Defining and Refining Customer Journey:How integration of SEM and SEO Segmentation Can Enhance Your Brand Identity Throughout the Customer Shopping Journey

1. Defining and Refining
Customer Connection:
How integration of SEM and SEO
Can Enhance Your Brand Identity
Throughout the Customer
Shopping Journey

2. Overview
• About PM Digital
• Defining the Customer Journey
• SEO/SEM Blended Reporting
(Deep-Dive Study)
• SEO Strategies / Tactics for Each Stage of the
Journey
• Case Study
• Key Takeaways
2

3. About PM Digital
We are a full-service marketing agency that helps leading brands achieve their highest online ROI
through an unmatched combination of strategy, solutions and expertise.
22 Years in Business  300 Experts  8 Offices  200+ Media Buying Power
Internet Retailer Top Search Engine
Marketing Vendor 2011
Paradysz Named to Crain's New York
50 Fastest-Growing Companies
Bronze award for Marketing Agency
of the Year from the Stevie Awards
eTail Best In Class: Search
Industry Associations Awards & Recognition
3

4. Defining the
Customer Journey
• Search data from Google or Bing provides a quantitative
understanding of consumer shopping behavior. That data can
be analyzed and classified into the customer’s journey/sales
funnel.
• The goal is to create brand awareness (visibility) and a
compelling user-experience throughout the customer journey
that engages the user and encourages activity (conversions).
• According to Hitwise, search engines drive 37% of retail online
traffic.1
• A PM Digital study revealed that search engines drive over 70%
of retail traffic and 55% of online revenue.2
• SEM (40%), SEO (30%) – traffic
• SEM (35%), SEO (20%) - revenue
4
1. Upstream traffic, Shopping, Hitwise, 10/12 – 09/13 avg.
2. % of total retail traffic and revenue driven from search engines, PM Digital Study

5. The Customer Journey
According to Google
5http://gweb-think-tools.appspot.com/customer-journey-to-purchase/, retail
• The role of SEO is to create brand visibility, increase awareness,
assist other channels and conversions throughout the journey.
Broad
non-brand
keywords
Category
non-brand
& brand
keywords
Sub-Category,
comparison non-
brand & brand
keywords
Product attribute,
price, size/color
non-brand & brand
keywords

6. The customer shopping journey can classified into sequential stages.
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
Refining the
Customer Journey
6

7. • Intent: beginning the
shopping journey, looking
for general product
categories
• Generally shorter key
phrases
• Typically core business terms
or category terms
• Very high search volume
• Lower conversion rates
• Example:
• handbags
• sweaters
• dresses
• The North Face
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
Awareness
7

8. • Intent: identifying / refining
products, brands, price point, needs
• Generally 2-3 word keywords
• one identifier + the root
• Lower search volume
• Better conversion rates
• Higher amount of keywords in this
stage
• Example:
• Brand + category
Coach handbags
• Gender + category
Women’s sweaters
• Need + Category
plus-size dresses
• Brand + Discount
Steve madden coupons
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
8
Consideration

9. • Intent: finding a purchase destination,
product (brand + model), price/
personal benefit
• Generally 3-4 word keywords
• two identifiers + the root
• Even lower search volume
• Even better conversion rates
• Example:
• Local (keyword)
coach handbag store scottsdale
• Brand + model (keyword)
steve madden troopa boot
• Price identifier + brand/product
category + product
steve madden womens boots on
sale
• Best + brand/attribute +
model/product type
best waterproof mens winter jacket
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
9
Intent

10. • Intent: understanding purchase
commitments, final product evaluation,
customer feedback
• Common for high-ticket items
• Benefit/return of post-purchase,
warranty, return policy, reviews (product
specific), comparison
• Example:
• Brand + model + reviews/customer
service/aftermarket
• steve madden troopa boot
reviews
• steve madden boot return policy
• whirlpool gold refrigerator
reviews
• kenmore elite dryer vs whirlpool
gold dryer
• 2012 honda civic resale value
• Less common for most retail shopping
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
10
Due Diligence

11. • Intent: identifying source for final
purchase, product by exact specs
• Generally 4+ word keywords
• Four or more identifiers + the root
• Can include “Buy” or “Shop”
• Example:
• Buy + brand + model + attribute +
value prop
• Steve madden black troopa boot
size 8
• Brand + model + color/size +
pricing + value prop
• north face thermoball jacket
blue free shipping
• Generally fewer keywords in this stage,
many customers convert via direct load
• Typically last touch in journey
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
11
Decision

12. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive
Study
12
Objective: Combine natural and paid search data to determine opportunities for
overall optimization to increase/maximize Search Engine Result Page (SERP)
SOV.
Questions:
• How do I use paid search data to help make natural search optimization
decisions at all stages of the customer journey?
• Are there keywords I should be optimizing for in natural search/SEM?
Solution:
This study contains paid and natural search data from the top-10 most trafficked
PM Digital retail clients to create a combined view for each keyword in each stage
of the customer’s journey to facilitate data-driven SEO & SEM decisions.
• The data timeframe spans from 10/01/12 – 09/30/13 to ensure inclusion of complete SEO
performance data and peak holiday performance; Term Not Provided data is not included.
• There were no keywords in the Due Diligence stage.

13. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive
Study Summary
13
Overall, the best performance (revenue, orders and clicks) occurs when SEO
and SEM have strong side-by-side visibility. Performance drops significantly
as SEO rankings decline for both SEO and SEM.
SEO Visibility
SEO %
Clicks
SEO % of
Orders
SEO % of
Rev.
SEO
Conv.
SEM %
Clicks
SEM % of
Orders
SEM % of Rev. SEM CTR SEM Conv
SEM % of
Spend
Pg 1 (1-3) 96.54% 97.12% 97.09% 1.53% 92.29% 92.07% 92.65% 6.99% 2.82% 81.72%
Pg 1 (4-10) 2.46% 2.37% 2.36% 1.47% 4.12% 5.57% 5.44% 1.36% 3.82% 8.70%
Pg 2 0.38% 0.19% 0.20% 0.75% 1.99% 1.57% 1.34% 1.32% 2.23% 4.76%
Beyond Pg 2 0.62% 0.32% 0.35% 0.80% 1.60% 0.78% 0.56% 0.50% 1.39% 4.83%
Performance Summary by Keyword Rank (all stages, all SEM ranks)
SEO
Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv.
SEO
Rev
SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM Clicks SEM CTR SEM Orders
SEM
Conv.
SEM Rev Total Rev
98.83% 98.43% 1.50% 98.59% 90.78% 74.02% 96.07% 5.36% 93.46% 2.70% 93.27% 94.62%
SEO
Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv.
SEO
Rev
SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM Clicks SEM CTR SEM Orders
SEM
Conv.
SEM Rev Total Rev
0.27% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 9.11% 25.90% 3.88% 0.62% 6.54% 4.8% 6.73% 5.02%
SEO
Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv.
SEO
Rev
SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM Clicks SEM CTR SEM Orders
SEM
Conv.
SEM Rev Total Rev
0.89% 1.56% 2.70% 1.41% 0.11% 0.09% 0.05% 2.40% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.36%
Performance Summary (all stages, conversions from both channels)
Performance Summary (all stages, conversions from SEM only)
Performance Summary (all stages, conversions from SEO only)

14. Awareness
14
SEO Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv.
SEO Rev SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM
Clicks
SEM
Orders
SEM
Conv.
SEM Rev Total Rev
78.22% 83.44% 1.6% 84.89% 55.51% 49.94% 71.08% 70.82% 2.8% 73.89% 76.69%
Awareness Stage Performance Contribution
SEO Visibility
SEO %
Clicks
SEO % of
Orders
SEO % of
Rev.
SEO
Conv.
SEM %
Clicks
SEM % of
Orders
SEM % of
Rev.
SEM
CTR
SEM
Conv
SEM % of
Spend
Pg 1 (1-3) 48.90% 49.26% 98.37% 1.65% 47.43% 48.43% 97.58% 9.64% 2.87% 84.28%
Pg 1 (4-10) 50.84% 50.64% 1.45% 1.63% 51.14% 50.80% 1.44% 5.46% 2.79% 4.64%
Pg 2 0.12% 0.05% 0.08% 0.77% 0.64% 0.42% 0.52% 0.81% 1.85% 5.15%
Beyond Pg 2 0.14% 0.05% 0.09% 0.51% 0.79% 0.35% 0.46% 0.44% 1.25% 5.93%
Performance Summary by Keyword Rank (Awareness, SEM pos. 1-2)
SEO Summary
 Average Rank: 6.6 (page 1)
 Avg. 5.2 million searches / mo1
 55% of total search volume
SEM Summary
 Average Rank: 1.63 (page 1)
 Impressions: 236 million
 5.88% CTR
 $0.74 CPC
 17-1 A/S
1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.

