![\"\"](\"https:\/\/technicalseo.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/seo-sem-01-1024x342.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn an integrated environment, SEM and SEO teams can collaborate, learn from each other, and provide incremental benefits, which include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Keeping one another informed<\/strong> of quickly changing business plans and respond with urgency.<\/li>
- Ensuring consistent messaging<\/strong> in the SERP, contributing to a seamless user experience<\/strong> for customers.<\/li>
- Uncovering patterns, anomalies, and opportunities<\/strong> that are more difficult for a single channel team to identify on their own. By having a larger team working regularly with a website, the collective knowledge<\/strong> of the business grows, offering greater fluency for understanding requests, and anticipating business needs. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Integrated teams can leverage various skillsets to benefit other channels with which they work. Specifically, teams can jointly contribute to projects related to messaging, on-page content \/ searcher intent, user experience, and optimizing SEO and SEM channels from a technical perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Content & Messaging: Use Holistic Team Insights to Understand & Optimize for Search Intent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Searcher intent typically falls into one of two categories. The first category is transactional, where searchers are looking to purchase an item. The second category is informational, where searchers are looking to learn something. Both scenarios have different outcomes and require each team to adjust its content and messaging strategy to meet user needs and best utilize SERP features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transactional Searcher Intent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The query “navy blue dresses for wedding” yields a transactional SERP, characterized by paid and organic listings that closely match the search query. This includes ad formats that drive to product detail pages, such as product listing ads (PLAs), and organic blue links that lead to category pages showcasing products. The SERP often also includes organic rich results, such as images or Google\u2019s 3-Pack localized results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/technicalseo.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/seo-sem-02.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTransactional Queries & SEO Strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
A successful SEO strategy for transactional queries relies\nheavily on using rich result SERP features and focusing on the following best\npractices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Make the site easy to navigate with a crawlable\nand intuitive taxonomy and strong internal linking signals.<\/li>
- Have\ncategory or product listing pages, which provide an efficient user experience, with\ntargeted meta data, a variety of product listings, and strong on-page content.<\/li>
- Ensure\nproduct detail pages have thorough product descriptions, images with optimized\nalt text and file names, error-free structured data, and relevant product\nattributes listed.<\/li>
- Leverage\nrich result opportunities by ensuring Google My Business listings are complete,\nvideo listings include detailed transcripts and video descriptions, etc.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Transactional Queries & SEM Strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most retail SEM programs heavily weigh ad support toward\ntransactional queries, as they often have a stronger return on investment\n(ROI). Besides the keyword\/target bid, search engines weigh an ad\u2019s quality\nscore to determine rank. Quality score is an aggregated view of how well the ad\nexperience matches the users\u2019 queries. Quality score is composed of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Expected click-through rate (CTR)<\/li>
- Ad relevance to the query<\/li>
- Landing page experience<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Engines are looking for users to want to click through on ads and have a good experience. If an advertiser has a higher landing page experience (i.e., it is relevant for the searcher and the query), then the quality score of that ad will be higher and contribute to cost-per-click (CPC) savings compared to competitors. In SEO, ranking relevancy is determined by having a useful on-site experience, clearly relevant to the original query. Similarly, regular search query monitoring and negative query additions are important in SEM. They block irrelevant traffic from matching against ads, which both increases the conversion rate of traffic that does get through to site and helps to rank higher in auctions via increased quality score, without increasing bids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holistic Search Strategy for Targeting Transactional Queries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the search landscape continues to become more competitive, utilizing organic and paid placements leads to more visibility and more opportunities for searchers to interact with your website. Integrated teams must balance the ROI required to achieve these SERP placements and identify opportunities that benefit the brand\u2019s goals. Shared query reporting and holistic overall search ROI can be compiled and reviewed across teams to identify areas of further opportunity within either channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Informational Searcher Intent<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Informational search queries are designed to answer an explicit or implied question asked by the searcher. SERPs for these queries tend to be characterized by prominent rich results that include quick answers or video content, news carousels, People Also Ask listings, and organic blue links. Some informational query SERPs will include paid listings. The example below for the query “how to tie a scarf” highlights several such SERP features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/technicalseo.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/seo-sem-03.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nInformational Queries & SEO Strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Informational queries are an opportunity for SEO to drive\nnon-branded traffic, increase awareness, and build authority. Depending on the\nvertical, content that answers informational queries can be an important\nsupplement to a business\u2019s products and services, or it can be the product\nitself. Retailers most often use long form writing, multimedia assets, and\ninteractive features to enhance a customer\u2019s purchase journey and distinguish\nthemselves from competitor pages on the web. News publishers, nonprofit\norganizations, financial service providers, and education sector websites, depend\nheavily on content that can answer user questions in order to maintain\nrelevance and drive engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like transactional queries, a strong SEO strategy for\ninformational queries relies on targeting rich SERP features. To achieve these\nplacements, SEOs should consider using the following techniques:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Conduct advanced keyword analysis and landscape research to understand core user questions.<\/li>
- Audit a site\u2019s existing content to understand which pages can be optimized to answer informational queries and to identify gaps where new content needs to be created.<\/li>
- Structure content to align with the SERP feature being targeted.<\/li>
- Use structured data to make the content easily digestible for search engines.<\/li>
