According to Statista, in 2019, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 3.53 trillion US dollars. Statista estimates that by 2022, e-retail revenues will grow to 6.54 trillion US dollars.

How are these companies generating so much money? Better yet, how can your e-commerce business succeed and outshine the competition?

Two words, digital marketing!

Gone are the days of brick and mortar. Nowadays, companies need to have an online presence. With an online presence, businesses can use online sales to help increase their bottom line.

To generate an online presence, you will need website traffic - this is where digital marketing comes into play.

There are many forms of digital marketing. One of the more popular digital marketing channels is search engine optimization (SEO).

What Is SEO?

SEO is the practice of making your website rank higher on an online search engine such as Google, Bing and YouTube. Most consumers only view the first page of a search engine results page (SERP), so creating a search engine-friendly website is crucial to outrank your competitors.

Five Reasons to Use SEO for E-Commerce

Number 1: Organic Search Rankings

*Google Click Drop-Off After 1st Page Results*

Organic search refers to the ranking of websites on search engines. Search engines rank websites according to their relevance to a search query (words typed into the search bar). Companies cannot pay to outrank their competitors on organic search.

Having your e-commerce rank as high as possible in an organic search is critical. Backlinko reports less than 1% of Google users clicked on a URL from the second page.

You must be visible on the first page of a search engine to get clicks to your website. Finding keywords that will allow your website to rank on the first page is imperative. Tailoring web pages to specific keywords will help improve your website's relevance.

Customers who search your desired keywords will be likelier to click on your page. Use organic search to increase quality traffic to your page and increase sales.

Number Two: Free Tools

SEO is a lot cheaper than other digital marketing channels. As mentioned earlier, you can’t pay to rank first in organic search. To rank first, you need to make your website search engine friendly. Many free resources can help you create and optimize content.

Some powerful free tools are Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Moz, Ubersuggest and many more. Google Analytics unlocks a massive amount of SEO traffic insights. In contrast, Google Search Console discovers keywords that land users on your website.

Many businesses see success by solely using free tools and resources. Leverage these tools to help build traffic, make decisions and increase authority. Since it is possible to use free tools and succeed, this form of marketing is cost-effective.

Number Three: Easily Measured

Being able to measure the success of a marketing campaign is significant. If you can adequately measure success, you can allocate your time and resources better.

Using SEO allows you to measure and track results effectively. When you make changes online, you can accurately reference the success it is having on your website. Metrics like site speed, keyword ranking, clicks, and purchases can be beneficial.

Analyzing these metrics lets you quickly see where your site needs improvements and which SEO elements you can use to fix them.

Measuring a campaign's success is beneficial because other channels don't track results easily. The simplicity of SEO tracking will allow you to save time, effort and money.

Number Four: Improved Customer Experience

*The Most Important Factors In A Website Design*

A website's user experience can be the difference between a purchase and a lost customer. Implementing SEO best practices helps design your website so visitors can easily navigate it.

Discovering your customers' pain points will allow you to begin to alleviate the issues they are having. Fixing these issues will result in a better customer experience.

Optimizing your website content, simplifying webpages, and increasing site speed will improve customer experience. By increasing customer satisfaction, you can generate more purchases and long-term customers.

PS: You can visit our website design page to learn how we can help improve your customers’ online experience.

Number Five: Scalable For Your E-commerce

***Traffic Spike Using Alternative Marketing Channels - Then A Dip After The Campaign Ends***

One unique aspect of SEO is that your success will continue to build over time. In contrast, when using alternative marketing channels, you can see traffic dips after a campaign ends.

***Consistent Traffic Using SEO As A Marketing Channel***

SEO is a long-term process where you can control how much you want to invest. The more you invest in time, the faster you should see results. Having frequent traffic to your site is more optimal than a one-time spike.
Being able to generate a long-term, steady traffic flow to your site is critical for lasting success.

Three Cons Of Using SEO for E-Commerce

Number One: Google Algorithm Changes & Updates

Google uses algorithms that determine the rankings of your website. Over time these algorithms are changed and updated.

What you see for a search today might not be the same in a month. Google’s inconsistency in rankings means it can become difficult to reach the top of a search engine results page or keep a current position.

Adjusting to these changes can become overwhelming, time-consuming and a pain. To stay current, look into future trends and technological advancements that could impact the future of search engines.

Number Two: Long-Term Strategy

SEO is a long-term process. You can use best practices and not see results for months — particularly for a new website.

All new websites have little to no authority in search engines. Your website gains authority over time. The rule of thumb is the higher the website authority, the higher you should rank.

Alternatively, a site that has more website authority brings new challenges. At this point, most simple changes are complete. Now, the focus should be on creating and updating more content on your website. Creating content that brings attention to your website can take a lot of time.