15. Consideration
15
SEO Summary
 Average Rank: 5.35 (page 1)
 Avg. 3.6 million searches / mo1
 39% of total search volume
SEM Summary
 Average Rank: 1.17 (page 1)
 Impressions: 202 million
 2.42% CTR
 $0.70 CPC
 5-1 A/S
SEO Visibility
SEO %
Clicks
SEO % of
Orders
SEO % of
Rev.
SEO
Conv.
SEM %
Clicks
SEM % of
Orders
SEM % of
Rev.
SEM
CTR
SEM
Conv
SEM % of
Spend
Pg 1 (1-3) 90.58% 89.58% 89.38% 1.15% 85.58% 79.38% 77.59% 4.11% 2.75% 75.87%
Pg 1 (4-10) 6.66% 8.61% 8.18% 1.50% 8.93% 16.11% 17.62% 1.21% 5.35% 15.34%
Pg 2 1.06% 0.68% 0.98% 0.75% 3.70% 3.63% 4.03% 2.03% 2.91% 4.56%
Beyond Pg 2 1.70% 1.13% 1.46% 0.77% 1.80% 0.88% 0.76% 0.30% 1.46% 4.23%
Performance Summary by Keyword Rank (Consideration, SEM pos. 1-2)
SEO Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv.
SEO Rev SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM
Clicks
SEM
Orders
SEM
Conv.
SEM Rev Total Rev
19.19% 14.55% 1.2% 13.28% 35.91% 42.75% 25.01% 26.89% 3.0% 23.99% 21.26%
Consideration Stage Performance Contribution
1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.

16. Intent
16
SEO Summary
 Average Rank: 5.8 (page 1)
 Avg. 588K searches / mo1
 6% of total search volume
SEM Summary
 Average Rank: 2.02 (page 1)
 Impressions: 33 million
 2.22% CTR
 $0.86 CPC
 4-1 A/S
SEO Visibility
SEO %
Clicks
SEO % of
Orders
SEO % of
Rev.
SEO
Conv.
SEM %
Clicks
SEM % of
Orders
SEM % of
Rev.
SEM
CTR
SEM
Conv
SEM % of
Spend
Pg 1 (1-3) 88.83% 86.31% 87.36% 1.09% 80.32% 81.99% 83.05% 2.28% 1.53% 82.20%
Pg 1 (4-10) 6.63% 8.24% 7.33% 1.39% 9.57% 13.57% 13.48% 1.63% 2.12% 9.11%
Pg 2 2.15% 2.21% 2.08% 1.15% 5.48% 1.14% 0.93% 3.81% 0.31% 3.77%
Beyond Pg 2 2.39% 3.23% 3.24% 1.52% 4.63% 3.30% 2.53% 2.10% 1.07% 4.92%
Performance Summary by Keyword Rank (Intent, all SEM ranks)
SEO Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv. SEO Rev SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM
Clicks
SEM
Orders
SEM
Conv. SEM Rev Total Rev
2.41% 1.75% 1.10% 1.57% 8.23% 7.03% 3.78% 1.99% 1.50% 1.90% 1.82%
Intent Stage Performance Contribution
1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.

17. Decision
17
SEO Summary
 Average Rank: 2.67 (page 1)
 Avg. 29K searches / mo1
 0.31% of total search volume
SEM Summary
 Average Rank: 1.92 (page 1)
 Impressions: 1.3 million
 2.22% CTR
 $0.94 CPC
 4-1 A/S
SEO Clicks
SEO
Orders
SEO
Conv. SEO Rev SEM Spend
SEM
Impressions
SEM
Clicks
SEM
Orders
SEM
Conv. SEM Rev Total Rev
0.17% 0.25% 2.20% 0.25% 0.35% 0.28% 0.13% 0.29% 6.40% 0.22% 0.23%
Decision Stage Performance Contribution
SEO Visibility
SEO %
Clicks
SEO % of
Orders
SEO % of
Rev.
SEO
Conv.
SEM %
Clicks
SEM % of
Orders
SEM % of
Rev.
SEM
CTR
SEM
Conv
SEM % of
Spend
Pg 1 (1-3) 92.42% 84.71% 84.33% 2.04% 93.85% 94.60% 93.97% 1.80% 5.90% 95.05%
Pg 1 (4-10) 2.65% 2.28% 1.78% 1.92% 2.59% 1.43% 1.23% 6.66% 3.25% 1.63%
Pg 2 1.19% 3.51% 3.37% 6.60% 1.26% 1.30% 1.52% 7.04% 6.05% 1.04%
Beyond Pg 2 3.75% 9.49% 10.52% 5.65% 2.31% 2.66% 3.28% 3.73% 6.76% 2.28%
Performance Summary by Keyword Rank (Decision, all SEM ranks)
1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.

