Decoding The Conundrum Of Search Advertising
Search is one of the important tools utilised by marketers to reach out to consumers. It is one of the fundamental beginnings of the marketing process as it is how we start finding other things on the internet. As such, search also acts as a behavioural trend into what consumers are looking for and how we can understand digital user behaviour. As per Google’s study in Search for 2021, there was a significant rise in online shopping searches that increased by almost 32 per cent in India. Additionally, sale days on online platforms show a very significant increase with almost 100 per cent in related search terms. This is validated by the increase in online shopping during the pandemic.
According to Google, 15 per cent are brand new searches that are from new user segments, across categories and for all kinds of queries. With these multiple billions of searches that happen every day, certain behaviour can be observed in searches, which is reflected by the current situation in the country.
And with more people relying on digital, they are faced with an abundance of choice and information, which they distil further through the means of this medium. The advent of the pandemic meant that this behaviour was further augmented and at the core of most of these journeys, search plays a vital role.
Useful Across Consumer Journey
Search is vital throughout the consumer journey, from the first research into a brand to final conversion, acquisition and even post-purchase in the form of reviews and testimonials. Search and search keywords play a role across and are one of the major touchpoints for consumers across their purchase journey. It serves as a vital intermediary – helping consumers make sense of the internet. It classifies the various steps available and helps consumers connect to other aspects of the internet for further information hunting, enabling the modern, chaotic consumer journey possible. It is estimated that 3 out of 4 people access different online portals or touchpoints by using search.
Source: Google
This is validated through search behaviour. If we consider Google’s results through their research for the year 2021, some interesting results crop up which validate the above point.
There was a 41 per cent increase in interest in identifying the best brands as people went from awareness to active consideration. There was also a significant increase in searches around QR code payment (about 38 per cent), as people started adopting digital payments. Again, a behavioural trend that was accelerated by the pandemic.
The above just goes to further prove that search has a significant presence across multiple touch points of the consumer journey. It also highlights the need for brands to have an omnipresent approach using search as a strategy, while they focus on keyword and ad strategy. This will help brands effectively impact consumer journeys.
The Two Pillars - SEO vs SEM
There are generally two major aspects to search – SEO and SEM. Both are completely different, and yet, both are often confused with each other. At their core, these are tools and means in search to reach the required target audiences.
In a nutshell, it can be defined as
SEO
SEO stands for ‘search engine optimisation.’ The whole process of SEO revolves around optimising the quality and ability of the brand website to be present across search results, thereby positively impacting traffic organically.
This revolves around identifying what people are looking for online and bridging that connect to people and the solutions they are looking for from the brand through content that they wish to consume. All of these are vital in crafting an effective strategy for SEO.
Source: Moz
SEM
SEM (known as Search Engine Marketing) revolves around showcasing the brand and gaining traction through paid means. A commonly used term to indicate SEM is also PPC (Pay per click) – depending on the bid type, you pay for each type of interaction rather than just showcasing the brand.
It involves identifying the most searched keywords - the backbone of every and any search strategy, checking on how much competition bidding is present for each of those keywords and further increasing efficiency and optimisation to ensure the best possible results, basis the campaign objectives that include conversions, clicks and more.
Various campaigns can be run for an overall search campaign, which involves
These are all different types of ads and ad formats present within the Google Ads ecosystem, which help in reaching the target audience through various engaging and interactive formats.
If we focus on search ads, the objective generally is to be present at the top of search results. As a result of accurate bidding and an exception quality score. this method is used to rank the efficiency of the ad, website and click-through. The goal is to get the consumer to engage with the brand. It is known that brands only pay for engagement – clicks, views etc., rather than visibility (impressions).
Combining SEO & SEM
Search is at its most effective when a business focuses on both SEO and SEM. And not just focus but also integrate both approaches and use its learnings to create a holistic search strategy.
Upon integrating both, we can show a holistic picture of the brand. In-depth keyword research that goes into an overall strategy around SEM can often be used as a base to identify and place keywords for SEO, which helps in further visibility. Additionally, an integrated approach means that the brand has a presence across both organic and paid listings, thereby ensuring an almost 100 per cent presence. Through website visitors, whether organic or paid, we can create remarketing campaigns which enable us to target people who have engaged with the brand and visited the site, to showcase the ads again across the Google ecosystem and ensure they are finally able to convert for the brand.
Evolving Criteria In Search
For everyone across the globe, search has become synonymous with Google. Both terms are often used interchangeably, and it is easy to see why, with Google dominating the charts for search usage. It has become one of those rarefied brands where the brand and the category/action are used synonymously with each other (Xerox, anyone?).
A look at the top search engine usage across the country shows Google to have a dominating market share compared to its closest competitors of Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo, in particular, is a search engine which promises itself to be anonymous and not track users, rendering it a popular choice among people having privacy concerns.
