In today’s digital marketing world, search engines are among the most effective tools. With Google handling 5.6 billion search queries daily, it has become a critical player in online marketing efforts.
The competition for keywords on Google Search is fierce, especially for e-commerce sites and businesses. Many e-commerce sites allocate significant budgets to promote their products and services through Google search results, with much of that budget going towards SEM (Search Engine Marketing), particularly Google Search Ads. New websites often rely on PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ad campaigns to quickly reach potential customers. However, in this competitive environment, websites with the best bid and Google Ad optimization tend to reach a more targeted audience and increase their potential customer base.
While SEM provides a fast marketing solution, your Google Ads campaigns only run as long as your budget allows. In other words, once your budget is exhausted or you stop spending on ads, your website will no longer receive traffic. This approach does not support sustainable growth. Therefore, e-commerce sites should focus on growth-oriented strategies that aim to increase brand awareness and organic traffic. This is where SEO comes in. So, what is e-commerce SEO, and how is it done? Here’s what you need to know:
What is SEO?
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of aligning with various ranking factors that Google uses to index and rank websites. The main goal of SEO is to ensure that internet users can easily find your website when searching for specific keywords. Search engine algorithms rank websites based on the quality of content, user experience, and technical performance. As a result, SEO aims to optimize your website’s content to rank higher in search results and increase organic traffic.
SEO consists of two main parts: On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO.
- On-Page SEO focuses on the internal structure of your website. This includes elements like titles, meta descriptions, URL structures, keyword usage, internal linking, and content optimization. These elements help provide a better experience for both users and search engines.
- Off-Page SEO involves gaining backlinks from other sites, which helps to increase your website’s authority and improve its ranking in search engines like Google.
SEO strategies include keyword research, technical optimization, content creation, and link building. However, SEO results may take time to become visible, as it is a long-term strategy that requires patience.
The Relationship Between SEO and Ads
When implementing e-commerce SEO strategies, it’s important to remember that SEO should be integrated with ad campaigns. To prevent potential financial losses, these two strategies must be used in harmony. However, it’s crucial to understand that SEO and ads are different concepts. Many people believe that success in SEO can be achieved by simply driving paid traffic, but this is a misconception.
The two marketing strategies don’t directly affect each other. Still, for Google Ads to be approved, your website must be optimized for search engines. Factors like accessibility, page load speed, and URL structure play a role in your ad’s approval by the Google Ads algorithm. In short, your website must meet basic SEO requirements to run Google Ads.
The Role of SEO and Ads in Your Digital Marketing Strategy
According to First Page Sage, the top three organic positions on a Search Engine Results Page (SERP) receive 68.7% of all clicks. This highlights the significant opportunity that SEO provides for e-commerce businesses to connect with consumers. Furthermore, a study by Varn in 2022 found that 80% of internet users are aware of Google Ads and deliberately avoid clicking on them.
What does this mean for your digital marketing strategy?
It indicates that most searchers are not interested in paid ads, and your business must reach these users through other search tactics. Relying solely on paid Google ad strategies will not be enough. Organic search will play a bigger role in your digital marketing strategy. Therefore, adopting a hybrid strategy that combines organic and paid search is important.
The Growing Value of SEO
Recent data shows that approximately 175,000 new websites are launched worldwide every day. A large portion of these sites consists of personal blogs, corporate websites, and other types of content. However, it’s estimated that 12% to 15% of these new sites are e-commerce websites. This means that every day, roughly 21,000 to 26,000 new e-commerce sites go live.
In summary, competition on the internet is increasing every day, and as more new websites enter the market, the importance of SEO continues to rise.
For an e-commerce site to attract traffic and generate sales, relying solely on Google Ads is not enough; it must also appear in organic search results, especially on the first page of the SERP. Since 90% of internet users only focus on the first page of results, ranking on the first page is crucial for visibility. In many cases, millions of results appear for a single keyword, as thousands of websites target the same keywords. Additionally, SERP rankings are constantly changing. Google continuously evaluates sites based on authority, content quality, and other ranking factors. Sites that implement the best SEO strategies improve their rankings over time, while sites with outdated or poor performance may fall behind or be removed from the index altogether.
In short, to rank high on Google’s SERP, your e-commerce site must continuously compete with other sites. This requires a long-term investment in effective SEO efforts. However, just like Google Ads, SEO requires a budget. At the same time, working with an experienced SEO specialist is crucial for managing this process.
SEO Expert Hüseyin Mert Acar Recommends SEO for E-Commerce Sites
Whether you run an e-commerce site or operate in a different niche, SEO is essential for every website. An SEO expert doesn’t need to be familiar with your site’s industry before starting the optimization process. Instead, the expert will analyze your site’s target keywords and competitors. Next, they’ll examine the technical issues of the site. Based on this data, the expert will create an appropriate SEO strategy. The strategy includes content creation, link building, backlink acquisition, and periodic optimization of the site for search engines.
Since Google frequently updates its search index to improve results, SEO cannot be a one-time effort. A single round of SEO optimization won’t guarantee solutions for future problems. If the SEO strategy is delivering positive results, it shouldn’t be stopped. Traffic loss due to SEO problems cannot be fixed overnight, and it may take weeks or months to recover lost organic traffic. This can harm your website and increase costs due to decreased revenue.
The effects of SEO take time to materialize, and this process is not entirely in the control of the SEO expert. Whether your site rises or falls in rankings depends on Google’s evaluation, which takes time and is uncertain.
However, most SEO experts have observed that after three months of intense work, SEO strategies begin to bear fruit. Typically, after six months, a site will start to see an increase in traffic and conversions. If SEO efforts continue for 12 months, an e-commerce site will gain more traffic, target more keywords, and establish itself as a competitive authority in organic rankings.
That said, e-commerce sites should not rely solely on SEO during this period. SEO is a long-term process, so they should allocate a budget for Google Ads and follow a hybrid digital marketing strategy.
SEO expert Hüseyin Mert Acar manages the entire process with his expert team, implementing a hybrid marketing strategy for e-commerce sites. This strategy aims to establish a strong presence in organic search results while simultaneously delivering immediate results through paid advertising channels like Google Ads.
By investing in Google Ads and social media advertising while waiting for the long-term effects of SEO, e-commerce sites can meet short-term sales goals and increase brand awareness.
The best SEO service, when combined with quality expertise, leads to inevitable success. Work with Hüseyin Mert Acar and his team to implement a hybrid digital marketing strategy for your e-commerce site today, boosting short-term sales while laying the foundation for long-term success.
