Posted by Carlos Munoa, Principal, Ecommerce Marketing
A sophisticated Search Engine Optimization (SEO)(opens in new tab) strategy doesn’t end after the research is complete, content is created and the images on an ecommerce(opens in new tab) site are tagged with alt text. In fact, leveraging multiple channels to improve SEO is a must in today’s highly competitive environment.
Pay Per Click
The easiest, and perhaps most obvious, place to start is using Google AdWords and pay per click (PPC) campaigns. Google research(opens in new tab) has found that a combination of AdWords and targeted SEO can double traffic. While one may question the inherent bias in that sort of research, there’s no question that PPC campaigns can be a valuable addition. For example, organic SEO efforts are generally a long-term payoff, but with PPC you can start seeing some immediate results. Indeed, with strategic keyword terms or phrases in particular, PPC can get you on the first page of results from day one. PPC also offers a unique opportunity to test what terms you should be targeting to ultimately apply to an SEO strategy.
Social
Promoting your content and web pages in other channels is another proven method of bolstering your SEO efforts. If you have useful content, there’s a good chance it will be shared on Facebook or other social channels driving traffic, trust and eventually links. Additionally, having a website that follows the open graph protocol(opens in new tab) (such as websites running on SuiteCommerce) will improve the click-through rates from Facebook, LinkedIn and others.
Brand
Multichannel marketing, including the use of email marketing and public relations, improves SEO simply by amplifying your brand. With a viral video or a TV news segment, there’s a high probability that you will see high web citations so you can earn back links.
Reviews
Reviews are powerful drivers for SEO. Customer and expert reviews really impact how a site converts traffic. I always check reviews before making a purchase and sometimes those come directly from social media which is why it’s a good idea for businesses to actively track reviews of their products. A worthwhile endeavor is using Google Alerts to inform you anytime your page or brand terms are mentioned.
By leveraging multiple channels for SEO, businesses can safeguard themselves from being penalized or blocked by the search engines. If you have a multichannel SEO strategy in place you can bring traffic from other sources until the problem is fixed.
Want to learn more about SEO best practices? Read the other past articles from our SEO Strategy Series:
How to Execute a Successful SEO Strategy(opens in new tab)
Top SEO KPIs to Track for Ecommerce Success(opens in new tab)
Research is Fundamental to SEO Success(opens in new tab)
SEO Efforts are Meaningless Without Quality Content(opens in new tab)
Research is Fundamental to SEO Success(opens in new tab)