This document discusses strategies for integrating SEO and SEM efforts. It presents findings from a study analyzing search engine data across the customer journey from awareness to decision. Key findings include that performance is highest when SEO and SEM have strong side-by-side coverage and drops as SEO positioning declines. The study provides recommendations for optimizing content and keywords at each stage to maximize visibility and drive more traffic, orders, and revenue from organic and paid search.

1. SEO/SEM – the Case for Strategic
Integration
By Richard Chavez
Vice President, SEO

2. Overview
 About PM Digital
 The Power of Search as a Marketing Channel
 Understanding the Customer Journey
 SEO/SEM Blended Reporting
(Deep-Dive Study)
 Term Not Provided at 100% (What to do?)
 Case Studies
 Key Takeaways
2

3. About PM Digital
3
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

4. The Power of Search as a
Marketing Channel
 Search engines (SEO and SEM) are a key driver to retail
sites
 According to Hitwise, search engines drive 37% of retail
online traffic1
 A PM Digital study revealed that search engines drive
over 70% of retail traffic and 55% of online revenue2
 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. Understanding 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 create brand awareness (visibility) and a compelling user-
experience throughout the customer journey in multiple stages.
Each marketing channel has a specific role with each stage (SEO, SEM,
Social, Email, Direct)
Items to consider when creating such a roadmap:
 Avoiding brand speak vs. consumer speak (ex. daypacks vs. backpacks)
 Apply sales funnel to taxonomy (navigation)
 Create categories based on primary product type, product use and
customer benefit or other relevant attributes
5

6. Understanding the Customer Journey
The customer shopping journey can classified into sequential stages.
6
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision
http://gweb-think-tools.appspot.com/customer-journey-to-purchase/
Not common,
mostly occurs
with high ticket
items

7. Awareness
 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
7
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision

8. Consideration
 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
8
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision

9. Intent
 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 jacket9
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision

10. Due Diligence
 Common for high-ticket items
 Keywords to understand financial
commitments
 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
10
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision

11. Decision
 Generally 4+ word keywords
 four or more identifiers + the root
 Can include “Buy” or “Shop”
 exact specs of product search
 Example:
 Buy + brand + model + attribute +
value prop
 black north face denali free
shipping
 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
11
Awareness
Consideration
Intent
Due
Diligence
Decision

12. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive Study
Objective: Combining 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?
• Are there keywords I should be optimizing for in natural search?
• Are there takeaways that can be shared with the SEM team?
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 was from 10/12 – 09/30 to ensure SEO performance data
and peak holiday performance were included
12

13. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive Study Summary
Overall, the best performance (revenue, orders and clicks) occur when SEO and SEM have
strong side-by-side comparison. Performance drops significantly as SEO positioning declines
for both SEO and SEM.
13

14. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive Study (Awareness)
SEO Considerations
 Average Rank: 6.6 (page 1)
 Avg. 5.2 million searches / mo1
 Content creation for homepage and top-level
category pages
 Above-the-fold
 Maintain a good user-experience
 Optimize brand+category
 Optimize and publish content via Google+ for
increased brand ownership
14 1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.
SEM Considerations
 Average Rank: 1.63 (page 1)
 Impressions: 236 million
 5.88% CTR
 $0.74 CPC
 17-1 A/S
 Exact match, Broad match modifier, Negative
match, Day parting to manage budget,
 Solicit reviews (Biz Rate)
 Sitelinks for key categories
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, 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
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

15. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive Study (Consideration)
SEO Considerations
 Average Rank: 5.35 (page 1)
 Avg. 3.6 million searches / mo1
 Content creation for category and sub-
category pages
 Create sub-categories and
remerchandise where inventory is
available
 Above-the-fold
 Maintain a good user-experience15
1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.
SEM Considerations
 Average Rank: 1.17 (page 1)
 Impressions: 202 million
 2.42% CTR
 $0.70 CPC
 5-1 A/S
 Exact match, Phrase match, Negative match,
Day parting to manage budget
 Solicit reviews (Biz Rate)
 Sitelinks for key sub-categories
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
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, all SEM ranks)

16. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive Study (Intent)
SEO Considerations
 Average Rank: 5.8 (page 1)
 Avg. 588K searches / mo1
 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
16 1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.
SEM Considerations
 Average Rank: 2.02 (page 1)
 Impressions: 33 million
 2.22% CTR
 $0.86 CPC
 4-1 A/S
 Exact match, Phrase match, PLA, Day parting
to manage budget
 Solicit reviews (Biz Rate)
 Sitelinks for key products, promotions, value
prop pages
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
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)

17. SEO/SEM Deep-Dive Study (Decision)
SEO Considerations
 Average Rank: 2.67 (page 1)
 Avg. 29K searches / mo1
 Content creation for product pages
 Optimize product reviews
 Write authorative product descriptions
 Include value prop in page title, body copy
(Free Shipping)
 Optimize product images
 Include in XML sitemap
 Watermark if possible
17 1. Google Local, Exact-Match, U.S.
SEM Considerations
 Average Rank: 1.92 (page 1)
 Impressions: 1.3 million
 2.22% CTR
 $0.94 CPC
 4-1 A/S
 Exact match, PLA
 Add reviews and value prop in ad copy
(SEM and PLA)
 Sitelinks for product pages and upsell pages
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)

18. Term Not Provided at 100% (what to do?)
 In Q4 of 2011, Google began encrypting the SEO keyword referrer
data for users signed-in to their Google account (gmail, Google+,
etc.).
 In late September 2013 Google moved to 100% encryption (Term
Not Provided) of all search clicks with the exception of SEM clicks.
 Individual keyword performance data (traffic, conversions,
revenue, etc.) are no longer be available via analytics (GA,
Coremetrics & Omniture).
 Yahoo and Bing have recently announced that they will/have
moved to 100% natural search keyword encryption
18
http://www.pmdigital.com/blog/2013/09/term-provided-100-means-brands/

