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Google vs. Amazon

by Tom Bowen
written by Tom Bowen

Google and Amazon are two fixed identities in people’s minds. Google is a search engine that can be used for marketing and Amazon is a retail website where businesses can sell their products. Until recently, these two giants didn’t step into each other’s territory, but that has begun to change. Google is expanding its retail presence through Google Shopping while Amazon is expanding its marketing presence through an increasingly sophisticated marketing space.

Google’s Foray into The Retail Market

This search engine giant is making a quiet entry into the retail industry. Google Shopping has been around for a long time, but research has shown it is very effective. Marketers get better results from Google Shopping than regular text ads, especially on mobile. That has led to increased investment in this platform. Retailers now spend more on Shopping than text ads, especially since the company has expanded that platform. Retailers in the UK spend around 74% of their mobile ad budget on Shopping instead of regular PPC.

In addition to a sophisticated retail platform, it has added Google Express and Shopping Actions. Express is a delivery service that doesn’t rely on other carriers and Shopping Actions is an all-inclusive shopping cart. Clients can add items from different retailers to their cart and complete their transaction without visiting multiple websites. This can make a buyer’s overall shopping experience much more streamlined. The Shopping page looks remarkably similar to Amazon’s search pages, this familiarity improves the user experience

Some business owners have expressed concern about adding a third-party to their interactions with customers, fearing it might have a negative impact on the brand’s connection with customers. The company is working on ways to maintain that intimacy without compromising convenience. This platform incorporates factors like loyalty or reward points, past purchases, discounts, sales, etc.

Amazon’s Advertising Platform

Amazon is a large retail website with a very sophisticated search engine. This retailer also has ample information on user purchase behavior, good keywords, user preferences, etc. Based on this information, Amazon can display ads to the best possible customers. This brings in more revenue, allowing businesses to earn more money from their investment.

Amazon already has a feature-rich retail environment. All Sponsored Product ads are integrated organically in search results so they don’t cause problems with user experience. The company also allows links from external websites but these aren’t as effective as Sponsored posts because people don’t like to leave the Amazon landscape, but ads do bring in a lot of revenue.

Your investment should be based on budget, product type, industry, and future plans. It’s still a good idea to invest in both, dividing resources between two important platforms. After some trial and error, you can determine which platform works better and increase investment in it. This is fluid so the effectiveness of either platform might change over time.

For example, even if Google provides better results now, Amazon might surpass it in the future. Deciding between Amazon or Google isn’t easy because both are sophisticated platforms going in a good direction. With some research, you can develop a strategy that fits well.

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Amazon PPC Challenges Google Ads

by Tom Bowen
written by Tom Bowen

Most people don’t realize that Amazon is one of the biggest search engines available today. It delivers results to an audience that is already deep in the sales funnel and more inclined to make a purchase. This platform also has ample data on user spending trends, online shopping behavior, and other such factors. That’s why many marketers consider Amazon pay-per-click advertising a welcome addition to this field. But how does Amazon PPC compare to Google’s established platform? Here’s a look at the two options:

  1. Google is Still in the Lead

All studies conducted show Google ad spend, click through rates, and Shopping ad spend are relatively stable. Both Google and Facebook are still the leading and more preferred platforms when it comes to paid advertising. Shopping ads are about 27% to 28% of the total ad revenue generated by Google.

On average, Amazon currently gets 21% of a business’s advertising budget; some businesses step more. Amazon beats Google on product search because 55% of online shoppers will look through the Amazon platform before they search on Google. This has led to speculation that the e-commerce giant might disrupt the Google-Facebook dominance in the digital advertising market.

  1. CTR and Conversion Rates

This platform offers two options; Headline Shopping Ads and Sponsored Product Ads. Analysis indicates that HSA has higher visibility and returns. Ads show up at the top of search results and receive a high CTR of around 2.68%. The SPA has lower CTR of around 0.49% but it receives higher ad spend. Trends show that companies prefer SPA to HSA.

A combination of both gives marketers a considerable amount of visibility on Amazon, which can lead to higher conversion rates and better sales. These PPC ads see around 10% conversion rate, which is substantial when compared to 1% to 2% rates of Google AdWord campaigns.

  1. Differences Between the Two

It’s a good idea to understand the differences between the two platforms to determine which option is more suitable. A comprehensive marketing campaign should include ads on both platforms but you can determine how much more you should invest in one platform over the other. Here are some differences marketers must understand:

  • Google ads will take users to a brand website. Amazon ads will keep users on the website.
  • All types of Amazon ads aren’t available to all sellers so the options can be limited.
  • Amazon ads don’t capture behavioral information to retarget, which sets it apart from Google.
  • Unlike Google, Amazon will factor in unique parameters like reviews. That adds some complexity to the bidding process.
  • CPC is slightly higher than Google cost per click, which means you might have to spend more on campaigns. But ROI is also higher on Amazon so the additional expense is worth it.

