Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search Marketing: Cosmetics or Computers?

Google only loves you when everyone else loves you first.

Wendy Piersall

Have you ever gone past the first page of Google’s search results when you’re searching for something? Personally, I haven’t, and you may ask, why not? The answer to which is because what I’m looking for shows up on the first page of the search results. This is because Google’s mission is to organize and categorize information online and present it in such a way that the ‘best’ is at the top of the search results.

Google is by far the world’s most popular search engine, holding a whopping 92.2% of the worldwide search engine market share. With that being said, Google achieved this domination in the worldwide search engine market with a few core aspects such as local searches where proximity is matched to a user’s search intent where custom geo-proximity results made Google the go-to search engine for local searches, constantly testing and improving upon algorithms and AI to create better search results for consumers, and developing strong consumer trust through better results by providing better and more relevant results compared to Google’s competitors.

With Google being the most popular and most used search engine in the world, one must keep in mind that Google’s search engine provides is a service. Like with any top product or service, one of most important aspects that Google strives for is customer satisfaction and loyalty. As I previously mentioned, when using Google to search for something, I never really go past the first page of search results because what I search for is most often shown in the first page of the search results. This is due to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

For a website to show up in Google’s search results, Google uses web crawlers to explore the internet to be automatically added into Google’s index. But to have that website show up on the first page of Google is a whole other story. Applying good SEO practices allows for a website to be one of the top results for particular searches. Typically, a search engine optimizer is hired to make certain changes to a website’s design and content that makes it more attractive to a search engine. SEO is a process that tweaks with factors such as content marketing which is the quality and relevance of content in regards to the particular search, on-page SEO which are elements that a website owner has complete control over such as title tags, meta descriptions, sub-headings and internal links, and lastly, off-page SEO which are elements that a website owner has no direct control over such as trust, links and social interactions.

An example of well implemented search engine optimization is MAC Cosmetics versus Apple’s Mac (Macontish) product family. One critical aspect of SEO is the usage of negative keywords, with the usage of negative keywords. Negative keywords ensure that ads for your website are only generated for specific audiences. The name ‘Mac’ as a brand can refer to Apple’s Macintosh or MAC cosmetics, the same name for two different brands in two very different industries. When searching for ‘mac’, both MAC Cosmetics and Apple’s Mac appeared as ads. However, when searching for ‘mac computer’, everything related to MAC Cosmetics disappeared because it was no longer relevant. This is due to MAC Cosmetics likely having ‘computer’ and other similar words on their negative keywords list. In my opinion, negative keywords helps marketers focus on their target market and makes their marketing campaigns meaningful by using negative keywords as a filter or method of separating themselves from the searches for their competitors.

Do you feel that SEO is an important aspect for marketers to pay attention to when designing websites for a brand? Should marketers craft advertisements in SEO in mind for relevant brand campaigns? How else can marketers and companies use SEO to their advantage? Share your thoughts in the comments!