Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a type of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through advertising and optimization.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) optimization is necessary for any ecommerce website. Gaining insights into the process and using other tools and technology to enhance the performance of your ecommerce business is very important. It is more than running AdWords. Below are 10 tips that make sure that your SEM is as it should be.
1. URL Tags:
Go into “My Account” in Google AdWords and enable the auto-tag option. You can also opt to tag manually by setting tags up in the Google URL Builder. It is more convenient to start with lots of information and have them in your analytics than to not tag. Without tags, you won’t be able to figure out from where your traffic is coming.
2. Adjust Google Analytics Codes to Track Your Revenue:
Google AdWords are useful in finding out which keyword is driving traffic to your site and what is making people buy your products. It can be your brand name or some specific term. Google Analytics can help you to find this term that is driving people to buy from your site. When people keep buying only one product or a particular type of product, you need to adjust your ad copy. Change the landing pages and preferably emphasize a few featured products on your homepage.
3. Keep Your Ads Updated to Match Your Inventory:
Make sure not to drive customers to view products that are not available which otherwise creates poor user experience. Take your time and change the ad groups for products depending on whether they are available or not. Provide a specific date for when they will be back in your inventory, or create a box with the option of sending notifications as soon as they are available. Never advertise what you can’t sell.
4. Test Bids on Specific Keywords:
Smart internet users tend to do research before they decide to buy a product. Assign strategies based on the intent of queries that users are making. People who are just looking up the products without buying may not have a high return value at the beginning. However, with time, they will return with the intent to buy. Many people research products using specific keywords. Use the Conversion Assist Report to calculate the correct value of each keyword even if they are low return keywords now.
5. Remarket Products to Both Converted Buyers and the Yet-to-Buy Users:
Remarket your products to users who have abandoned their shopping cart with ads that will encourage them to buy their choice of products. If a particular channel has customers with a lower CLV (customer lifetime value), give them better opportunities to buy. You should up-sell to users who have already converted and even to those who have only signed up for newsletters.
6. Test Offers and Ad Copy Each Time:
Test your ads and offers every time. Do not depend on your common sense to always know what will work best. Set your ads to rotate indefinitely and not optimize it for clicks. Test them yourself or hire some good company to do it for you. You want more than just clicks, you want ads that bring in more revenue.
7. Learn to Use Good Ad Extensions and Targeting:
Use Sitelink extensions to highlight products that people end up buying when they are searching for your brand. You can also use call extension to put your cell phone number in the ad if you are launching a mobile campaign or you get calls about purchases online. Recently, Google has begun using a new extension called the Offer Extension that allows your users to provide you with their emails directly through your ad.
8. Use Prominent Placement of PLAs (Product Listing Ads):
PLAs make better impressions than standard text ads according to some of the top Adwords Advertisers. Using PLAs can decrease your cost per clicks (CPCs) more than standard text ads and also increase your conversion rate. Pull regular search query reports and add negatives to optimize speed and eliminate inefficiency.
9. Optimize Your Ecommerce Website for Mobile:
If you are looking to expand your reach, opt for running mobile ads. Make the product images larger on a smartphone and make navigation easy. Make the ‘Add to Cart’ button small but large enough so your thumb can click it. Keep the checkouts convenient. Optimize your ad quality for mobile phones and make everything mobile friendly.
10. Create Intelligent Product Landing Pages to Increase Conversion Rates:
When someone is searching for a specific product, send them to a page that contains their search result plus a few more related options. Sending them to a page that contains only their search item will increase your conversion rate, but you may have a higher AOV if you send them to a page with other relevant options.