Source: Similarweb
But even as Google dominates overall search, there is an interesting phenomenon being observed about the basic behaviour across search.
There is a departure noted in the shift of brand keyword searches from Google to marketplaces like Amazon. This is a phenomenon that is happening worldwide and is observed even in India. Consumer research worldwide on ‘where they search for products’ indicated that 38 per cent of consumers search directly on Amazon (as a first choice) while about 40 per cent do it via search engines. Consumers are using Amazon as their first landing platform as there is a belief that Amazon knows what the consumer wants.
Certain reasons why consumers prefer searching on Amazon directly:
In an era of convenience, Amazon is simplifying the whole process of shopping, thus enabling more people to opt for it. While Google tends to show a barrage of information including articles, blog content etc. – Amazon simplifies the whole process and directly shows the products (and reviews) in a simplified and easy manner, thus getting more people to opt for it.
This is a worrying trend, even for Google as this has implications from a manufacturer’s perspective. This consumer shift means that Amazon becomes a better/preferred choice for most sellers and manufacturers, in terms of presence. Extending it further is ad revenues. The more that manufacturers and companies spend on Amazon search to showcase their product, the lesser the overall pie becomes for Google to capitalise on (although, let’s make no mistake, an overwhelming majority of spending on Search still happens on Google, despite the above).
Voice Marketing Searches
Voice marketing is a medium that has seen dramatic growth in the country. Due to steady and cheaper access to the internet and largescale smartphone availability at cheap prices, voice marketing has seen a dramatic spike in overall adoption in the country.
According to industry reports, it is estimated that voice searches are growing at almost 270 per cent, year-on-year. And close to 80 per cent of smartphone users are using voice technology, through various means.
Voice technology has had a long format of growth in the country. Since the introduction of Siri in 2011 (Siri was the first-time voice technology was taken seriously), there was a steady growth in technology majors introducing their voice assistants. Google Assistant, Cortona by Microsoft and Alexa by Amazon all followed suit. This also led to specific devices outside of the smartphone ecosystem, catering specifically to voice-activated searches like Google Home and Amazon Echo, among others – which combine voice searches with other utilities like speakers and smart-home enablers.
This has also led to the application of voice activation in other areas of life. These days car manufacturers have voice assistants to help navigate various activities while driving. It has become so convenient that you can dictate to the VA to change music, read aloud a message and respond to it and navigate to a different location – among other activities.
This also has major implications in the space of ecommerce, where voice-based assistants are rising. Businesses are capitalising on the power of voice to enable customers to place orders, just by talking to the voice assistants. This has essentially enabled various ecommerce platforms to grow even further, as listings are now accessible even in various under-developed parts of the country.
Voice advertising leads to a lot of opportunities. Advertisers, in a similar fashion, can choose to target certain keywords, thereby engaging customers in dialogues when they speak those specific words. They can also use the ability to customise responses basis consumer replies, thereby providing a higher rate of engagement. This also increases accuracy in reaching the consumer, as invalid clicks and other issues become non-existent.
Search Mirrors User Demographic Of The Country
While we have seen how the pandemic caused a rapid increase in searches across categories (a trend which has continued post lifting of the lockdown and relaxation of norms too), there are certain categories where the inverse is the case.
During our regular course of work, when we were checking into different categories, we came across a brief for a specific brand in the gold loan category (a type of loan obtained against gold and gold valuables). Naturally, we looked into the search behaviour of audiences for the category, and we found that there was a de-growth in the quantum of searches from the previous year to the current year. Naturally, we assumed that the same was true of the actual behaviour of the category itself.
However, when we verified with the brand, we found out that the brand (and basis of other reports) the overall category too, had experienced a very positive outlook. The previous year’s performance was the best reported by the category in recent times and it was predicted that it would become even better in the current year.
In light of this contrast between search quantum and category performance, we looked to evaluate how the difference could be explained. We came up with a few reasonable conclusions as to how this could have panned out
It is a very well-established category, especially in the key markets of the South that we were looking at. These brands spend aggressively on mass media (high reach mediums) to ensure brand retention. Thus, high awareness meant that there could be fewer people searching for various options. Instead, they could probably be going out and purchasing the specific products in question.
There are a few key players in the market. And people already have their preferences for the brands in question established. So, the overall search activity could be lesser as the decision has already been reached. This brand preference would again be helped by the multitude of famous personalities endorsing a particular brand.
Word of mouth works better
For this category, personal experiences and word of mouth work far better than an objective evaluation of criteria. Gold is a very personal and intimate item for Indians and as such, any decisions involving gold also become the same. Hence, personal recommendations matter more.
While all of the above could be true, we also came to another, very interesting conclusion. We do know that India is getting younger and a large majority of our population is below the age of 45. This forms the core of our working audience and it is only growing younger as the days go by.