18. Awareness SEO
Strategies / Tactics
18
• Content creation for homepage and top-level category pages
• Above-the-fold (85% of users do not scroll below the fold1)
• Maintain a good user-experience
• Optimize brand+category
• Optimize and publish content via Google+ for increased brand ownership
1. http://www.sitetuners.com/blog/11-things-not-to-do-in-e-commerce-cro/

19. Consideration SEO
Strategies / Tactics
19
• Content creation for category and sub-category pages:
• Create sub-categories and remerchandise where inventory is
available.
• Place content above-the-fold.
• Maintain a good user-experience.
• Create branded coupon/promo pages (own your brand).

20. Intent SEO
Strategies / Tactics
20
• Content creation for product pages
• Optimize product reviews
• Write authorative product descriptions
• Create local store pages, submit via Google + Local
• Create promotional pages and promote on-site
• Merchandise Nav by product attributes
• Integrate Schema markup or other Microformats for product, store and article/blog
pages
• Mine internal search data for common customer query / items of interest that are
not found

21. Due Diligence SEO
Strategies / Tactics
21
• Publish pages regarding warranties, customer reviews
• Above-the-fold
• Maintain a good user-experience
• Link from product pages and conspicuous navigation
• Create any savings/calculators/product configurator
• Integrate in navigation/taxonomy
• Create articles/blog posts regarding DIY, product use by occasion, event, etc.
• Integrate in navigation/taxonomy
• Mine internal search data to discover popular customer interest that they cannot
find
• Integrate Schema markup or other Microformats for product, local store and
article/blog post pages

22. Decision SEO
Strategies / Tactics
22
 Content creation for product pages
 Optimize product reviews
 Write authorative product descriptions
 Include value prop in page title, body copy (Free Shipping, Lifetime Warranty)
 Optimize product images / videos
 Include in XML sitemap
 Post to YouTube and link back to product page
 Integrate Schema markup or other Microformats for product pages

23. Case Study
23
Challenge:
• A bedding retailer had strong sales and rankings for
each brand they carried.
• While the SEO success was strong, it was limited to
top and bottom levels of the customer journey
• Blended SEO/SEM data showed strong SEM traffic
and high consumer search demand, but there was no
content and low conversions for mid-tier searches
(sub-category / brand + product type).
Solution:
• PM Digital created sub-category pages at the Intent
Stage for three top-selling brands.
• Pages went live in early Q4.
Results:
• SEO orders increase: Q4 YOY: 32%
• SEO revenue increase: Q4 YOY: 27%
Awareness
(bedding)
Consideration
(brand + bedding)
Intent
(brand +
product type
(fitted sheet)
Decision
(brand +
product
name)

24. Key Takeaways
24
• Research the customer journey based on your products/services.
• Understand the behavior of each stage.
• Create / expand content to increase brand awareness for the entire
journey.
• Merchandise products based on each stage of the customer journey
• Integrate SEO and SEM/PLAs to gain a complete view of customer
intent.
• Understand performance strengths and gaps by each funnel and
natural search ranking.
• Create content (home, category, reviews, local, etc.) to maximize
SEO and SEM relevancy to increase SEO rankings and SEM
quality score.
• SEO top rankings greatly influence SEM performance and vice-
versa, so data sharing and optimization is paramount.

25. Thank You
25
Richard Chavez
Vice President, SEO
PM Digital
212-851-8681
rchavez@pmdigital.com
www.pmdigital.com
Blog:
http://www.pmdigital.com/bl
og/author/richardchavez/
Twitter:
 @PMDigital
 @richardachavez