Multichannel Search Strategies: Creating a SEO Dynasty
For an online retailer, there's no greater accomplishment than being in the No. 1 spot on Google for a lucrative keyword or keyword phrase like "computer," "flights to Las Vegas" or "used cars." These listings can be worth tens of millions of dollars. And search volumes continue to grow faster — 17 percent, according to Covario's annual survey — than any other market channel except social media. The opportunity remains in organic search. As search permeates mobile, TV and all consumer devices, the need to excel at search engine optimization has never been greater.
The costs, however, associated with driving SEO results continue to climb for a host of reasons, including the following:
• Google's new "Google Instant" functionality is a not-so-subtle attempt to push organic search off the radar for consumers, forcing budgets to pay-per-click programs.
• The competition for high-value keywords continues to be intense. The amount of time and resources necessary to stay ahead of the competition requires more investment.
• The channels for SEO are expanding, forcing marketers to build far more scalable systems to manage the many different channels through which searches are delivered.
So, how do marketers get and maintain a sustainable edge in SEO to take advantage of the opportunities, and at the same time control the risks and costs? How do they build a SEO dynasty?
Building a Sustainable Infrastructure for Search
For retailers, the days of treating SEO as a three-month project or a discretionary investment are over. Sustained investment and, specifically, investing in building out a scalable infrastructure for managing SEO have become a must. The following is a list of the key processes and infrastructure initiatives that retailers are building to ensure they can deliver consistent, growing and scalable SEO services:
Integrated SEO. SEO used to be conducted by specialized practitioners who acted in a vacuum. Today, it's a rare company that hasn't integrated SEO either into their web development or web marketing teams. This integration ensures that SEO is built into all websites from the beginning, and that ongoing optimization is done with the least amount of hassle.