Both platforms share a lot of similarities when it comes to keywords, targeting, bidding, ad groups, etc. This makes it easier for marketers with AdWords experience so they’re more likely to experiment with Amazon.

If you want to know about our marketing or hire our services, don’t hesitate to call us or contact us through our online form at Seo Insights.

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Small Business Checklist – Three Ways to Improve Rankings

by Pythagoras Matko
written by Pythagoras Matko

Search engine optimization (SEO) is never easy for any company. With so many metrics involved, it can be truly challenging to secure measurable results for any new or existing brand. Similarly, digital marketing can be complicated for clients with limited time, money and resources. This is why it’s pivotal to have a seasoned and reputable company handle all your online advertising needs.  For small to medium-sized businesses, there are several ways to improve your visibility and Google rankings. In fact, here are some key points to address on any business SEO checklist:

  • What to address in your online SEO marketing campaign?
  • Why is SEO important for any new or existing company?
  • Which tools will help you secure higher visibility, page rankings, and client – customer patronage?
  • How much time commitment is involved for improving my business rankings and industry ratings?

If these are some of the questions you have, it’s important to know that great organic (natural) rankings do not happen overnight. In fact, it’s a comprehensive, cohesive and ongoing process that requires you to have patience across the board. Similarly, a sound and effective SEO package reflect all the current and burgeoning trends. This includes mobile optimization for pages, along with social media integration and captivating and compelling content. With this in mind, here are three ways that have been proven to improve rankings for small and mid-sized businesses across the nation.

1. Understand What your Customers are Looking For

Before you venture into SEO, you need to know what your customers are looking for. For example specific products, tailor-made services, or quick responses to customer questions and concerns. Analyzing and assessing your small business needs is a specialty of any seasoned and reputable SEO agency. In fact, they can provide timely solutions for the following:

  • Optimizing your websites and blogs to reflect the latest changes in Google algorithms. Creating gripping websites that attract and engage your geo-specific or core customer bases.
  • Incorporating mobile optimization to secure higher visibility on Google Maps, local search results, and business listings. This is a crucial way to build a strong mobile presence while promoting your brands to new clients and consumers.
  • Ensuring your sites, blogs and online stores are fully compatible with desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. SEO experts take into account page loading times, which is important in reducing bounce rates and keeping potential customers on your pages longer.
  • Making sure your content is easy to scan and digest with industry-specific keywords, relevant text, and social media links (embedded and visible).
  • Promoting your business on Google, Yahoo, Yelp, Bing, and all social – mobile – and business platforms and directories.

2. Fix your Technical Issues

Another important aspect of small business SEO is fixing technical issues. While you may a great looking website, an SEO audit is the only way to ensure complete optimization across your pages. In fact, the way you present your pages are just as important as your business offerings and content. With this in mind, here are some of the technical issues SEO professionals address and resolve:

  • Speed and page download times. Long gone are the days of lengthy content and flash intros that would take forever to load.
  • Checking for duplicate content on the Web. This is important since duplicate content can seriously impact your rankings, ratings, and web-traffic.
  • Repairing broken links to ensure customers link back to the products, services, and information they seek. Broken links can prompt users and visitors to leave your sites and go elsewhere. Similarly, Google can penalize your pages for promoting misleading, false, or incorrect content and links.
  • Making sure all your pages are fully optimized for SEO. This allows search engines to properly crawl and index you web-pages on their listings and user searches.
  • Enhancing the strong areas of your pages, while improving the weaker and non-optimized areas of your website.

3. Optimizing your Pages

SEO on-page optimization is much more than just placing strategic keywords on pages. In fact, your content must also be streamlined, centralized and properly structured across your pages. Similarly, you must have keywords (preferably long-tailed) that effectively target your specific customer and client bases. With SEO content specialists, you are able to tap into important ranking signals and non-spammy keywords and links. Local experts will also optimize the following for optimal results:

  • Website, blog and online store titles and sub-titles.
  • Meta descriptions with back-links to your sites and pages. The correct form of preview content that can be accessed by users – by simply hovering their computer mouses over the content and links.
  • Body content – easy to scan content that is precise, concise and gets your messages across to users.

These are some of the ways to improve your small-business visibility on Google. However, you need a dedicated SEO company to cover all bases and take your brands to new heights in any industry.

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