Is your business running a Google Ads PPC campaign? If you’re not familiar with the following stats, take a minute to absorb them.
Across all industries, a good click-through rate (CTR) is just about 2%, with average ROAS for most campaigns falling somewhere around 1.55. That means out of 100 people that see your ads, 2 will click, and you’ll get back about $1.55 for every $1 you spend on the campaign.
Now what if we told you there was a channel that could return more than 700% when run properly?
That channel is search engine optimization (SEO), and among its many other benefits, it can decrease your reliance on PPC as a marketing channel. Here’s what you need to know.
SEO and Reduced Reliance on Paid Ads
When you run a PPC campaign, you bid on keywords. When users search those keywords, your ads will display on their screens at the top of the SERPs.
Assuming your research has been done well, you have a good chance of getting a click. If someone clicks on your ad, you have to pay for it, whether or not the “clicker” converts.
But here’s the thing. As many as 94% of people scroll right past the ads – intentionally. They only trust the organic search results.
The top three organic search results get 54% or more of all clicks. The thing is people trust the organic results because they show up without being “bought” so to speak.
A Shopify SEO agency can do this (if your website is built on Shopify) by increasing your website’s organic ranking factors.
These things include but are not limited to on-page copy, internal links, backlink profile, site speed, security, structured data, the keyword density of on page copy, and many others.
When these ranking signals are optimized, your website has a higher chance of climbing the organic search results.
As it climbs the organic search results, there’s a much higher chance that those searching on the internet will see it there instead of in the ads.
Since the organic results get much better click through rates (and conversion value) than paid ads, the better you perform in the organic search, the less you will need to lean on PPC for revenue.
The other thing is that if your ad account ever gets suspended for any reason, you’ll need to rely on other channels for leads. This is one of the great things about SEO – it is a hedge against penalties.
So how do you go about hiring a Shopify SEO agency? Here are some pointers.
Hiring a Shopify SEO Agency: What to Look for
If you’re considering hiring a Shopify SEO agency to help you get away from your reliance on PPC marketing, here are some things to look for:
● Go with an agency that has a longer tenure of service if you can, ten years or longer if possible.
● Make sure the SEO team delivers high-quality onsite content as this is one of the most important ranking signals.
● Be clear about the scope of work.
● Look for an agency that has high-quality eCommerce SEO case studies with data.
● Look for testimonials and results and don’t just trust what you see on their website. These may be curated. Also, there should be some less than stellar reviews present.
● Ask for insight into how results will be quantified and communicated.
● If possible go with an agency that offers supporting marketing services like social media marketing or conversion rate optimization.
● Make sure the process discloses all costs up front.
These are just some high-level pointers but they can help you find a good SEO agency nonetheless. Now you just need to do your homework.