- Leverage image and video content to create a rich user experience and ensure SEO best practices are followed.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Informational Queries & SEM Strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEM has evolved a lot over the years, from historically only\ngoing after terms that drive the best last-click ROI to now seeing the value in\nbeing present on less conversion-focused queries for the purpose of filling the\nfunnel. In a world with many different attribution models available, we now have\nmore flexibility to distribute conversion credit to informational queries when a\nportion of that traffic comes back and converts via another interaction. For\nthis, we recommend one of the following attribution models:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Data-driven attribution<\/li>
- Time decay<\/li>
- Linear<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
For these types of queries, traffic is best matched to long-form content (typically blog) pages built out by SEO teams. Within SEM, this traffic is best acquired via running either text ads, which target keyword-matched queries to chosen landing pages, or Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs), which target relevant queries to designated types of landing pages. For SEM, the agreed upon goals of this traffic and the volume of traffic coming through these terms will help determine which ad format is best for running support. For clients just starting out in advertising on informational queries, we recommend starting with DSA targeting on a smaller budget and an automated bid strategy focused on driving traffic. From there, begin breaking out either more granular DSA targets or stand-alone text ads for high-volume terms, as well as testing into more conversion-focused bid strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holistic Search Strategy for Targeting Informational Queries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many brands, it can be difficult to justify the SEM expense of targeting informational queries, as it is typically a higher funnel strategy or branding play. However, by leveraging SEM data, SEO can use paid insights to understand where there is more ROI to be had for informational content. This creates a win-win situation for the brand, which can more easily justify the expense of creating the content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Use Cases: Technical SEO + Technical SEM<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Organic Merchant Center Programs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Feed management is a sub-specialty that many SEM teams help run, given that 89 percent of non-brand Google paid search clicks now come from feed-powered Shopping ads, according to the Merkle Q1 2020 Digital Marketing Report<\/a>. Until recently, there was little focus on it from SEOs, since most SEO work is focused on crawling, indexation, and ranking. With the Google announcement of Unpaid Shopping Listings<\/a> under the shopping tab, both teams are given an opportunity collaborate by: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
- Ensuring the product feed adheres to Google\nMerchant Center best practices.<\/li>
- Building\nreporting dashboards for Organic Shopping Listings that incorporate sessions,\nrevenue, and other relevant organic metrics. <\/li>
- Working together to further optimize the\nfeed with title updates, image testing, description changes, and google product\ncategorization improvements.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Crawling and Navigation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
From an SEO perspective, crawling and navigation are key\nconsiderations that impact page discovery for crawlers. Alternately, SEM\nresults are based on a bid, but also on the relevancy and expected CTR of that\nproduct or group of products in context of both the user\u2019s query and what the\nsearch engine knows about that user and his or her online behavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leveraging SEM data against SEO data can also lead us to discover orphaned PDPs and categories that can be difficult to find. To help identify them more quickly, we can run an analysis of what is over-indexing in sales via SEM and cross reference those products or categories to the user\u2019s on-site, navigational experience finding them. This is a quick and clever way to ensure products that might be under-performing outside of SEM can be optimized to have a chance at better performance on-site and in organic search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEM, SEO, and the User Experience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When given similar bids, the SEM team can see what\nindividual products the search engines see as winners on the SERP and what\nproducts will stand out against the competition, get traffic onto the client\u2019s\nsite, and drive conversions. As a pull marketing channel, product traffic and\nsales trends are typically very reflective of seasonal demands across the\nentire product catalog. Using SEM data to our advantage, we can look at product-level\nreporting and see what products over index in sales via SEM compared to non-SEM\nall-site sales. Narrowing to the top outlier products reveals interesting\nimplications to begin answering broader questions, such as: \u201cWhich products\nshould we pin to show at the top of a category page?\u201d \u201cWhat products would be\nwinners, in that they had more visibility?\u201d \u201cWhich products should be moved to\nclearance, given that they convert poorly even with a lot of highly relevant\ntraffic?\u201d In these instances, SEM product performance can help us make more\ninformed assumptions about what appeals to a business\u2019s user base on-site and across\nchannels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From an overall business perspective, both SEM and SEO teams are often asked, \u201cWhat can we do to better support x page?\u201d For SEM, sometimes those pages would be low volume or wouldn\u2019t be expected to return well given paid ad support. For SEO, those might be pages that are technically sound and keyword optimized, but they are having a hard time ranking in highly competitive SERPs. This is a great opportunity for both teams to come back to a customer-centric perspective and collectively ask ourselves, \u201cRegardless of channel, how would we as users want to find and experience this page as part of our shopping journey?\u201d It might be as simple as ensuring a page is featured in the header navigation, footer content, and referenced from relevant PDPs throughout the site. Whether the searcher direct loads, clicks through a paid or unpaid listing, or comes in via email, we want that page to be visible and easily accessed, such that it will enhance the searcher\u2019s experience with the brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using SEO & SEM to Create a Seamless User Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Staying siloed in either an SEO or SEM context can feel\ncomfortable for those who have never worked in integrated search. While\nstepping outside of established routines to try new cross-channel techniques\nmay feel intimidating, communication is the essential first step to creating a\nmore collaborative strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with cross-channel collaboration of any kind, the goal is\nto create a seamless experience for consumers, no matter how they\u2019re\ninteracting with your brand. Outside of the above examples, have SEM and SEO\nteams meet regularly to discuss what they\u2019re working on and their channel goals.\nThis will result in interesting collaborations. It will help search teams to\nspeak one another\u2019s language and recognize situations where one opinion or\nperspective could create additional value for another business or business\npartner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even for those who are only able to work formally within a siloed\nSEM or SEO team, curiosity about other channels will still yield benefits.\nThere may be some limitations on your ability to apply the techniques mentioned\nhere. However, the practice of asking user-centered questions that consider the\nholistic search journey will position you to notice and articulate where\nopportunities exist across all channels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
- Ensuring consistent messaging<\/strong> in the SERP, contributing to a seamless user experience<\/strong> for customers.<\/li>