19. Term Not Provided at 100% (Don’t Give Up!)
19
 SEM data is still available, making integration that much more important
 Google provides traffic data via Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)
 Tag URLs for SEO performance (conversions / revenue)
 Expand GWT by category to enable keyword expansion (Google allows 2k per account)
 Measure rankings by URL

20. Term Not Provided at 100% (Challenges)
20
 URL performance data is not always readily available via analytics
 Coremetrics requires the Explorer integration
 Modification via the application
 Coremetrics provides minimal support
 Omniture requires the Data Explorers/Genesis Integration
 Should not require a fee
 Easier integration
 New updates may be available at the end of March 2014
 Google Analytics provides a seamless integration
http://www.pmdigital.com/blog/2013/10/prepare-seo-reporting-term-provided-100/

21. Term Not Provided at 100% (A New Outlook)
21
By leveraging Google Webmaster Tools Click Data, SEO/SEM
integration can continue in a strategic manner
 Adding GWT click data and forecasting/estimating based on SEO
performance
 Sitewide SEO conversion rate and AOV (recommended)
 SEM keyword conversion rate and AOV (conversion rates can
vary greatly)
 SEO conversion rate by remaining keyword data and AOV
 Include metrics from other channels
 Display – keyword ads
 Social (hashtag tracking)
 Mobile

22. Term Not Provided at 100% (A New Outlook)
22
Keyword GWT Clicks SEO Clicks SEM Clicks SEO Rank SEM Rank Orders- GWT Orders- Organic Orders- SEM Revenue- GWT Revenue- Organic Revenue- SEM
keyword 1 46,506 18,738 832,106 1 1.6 930.12 140 6,500 $139,518 $29,629 $1,485,997
keyword 2 1,807 1,079 50,030 1 1.1 36.14 23 544 $5,421 $5,224 $128,107
keyword 3 3 5 108 1 1.1 0.06 1 2 $9 $996 $396
keyword 4 402 501 16 1 1.1 8.04 3 0 $1,206 $935 $0
keyword 5 1,993 1,330 53,370 1 2.6 39.86 3 244 $5,979 $774 $65,618
keyword 6 863 182 7,680 1 1.8 17.26 2 18 $2,589 $760 $3,558
keyword 7 1,417 648 30,908 1 1.5 28.34 2 108 $4,251 $676 $32,520
keyword 8 1,483 779 35,192 1 2.2 29.66 2 110 $4,449 $628 $32,114
keyword 9 34 152 164 2 1.1 0.68 1 2 $102 $606 $216
keyword 10 4,231 1,000 90,490 1 2.5 84.62 1 220 $12,693 $598 $46,808
CPC Total CPC Impressions Search Volume SEO Conv. Rate SEO Conv. Rate
$0.08 $64,248 4,719,704 1,000,000 0.75% 0.78%
$0.06 $3,150 108,608 74,000 2.13% 1.09%
$0.10 $10 462 0 20% 1.85%
$0.14 $2 74 0 0.60% 0%
$0.10 $5,469 369,474 201,000 0.23% 0.46%
$0.18 $1,410 80,576 60,500 1.10% 0.23%
$0.13 $3,987 270,024 74,000 0.31% 0.35%
$0.17 $6,102 1,087,486 40,500 0.26% 0.31%
$0.14 $22 1,186 0 0.66% 1.22%
$0.17 $15,681 634,632 246,000 0.10% 0.24%

23. Case Study (Western Wear)
23
Challenge:
 A PM Digital Search Behavior Study of non-branded western wear
revealed that the SEM campaign only had coverage for 2% of the terms
analyzed in the study
 With little SEM support, the SEO performance of these terms was low
even though rankings were strong
 Client competitors received a lot of traffic from these terms
Solution:
 New SEM non-brand campaigns and increased spend (yearly budget was
already sealed, but client did approve additional spend)
Results:
 The increased coverage and spend led to a 25% increase in competitive
SEM clicks in Q4 2012

24. Case Study (Bedding Retailer)
Challenge:
 Bedding retailer carried multiple brands and had
strong sales and rankings for the brands they carried
 While the SEO success was strong, it was limited to
top and bottom levels of the sales funnel
 Blended SEO/SEM data showed strong SEM traffic
and high consumer search demand, but low
conversions for mid-tier searches (sub-category /
brand + product type), content did not exist
Solution:
 PM Digital created sub-category pages at the
Narrowing Stage for three top-selling brands
 Pages went live in early October 2012
Results:
 SEO orders increase: Q4 YOY: 32%
 SEO revenue increase: Q4 YOY: 27%
24
Awareness
(bedding)
Consideration
(brand + bedding)
Intent
(brand +
product type
(fitted sheet)
Decision
(brand +
product name)

25. Key Takeaways
• 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
• 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
• Modify SEM bidding based on stage of the journey
• Awareness > Consideration > Intent > Due Diligence > Decision
• SEO top rankings greatly influence SEM performance and vice-versa,
so data sharing and optimization is paramount
• Integrate Google Webmaster Tools data to existing SEO data to
capture a larger performance view25

26. Thank You!
26
Richard Chavez
Vice President, SEO
PM Digital
212-851-8681
rchavez@pmdigital.com
www.pmdigital.com
Blog:
http://www.pmdigital.com/blog/
http://www.pmdigital.com/blog/a
uthor/richardchavez/
Twitter:
 @PMDigital
 @richardachavez