In contrast to this, the general age demographic for this type of loan would be an older audience. The younger millennial and Gen-Z audience (who would favour search) has never been inclined towards gold (or don’t have the resources to purchase enough gold to then apply for a gold loan). And for the older audience, search might not be the first resort they look for evaluating the best option among gold loans.
In light of this, we were able to draw our conclusions that while the category was experiencing a sharp upturn in overall revenue and sales, the search experienced a de-growth because the demographic who would apply for a gold loan was not the audience who typically uses search for their decisions.
Tips & Tricks Around Search Marketing
1. Awareness of the audience is still important
Although it is mostly the intent audience who access search (which, in turn, increases effectiveness), proper knowledge of the audience becomes vital. It is important to be aware of the issues faced by the audience to properly create effective ads.
More the information presented about the target audience, the market and how the product can solve a problem, the better the search ad can be crafted to suit audience needs. Proper knowledge of the audience (including their behaviour, traits, concerns) will help craft effective communication that will appeal to the audience.
2. Ads have to be more persuasive
Even with just plain search advertising, copywriting plays a crucial role in how successfully the ad can perform. The whole aspect of making an ad appeal to the consumer applies here (along with highlighting the different features of the products). Being particular about what we want to advertise helps avoid confusion when the consumer actually views our search ad.
Identifying what features are looked for by consumers and incorporating the same in the search copy helps in making the ad more persuasive and getting consumers to actually click on the ad, because it is more relevant.
3. Keyword research becomes crucial
The most important part of viewing how a search ad is seen is keywords. Keyword research is critical for ad viewability. Search engines map audience intent by using keywords to ad copy and then show relevant ads to the consumer.
Google Keyword Planner is an important tool in gauging how the audience searches for various topics. It also highlights the overall monthly search volumes for each of those keywords, allowing people to identify and plan which keywords can get higher results. It allows for greater exploration of ideas as the Keyword Planner shows related results along with the searched keywords, allowing the user to expand the campaign by including other relevant keywords.
Competitiveness on keywords is another important aspect to consider. The more the competition presence on a certain keyword, the higher the bid amount that needs to be considered to showcase ads for the specific keyword.
4. Bid amount and quality score are important to determine viewability
The bid amount (for example, on CPC (Cost per Click)) becomes crucial in determining the visibility of an ad. As covered earlier, the more the competition, the higher the bid can go. The bid amount considered is also incremental (if you have a higher bid than the competition, only an incremental higher amount is considered as the bid and not the complete amount – which could be tens of rupees higher).
Quality score is also crucial to determine the ad visibility. It is the overall experience of the user once they click on the ad and land on the website. It is generally scored from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. It is a function of multiple things
Both the bid amount and quality score become crucial cogs in ad viewability for search.
5. The right tools are vital
The right tools form a part of accurate marketing on search. As covered earlier, a keyword planner is a vital tool to plan for what keywords should be part of a brand’s search strategy, which has adequate people searching for it. Google Trends is also a useful tool to identify what keywords are more popular over a while, across different parts of the country. There are other multiple optimisation tools available that focus on getting the best results out of search marketing to reach business objectives. The right tools can be a huge boost to any search campaign.
6. Harness ad extensions for better results
An important arsenal in the marketer’s playbook is ad extensions. Ad extensions are varied and range from location extensions, callout extensions, site links, structured snippets and price extensions, among others. Adding extensions enables the brand to give more information to a consumer than what is possible from a regular search ad. Additionally, it also improves overall ad performance, so it is generally valuable to have multiple ad extensions to showcase detail.
7. Competition analysis becomes very important
How the competition is faring in terms of search becomes very important. It is also necessary to see what sort of overall marketing activities the competition is involved in, and by extension, how that plays out on the search. Some tools showcase examples of advertisements that the competition is running, which become useful as a benchmark to check existing campaigns. This helps to outperform the competition on searches.
8. Quality content is still key
On digital, there is no escaping the creation of quality content. On search, outside of search ads, part of quality content involves the information and quality of the website (and more specifically, the landing page).
This generally means that the website has all of the information that the audience is hoping to glean from visiting it. The site should also have information that is relevant to the ad that is directing users to the landing page.
Having insightful information on the site rather than just click-baits will help cement a positive relationship with consumers and enable better performance of search ads.
As we have seen, Search is one of the most fundamental tools used by consumers in their journey today and is practically irreplaceable. It is also a crucial medium for brands to get right as it is one of the first things checked for and viewed by the consumer. A fundamental part of every marketer’s playbook, Search only continues to go from strength to strength. There are useful tools one can make use of to properly decipher and formulate a search strategy and it is important that brands use all of the resources at their disposal to get things right.
