Study: SEO is dominant in the user’s conversion journey

Although it currently accounts for little of marketing budgets, SEO is by far the dominant marketing channel in the user’s conversion journey. SEO is thus the marketing channel that offers the best lever for capturing users’ attention and driving them to convert without going through another marketing channel.

SEO, only the 10th channel represented in the marketing mix budget

Today, it is not always easy to allocate a budget across the various marketing channels. The study by the Mazeberry agency, which looks at users’ post-click journey grouped by channel, counts no fewer than 14 of them (direct access, affiliation, comparison sites, display, emailing, referral sites, social media, retargeting, etc.).

What’s more, whereas we used to talk about last-click attribution, more and more users go through several channels before completing a conversion. For example, in France, on average, a user uses two marketing channels and visits the website no fewer than four times before completing a conversion.

The whole challenge today is to account for the user’s full path, which goes through different channels before completing a conversion.

In this context, it can seem difficult to know which budget to allocate to which marketing channel. Currently, in first position is non-brand SEA (search engine advertising that does not take into account the website’s brand name) with around 47% of the budget spent, well ahead of display (referring to graphic advertising formats such as banners and videos) at 11% and retargeting (which displays products or services previously viewed) at 9%. Far behind, we find the SEO budget in… 10th position (0.69%).

Share of the SEO budget in the user’s conversion journey © Mazeberry

SEO, the top marketing channel for presence rate

SEO thus appears underrepresented in the ranking of spend allocated to marketing channels. Yet this marketing channel delivers very positive results in the user’s conversion cycle. SEO shows a presence rate — which indicates the percentage of conversions in which the marketing channel was involved — of 20%.

Presence rate of marketing levers in the customer journey. © Mazeberry

This very good figure is partly explained by the fact that more than half of users use an awareness lever (which SEO is part of) in their conversion journey. In more detail, SEO ranks first among marketing channels for retailers (28%) and second for pure players (17%). This difference is probably due to the fact that retailers benefit from their offline reputation to attract more users and drive them to convert.

SEO, the top “initiator” and “autonomous” lever in the user’s conversion journey

As we have seen, users multiply touchpoints before conversion. In the conversion journey, the study distinguishes clearly separate stages: the stage that leads a user to have their attention captured (“initiator” role), the one that nurtures their interest (“passer” role), the one that triggers their conversion action (“striker” role), and the one that is self-sufficient (“autonomous” role).

These different stages make it possible to understand the importance of each lever in the conversion cycle. Knowing them then makes it possible to allocate budgets to the various channels according to how effective each one is in the different phases of the user’s conversion journey.

What about SEO’s role in the user’s conversion journey among the main marketing channels selected by the study: affiliation, display, SEO, retargeting and Product Listing Ads, which offer image-based sponsored results directly within search results (note that the study does not take SEA into account among the main marketing levers)?

SEO comes out on top for capturing the user’s attention (“initiator” role) with 36.47%. Various studies show that SEO brings significant visibility and click-through rates, largely thanks to the trust generated by the non-commercial results displayed by Google.

More surprisingly, SEO is also the top of the main marketing levers selected for the “autonomous” role (38.79%). Concretely, in a discovery process (when discovering a product or service via a search engine’s results), or in a process that nurtures interest (with arrival via SEO on the company’s blog, for example), the user regularly completes the different stages of the conversion journey without going through another marketing channel. For the Mazeberry agency, the lever is self-sufficient in driving the conversion. SEO’s “autonomous” role makes it possible to keep the user “captive” and to increase the conversion rate.

Table of the conversion cycle of five marketing levers. © Mazeberry.

The value of betting on an effective SEO strategy

SEO brings a proportionally much higher conversion rate than other marketing channels. Logically, it shows the most positive ratio between presence rate and the budget of the various marketing channels. SEO thus makes it possible to achieve the highest return on investment — that is, the highest ratio between the revenue generated and the budget spent.

Ratio between presence rate and marketing budget. © Mazeberry.

This study should raise awareness and lead decision-makers to invest more in SEO to improve their conversions.

To make a difference, opt for a lasting SEO strategy. Don’t forget that, besides content and RankBrain, an SEO strategy worthy of the name is built with quality link building,

a predominant factor in Google’s algorithms. The strategy put in place must adapt to changes in Google’s algorithms.

SEO stands apart from other channels in that it is “self-sufficient,” meaning it does not require constantly reinjecting budget into it to drive conversions. Better SEO will allow you to increase your ROI in a lasting way and improve your KPIs. This SEO strategy should bring you positive results, whether in terms of the number of your qualified visitors (“initiator” role) or the number of your conversions (“autonomous” role).

Semji is a solution that makes it possible to integrate SEO into your Content Marketing strategy from an ROI-driven perspective.

Objectives: Content that is visible on the search engine, relevant to your audience, and that generates traffic and conversions.

Thanks to Semji, you have a tailor-made solution to optimize and produce content for SEO. A dedicated Customer Success Manager is also there to help you reach your SEO and Content goals faster.

Want to learn more? Feel free to request a demo of the solution.