SEO Automation

Automation – An Integral Part of Organic Search Efficiency in 2023

WHY IS AUTOMATION AN INTEGRAL PILLAR OF SEO?

THE EVOLUTION OF SEO OVERTIME

Ever evolving search algorithms, the recent influence of AI & complex owned media ecosystems is simply the tip of the iceberg that describes the current state of play in organic search. Overtime SEO has drastically shifted from a standalone strategy to one that requires a holistic data driven approach to drive tangible business outcomes. Here are some factors that have influenced how SEO has evolved –

  • Search engines have evolved; powered by complex algorithms, they force us to investigate broader aspects of digital excellence such as speed, user experience, rich media etc.
  • As the cost of working media continues to increase overtime, brands are under increased pressure to leverage SEO as a channel to drive visibility & power business outcomes
  • Search continues to broaden beyond the realm of search engines alone & it becomes imperative to optimise for marketplaces, publisher networks, chatbots etc.
  • As brands continue to expand globally, the scale of SEO operations needs to grow at an equal pace

WHAT IS SEO AUTOMATION & WHAT’S THE LARGER ROLE IT FULFILS

As digital ecosystems continue to evolve, it’s clear that SEO solutions need to be more efficient, agile & scalable. This is exactly where automation comes into play & offers prospective solutions to ensure process efficiencies.

SEO automation is the process of handing over certain tasks to tools so you can prioritize your time and generate results faster. It consists of advanced processes that help you streamline tasks, reduce the amount of time on BAU; in-turn allowing you to spend time as strategic business partners for your client. The role of automation is to transform the SEO pie from being execution/delivery heavy to to consultancy/strategy heavy –

Delivery and strategy With and without Automation

WHEN WORKING ON SEO, WHERE DO WE ALLOCATE OUR TIME TO TASKS

An internal survey reveals that most SEO professionals spend the highest amount of time on technical workstreams, diagnostics, reporting & competitor analysis.

SEO Task time frame
Sample Set = 25 Brands | 75 Markets | CPG Industry | B.com, D2C & eCommerce Websites | Avg, Time Spend on SEO Tasks

The above chart represents the avg. amount of time spent on SEO tasks across ecosystems such Brand.com, D2C and e-Commerce. It’s crucial to identify ways to plugin automation within these areas to drive efficiency, resource optimisation and eventually lead to cost savings. Having spent over 4.5 years working on B.com & D2C ecosystems especially in a multi-brand market set-up; it became evident for me to realise the gravity of this predicament, associated challenges, pitfalls if not circumnavigated as well as potential benefit of driving efficiency on these types of set-ups.

THE CORELATION BETWEEN MULTI-BRAND & MULTI-MARKET SET-UPS & AUTOMATION

WHAT MAKES THESE SET-UPS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SET-UPS

As businesses continue to expand globally, multi-market / multi-brand set-ups are inevitable. These offer a unique challenge as well as opportunities.

They are different from single market set-ups where efforts are concentrated to a single website within a single geography. Here’s a closer look at what makes them unique –

  1. Volume: A higher volume of delivery in terms of optimisation, reporting & strategy
  2. Campaign Needs: Each brand / market combination has a unique business objective
  3. Competition: The type, extent & influence of competition differs for each market
  4. Audiences: Culture, language, socioeconomic factors etc. mean these set-ups need to cater to a broad spectrum of audiences
  5. Technology: Technical set-ups, teams, budgets etc. may vary greatly; meaning what’s possible in one market may or may not be possible in the other

KEY AREAS IN A MULTI-MARKET / MULTI-BRAND SET-UP THAT CAN BENEFIT FROM AUTOMATION

Its certain that driving organic excellence in these set-ups beg us to proactively look at avenues that can help improve efficiency & efficacy. This is exactly where automation can chip-in and play a crucial role.

Here is a view of how automation can be selectively plugged-in –

Table for challenge and SEO automation

RECOMMENDED AUTOMATION TOOLKIT FOR MULTI MARKET / BRAND SET-UPS

We are exactly aware of the complex nature of these set-ups and have successfully built an automation toolkit that equips our team of experts to run campaigns at such large scales as efficiently as possible. Mentioned below is our recommended kit with real examples of how deployment helped achieve tangible savings.

Scope of Universe

  • Region: Europe
  • Brands: 10
  • Markets: 23
  • Unique Brand + Market Combinations: 52

Results:

  • 59% Reporting Efficiency
  • 36% Diagnostics Efficiency
  • 62% Technical Consultancy Efficiency
How SEO automation helps in time saving

While the above toolkit has been built with a specific challenge at hand to combat; characteristic traits such as large complex set-ups, heavy technical aspects & evolving competition make this toolkit a perfect fit for B.com, D2C as well as eCommerce ecosystems.

CASE STUDY: SUCCESSFUL MIGRATION WITH AUTOMATION USING POWERBI

Scenario: Leading Skin Care brand underwent an extensive site migration across 4 markets

What did we do?

  • Leveraged PowerBI to facilitate automated real time insights on performance
  • Customized data visualization facilitated complex diagnostics with ease

What was the outcome?

  • 48+ hours of manual diagnostics eliminated on a weekly basis
  • Generated agile real time remediation workstreams on a weekly basis

Results:

  • Top 3 markets saw a 40% growth in performance
  • The entire portfolio grew by 32%

HOW DO WE ENVISION THE ROLE OF SEO AUTOMATION IN FUTURE

We have seen a radical shift with which we approach search marketing let alone SEO with the advent of AI. With conversational search & chatbots at the forefront; the user’s path to purchase has become even more concise and dynamic. Information seekers are no longer being facilitated with just a static bucket of links on SERPs but a plethora of avenues that shorten the path to purchase. A right mix of textual content, rich media & commerce capabilities need to be activated at scale to adapt to AI driven environments which necessitates the need for activation at scale. Generative AI content, engaging rich media formats & BIC purchase journeys are the need of the hour and an increased focus on leveraging automation within these areas is the future!

PERFORMICS CAN HELP YOU LEVERAGE AUTOMATION TO DRIVE ORGANIC SEARCH EFFICIENCIES

Performics understands the need for and importance of integrating automation into daily operations & can help build tailor-made SEO automation toolkits/solutions for businesses. Our comprehensive & customisable toolkits can meticulously help reduce amount of time spent on delivery / task management; increasing the focus on strategy eventually providing you with actionable insights to enhance your online visibility, drive traffic and ultimately increase revenue. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to learn more.

Author:

  1. Jinesh Nair (Director Search & D2C Business)
  2. Pratik Rao (Associate Director Search & D2C Business)

Read More: Why SEO for D2C business is unique?