable you to establish immediate online visibility for your brand, products & services, connect with your audience and start generating traffic for your website in real time.  They enable you to target your specific set of audiences based on user search queries, demographics, geo location, profession, industry, income, website subject & content as well as advertise in a number of engaging formats and utilize a variety of bidding strategies for serving your ads.

Search Engine Marketing on Gooogle

Google is the most popular and leading search platform in the world today with an 85% market share in desktop searches and 96% market share in mobile searches. A report on Google Search Statistics further showcases that Google processes around 8.5 billion searches per day and has 92% of the search engine market share. This makes Google the most important search platforms for search engine marketing and Google Adwords the most prominent Paid Marketing & Ad Serving platform of today.

Using Google Adwords you can run paid marketing campaigns on Google search results pages as well as display advertising campaigns on the Google display network which includes more than 2 million websites, videos and apps for your ads

Audience Targeting on Google

Google Adwords enables you to target a very specific set of users using Google search for showcasing your ads in a number of ways, this includes audience targeting based on their search queries, which are also known as key words, by selecting key words relevant to your products or services you ensure that your ads are only displayed to users who are using those specific key words. You can also target an audience based on user demographics, geo location, industry and income thereby ensuring that your ads on Google search are displayed to a very specific set of people who are using a very specific set of key words.

Likewise for advertising on the Google Display Network also known as the GDN audience targeting can be based on demographics, geo location, and language as well as by selecting specific web properties by way of content, topics, keywords and placement targeting options.

Keyword Selection on Google Adwords

Google Adwords provides you with detailed information on user search queries which includes subject specific key word recommendations, location specific search volumes on key words, key word bids, approximate ad impressions, clicks, clicks through rates, cost per click and more, all of which helps you in determining the best set of key words to target as well as set the campaign budget. You also have the option of targeting keywords based on key phrase match types which are broad match, phrase match and exact match. You are also given the option of defining keywords which are negative match types, which are key phrases or specific keywords which if included in a user search query would prevent your ad from being served for that sear ch phrase.

Ad Types for Google Search

Google Adwords provides you with a variety of ad types and ad serving options which you can run on Google Search, these include:

 Responsive Search Ads: these are an iteration of the standard text ads which allow you to apply multiple headlines & descriptions, these would then be served in different combinations by Google based on your audience search queries and the best performing combinations.

Dynamic Search Ads: these are ads which use the content on your web page to serve your ads, this helps you connect with customers seeking precisely what you.

App Promotion Ads: these ads are for advertising your applications.

Shopping Ads: these are ads created from the product data and include product details such as the product name, price & more. They also include a product photo.

Call-Only Ads: these are ads which promote calls to your business and can only appear on devices which are able to make phone calls.

Local Search Ads: These ads are designed to promote your business to people near your location and may also include an option for users to make calls to your business.

Best Ad Types for an Ecommerce Platform on Google Search

Each ad type has its own advantages based on the nature of your business. The best ad types to use for an online ecommerce store on Google search would be Shopping Ads, Dynamic Search Ads, and Responsive Search Ads and if your store has an application definitely include the App Promotion.

Bidding Strategies on Google Search

Google Adwords provides you with the Cost per Click (CPC) bidding model for advertising on Google Search. The Cost per click model basically means that you pay each time your target audience clicks on your ad, however you are provided with both manual and smart automated bidding strategies. Manual Bidding allows you to set maximum bids for Ad Groups and individual key phrases whereas smart automated bidding strategies provide you with a variety of automated bidding strategies aimed increasing sales, leads or profit by meeting as many conversion goals as possible either on a fixed budget, on a target ROI (return over investment) or a target ROAS (return over ad spend).  These smart bidding strategies  include Enhanced Cost per Click (CPC), Maximize Clicks, Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA (Cost per Action) and Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend).

Your marketing goals and marketing budget become crucial factors in determining the bidding strategy for your campaign.

The Google Display Network

You can run a variety of Display Ads on the Google Display Network of over 2 million websites, videos and apps associated with or owned by Google. The different types of display ads which you can serve include Banner Ads, Native Ads, GIF Ads, Interactive Ads, Video Ads, Expandable Ads, Interstitial Ads and Shopping Ads.

You are also able to target a specific audience on the GDN based on demographics, geo location and language as well as select specific web properties which are relevant to your business for displaying your ads by way of keywords, topics, content and placement targeting.

You can also enable retargeting or remarketing which allows you to target users who have landed on your website but do not complete a set goal. This is done by placing a snippet of code on your website which adds these users to a retargeting or remarketing list and when these users move off the website to browse other web properties, which may be a part of the Google display network, your display ads are served to them.

Furthermore Ads can be run on the GDN based on Cost per Click (CPC), Cost per 1000 Impressions (CPM) and Cost Per View (CPV) bidding models and as on Google search there are a variety of bidding strategies which can be applied, which include both Manual & Enhanced CPC bidding as well as Smart Automated Bidding Strategies like Maximize Clicks, Maximize Conversions, Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), Target Cost Per Action (CPA), Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) and Cost Per View (CPV) for Video Campaigns.

Successful Search Engine Marketing

Real time data on website traffic stats as well as internet user behavior showcases that online stores are one of the largest selling platforms in the world today and Search Engine Marketing is a powerful online promotion and advertising method which generates over a quarter of all trackable website traffic. Therefore it is imperative that Search Engine Marketing figure prominently in the Digital Marketing Strategy of any Online Ecommerce Store. Furthermore we also see that Google has over 90% of the global search engine market share and therefore becomes the platform of choice to run search engine marketing campaigns for your business. 

However considering that Search Engine Marketing uses paid marketing strategies where you are paying for clicks, impressions and views it is extremely crucial to make sure that your campaign is extremely targeted and setup after thorough research otherwise you can easily end up with a negative ROI. Therefore do make sure that you engage the services of an experienced Search Engine Marketing specialist who can effectively leverage the SEM landscape to meet the desired objectives and goals for your business.  

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