Omnichannel marketing is a type of marketing that aims to improve the customer experience by creating a unified and consistent experience across all channels. SEO is an essential part of this concept as it helps customers find relevant content in an easier way. This post is about how SEO can be integrated into an omnichannel strategy to ensure a consistent customer experience.
1. local SEO: linking online & offline touchpoints
First of all, a few exciting facts that underline the relevance of the topic:
Around 45% of under-40 customers and around a third of over-40 customers gather information online in advance (BHB 2022).
76% of consumers who use their smartphone to search for products nearby visit a store within a day (ahrefs.com 2020)
Around 45% of shoppers worldwide buy online and then pick up the goods in store (ahrefs.com 2020)
54% of smartphone users search for store hours and 53% search for directions to a local store (ahrefs.com 2020)
82% of DIY customers would like the offline shopping experience to be supplemented by digital offers (e.g. QR codes; BHB 2022).
The last few years have shown how important it is for retailers to also sell online. However, despite the advancing digitalization, retail is far from being replaced by online business. The studies listed above show a clear link between offline and online touchpoints in the customer journey and, above all, in the final transaction. Many companies already offer "Click & Collect" concepts. But how can companies create a consistent experience across the two channels? And above all: how can established retailers manage to be found with their online offering in local searches?
Google My Business: With a Google My Business profile for the individual branches, their visibility in search engines can be increased. Searchers can directly find the relevant branch in their vicinity or at the location they are looking for. In addition to general company information such as opening hours, address, customer service or industry, other interesting information can also be provided to attract the attention of searchers, such as
Pictures & photos
Service & services
Product range excerpt
Je Unternehmenskategorie bzw. Branche sind zudem weitere Informationen & Features möglich – z.B. Verfügbarkeitscheck bei Hotels, Öffnungszeiten an Feiertagen oder Stoßzeiten im Einzelhandel.
Local Landingpages für Local Pack: Eine Vielzahl an Kunden informiert sich vor einer Transaktion online. Dabei wird häufig nicht nach einem konkreten Anbieter (Marke oder Unternehmen) gesucht, sondern eher allgemein nach der Dienstleistung oder dem Produkt (z.B. Badplaner, Werkzeugverleih oder Baumarkt). Mit einer umfassenden und abgestimmten Local SEO Strategie werden die einzelnen Filialen mit den entsprechenden Angeboten für Suchende sichtbar. So erfahren potenzielle Kunden bereits in der Recherche-Phase der Customer Journey von dem Angebot der Marke oder des Unternehmens.
Ein deutscher Baumarkt hat hierzu beispielsweise für die einzelnen Filialen Landingpages erstellt mit den individuellen Informationen zu:
Öffnungszeiten
Service-Angeboten und
aktuelle Produktangeboten.
Separate local landing pages were also created for the most important services such as the bathroom planner and the garden center. In addition to store information, these primarily show the product range and include the option of making an appointment online for an on-site consultation.
Combined with extensively maintained My Business profiles, the visibility of the individual stores and the local offer was increased by over 400%!
The following measures therefore have a number of advantages:
Making local offers visible online in the target group and especially at the beginning of the customer journey
Customers can conveniently make an appointment from home or get to know the product range and later see the products live in the store or receive advice
If products are not available in a store, online availability can be checked directly
Customers receive concise information on opening hours and directions directly and can start navigation directly via Google Maps
2. building brand visibility along the customer journey
The current situations and crises of recent years have made purchasing decisions increasingly complicated. Especially when it comes to price-intensive purchases. Customers expect and actively seek helpful information as a basis for their decisions, such as competitive prices, factual and unobtrusive recommendations and helpful personalization.
According to the Google Search Trends study "Year in Search 2022", the following search queries have increased
+40% increase in search queries in Germany for "what does it cost to build a house"
+30% increase in search queries in Germany for "vacation offer"
+110% increase in worldwide search queries for "top rared gaming"
The majority of consumers start this research in search engines:
78% of German consumers search for information online before making a purchase decision (Bitkom).
Search engines are still an essential part of the information search and purchase decision. The visibility of your own brand there is therefore not only relevant from an SEO perspective, but also for the overall visibility of the brand within the target group. Various updates from Google, such as the Helpful Content Update or last year's update from E-A-T to E-E-A-T, have made factors such as search intent, added value and expertise even more important for successful rankings. SEO experts are therefore increasingly focusing on these topics:
What does the target group search for and how do they search?
What are the intentions and needs behind the search and do they need to be answered accordingly in your own offering?
How can these topics be covered on your own site?
From this, measures for optimizing existing content and pages as well as concepts for creating new content are derived, which cover the information mentioned at the beginning to support the purchase decision. In addition to building visibility along the customer journey in organic search, companies can also use this content for other channels and their links.
3. increase visibility on marketplaces
Linking online and offline channels does not always have to involve own stores or an own online store. Marketplaces have also seen strong growth in e-commerce. These are particularly interesting for companies that, for various reasons, do not have the option of selling directly via their own online store. The large marketplaces also work with algorithms for the respective product listings. Optimizing your own products with regard to SEO criteria (of the respective platform) not only helps to make them more visible on the marketplace itself, but also directly in the search results of Google & Co.
Conclusion
SEO can be deployed and used in a variety of ways within an omnichannel strategy. Search engines have increasingly developed into complex systems that are designed to deliver high-quality, relevant results. As a result, the demands on SEO in terms of quality and relevance have steadily increased. The factors influencing rankings on search engines such as Google lie in different areas such as content, PR, development or UX. SEO experts have a higher chance of success by working together with other departments and disciplines. An omnichannel strategy not only benefits from SEO, but SEO performance can also be improved through omnichannel marketing.
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