If you continuously optimize your website content with SEO best practices, you can expect improvements in your site performance within a few months. You will notice gains in your SEO results from year to year through continuous optimization.

Number Three: Extremely Competitive

Borrell Associates proclaimed that in the United States, companies spent 65 billion dollars on SEO services. In 2018 that number was expected to rise to $72.02 billion and is forecasted to grow to $79.27 billion by 2020.

As you can see, many companies are investing heavily in SEO services. Doing so gives them a competitive advantage over those who are not. It can be the difference between your website generating millions of dollars over thousands.

Implementing SEO will help your website reach number one in search engine rankings. The more capital your competitors invest in SEO services, the harder it becomes for you to rank. There is a lot of competition; adopting SEO before your competitors is critical. This way, your competitors won't continually outrank your website.

Alternative Digital Marketing Channels

To better understand SEO as a marketing channel and its place for e-commerce, it is critical to look at the other channels to reach an informed conclusion. Here is a list of different marketing channels your e-commerce should consider.

Paid Social Media Advertising

The most well-known form of digital advertising is social media advertising. Social media ads leverage social platforms to engage customers and drive traffic to landing pages or websites. The most used social media advertising platforms are Facebook, YouTube, Whatsapp and Instagram.

Each social platform provides diverse audience targeting methods, ad formats (video, text, image, message), and optimization techniques.

Social media marketing is useful because, according to Statista, users spend, on average, 145 minutes a day on social platforms. That means you can reach your target audience with your product or service for 2.4 hours a day.

One downfall of using social media advertising is the high learning curve. You can get overwhelmed with the technical aspects and become hyper-focused on ad spend.

Facebook Ads are a potent marketing tool for e-commerce. Read our FB Advertising Guide for E-commerce to learn everything you need to know!

Pay-Per-Click

Pay-per-click (PPC) is a method companies use to drive website traffic. Search engines like Google and Bing have ads that appear above the organic search results.

E-commerce companies bid on keywords and phrases related to their product or service. They only pay when an ad gets clicked on.

One of the main benefits of using PPC is the relation between the ad and the search keyword. Customers searching for your desired keyword or phrase will be instantly targeted. The process usually results in more potential customers visiting your website and completing a purchase.

E-commerce advertisers should be mindful that having ads that get lots of clicks does not imply more sales. The ad is only half of the process. Emphasis needs to also be on creating a high-performing landing page and website.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategic approach to drive traffic to your e-commerce site. It is the process of creating rich and valuable content.

Use content marketing at any point in the customer journey to attract and engage your target audience to inspire a sale. You can adapt your content to fit all platforms, leading to a higher reach for your brand.

Creating valuable content can be a time-consuming process. Researching, writing, reviewing, and publishing requires several hours to complete.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is an effective digital strategy that helps leverage customers with personalized messages. This form of digital marketing is an inexpensive way to connect with your target audience.

Email marketing has one of the highest returns on investment (ROI). The high ROI is because prospects have consented to receive your emails.

E-commerce businesses can use email marketing to:

Update customers about promotional events
Inform users of forgotten products in their cart
Send thank you messages after making a sale

E-commerce businesses should not rely on email marketing as their only marketing channel, as shoppers can mark emails as spam or unsubscribe anytime.

Conclusion

When deciding on the right marketing channel for your e-commerce, you must consider your industry, audience, goals and strategies.

To recap, SEO allows your website to be found on search engines even when your target audience isn't looking for you. SEO is a sustainable marketing channel that will help increase traffic and improve the user experience. Better customer experience means increased customer satisfaction resulting in more purchases and loyal customers.

SEO is a long-term process where you control how much you want to invest. When done right and efficiently, SEO can cost you nothing. As mentioned, there are a lot of free resources at your disposal. It comes down to the time you have to allocate the resources to conduct SEO best practices. We know that generating a long-term traffic flow to your site is critical for lasting success.

That is not to say you should focus solely on one digital marketing channel. Email marketing, pay-per-click, social media ads and content marketing all have their place. A tailored combination of digital marketing channels will allow for a complete and sustainable strategy.

I encourage you to contact our team if you need help with your SEO. Our team will analyze your e-commerce and audience data to develop a comprehensive advertising strategy.

About Noetic Marketer

Noetic Marketer is a full-service digital marketing agency with roots in Ottawa and the GTA. We specialize in creating and optimizing digital marketing campaigns for the higher education, e-commerce, professional services, and contractors industries.

As digital marketers, we strive to find solutions to every company’s lead generation challenges, creating personalized marketing strategies that suit the specific needs of our clients.

Is SEO For E-Commerce A Useful Marketing Channel?