Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jouret/v97y2021i4p746-763.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Keyword Selection Strategies in Search Engine Optimization: How Relevant is Relevance?

Author

Listed:
  • Nagpal, Mayank
  • Petersen, J. Andrew
Abstract
We build an empirical framework using search queries and organic click data which provides model-based guidance to SEO practitioners for keyword selection and web content creation. Specifically, we study how search characteristics (search query popularity, search query competition, search query specificity, and search intent) and website characteristics (content relevance and online authority) interact to affect the expected organic clicks as well as the organic rank a website receives from the search engine result page (SERP). It is often thought that content relevance is a key factor to improve the effectiveness of SEO. We find, however, that content relevance is an important factor in driving organic clicks only when the consumer is farther along in the customer journey and searching for ways to purchase a product. Whereas, when the customer is at the awareness stage and looking for product information, online authority is the key driver of organic clicks.

Suggested Citation

  • Nagpal, Mayank & Petersen, J. Andrew, 2021. "Keyword Selection Strategies in Search Engine Optimization: How Relevant is Relevance?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 746-763.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:97:y:2021:i:4:p:746-763
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2020.12.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435920300944
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretai.2020.12.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Michael D. Smith, 2003. "Consumer Surplus in the Digital Economy: Estimating the Value of Increased Product Variety at Online Booksellers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(11), pages 1580-1596, November.
    2. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Abou Nabout, Nadia & Skiera, Bernd, 2012. "Return on Quality Improvements in Search Engine Marketing," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 141-154.
    4. Michael R. Baye & Babur De los Santos & Matthijs R. Wildenbeest, 2016. "Search Engine Optimization: What Drives Organic Traffic to Retail Sites?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 6-31, March.
    5. White, Alexander, 2013. "Search engines: Left side quality versus right side profits," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 690-701.
    6. Greg Taylor, 2013. "Search Quality and Revenue Cannibalization by Competing Search Engines," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 445-467, September.
    7. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Duncan Simester, 2011. "Goodbye Pareto Principle, Hello Long Tail: The Effect of Search Costs on the Concentration of Product Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(8), pages 1373-1386, August.
    8. Thorsten Wiesel & Koen Pauwels & Joep Arts, 2011. "Practice Prize Paper --Marketing's Profit Impact: Quantifying Online and Off-line Funnel Progression," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 604-611, July.
    9. Hongshuang (Alice) Li & P. K. Kannan & Siva Viswanathan & Abhishek Pani, 2016. "Attribution Strategies and Return on Keyword Investment in Paid Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(6), pages 831-848, November.
    10. Ron Berman & Zsolt Katona, 2013. "The Role of Search Engine Optimization in Search Marketing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 644-651, July.
    11. Bernd Skiera & Nadia Abou Nabout, 2013. "Practice Prize Paper ---PROSAD: A Bidding Decision Support System for Profit Optimizing Search Engine Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 213-220, March.
    12. Song Yao & Carl F. Mela, 2011. "A Dynamic Model of Sponsored Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 447-468, 05-06.
    13. Juan Feng & Hemant K. Bhargava & David M. Pennock, 2007. "Implementing Sponsored Search in Web Search Engines: Computational Evaluation of Alternative Mechanisms," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 137-148, February.
    14. Zsolt Katona & Miklos Sarvary, 2010. "The Race for Sponsored Links: Bidding Patterns for Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 199-215, 03-04.
    15. Scaperlanda, Anthony E & Mauer, Laurence J, 1969. "The Determinants of U.S. Direct Investment in the E.E.C," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 59(4), pages 558-568, Part I Se.
    16. Anindya Ghose & Sha Yang, 2009. "An Empirical Analysis of Search Engine Advertising: Sponsored Search in Electronic Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(10), pages 1605-1622, October.
    17. Sha Yang & Anindya Ghose, 2010. "Analyzing the Relationship Between Organic and Sponsored Search Advertising: Positive, Negative, or Zero Interdependence?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 602-623, 07-08.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mariusz Duka & Marek Sikora & Artur Strzelecki, 2023. "From Web Catalogs to Google: A Retrospective Study of Web Search Engines Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, April.
    2. Garusinghe Dewa Ayesha Udari Garusinghe & Balasooriya Arachchige Kanchana Shiromi Perera & Umesha Sasanthi Weerapperuma, 2023. "Integrating Circular Economy Principles in Modular Construction to Enhance Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Pingjun Jiang, 2023. "Discovering Efficient Keywords – An Exploratory Study on Comparing the Use of ChatGPT and Other Third-party Tools," Journal of Emerging Trends in Marketing and Management, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, vol. 1(2), pages 40-45, July.
    4. Ologunebi, John & Taiwo, Ebenezer, 2023. "The Importance of SEO and SEM in improving brand visibility in E-commerce industry; A study of Decathlon, Amazon and ASOS," MPRA Paper 119205, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kannan, P.K. & Li, Hongshuang “Alice”, 2017. "Digital marketing: A framework, review and research agenda," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 22-45.
    2. Klapdor, Sebastian & Anderl, Eva M. & von Wangenheim, Florian & Schumann, Jan H., 2014. "Finding the Right Words: The Influence of Keyword Characteristics on Performance of Paid Search Campaigns," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 285-301.
    3. Bernd Skiera & Nadia Abou Nabout, 2013. "Practice Prize Paper ---PROSAD: A Bidding Decision Support System for Profit Optimizing Search Engine Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(2), pages 213-220, March.
    4. Carsten D. Schultz, 2020. "The impact of ad positioning in search engine advertising: a multifaceted decision problem," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 945-968, December.
    5. Michael Arnold & Éric Darmon & Thierry Pénard, 2012. "To Sponsor or Not to Sponsor: Sponsored Search Auctions with Organic Links," Economics Working Paper Archive (University of Rennes & University of Caen) 201207, Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM), University of Rennes, University of Caen and CNRS.
    6. Kinshuk Jerath & Liye Ma & Young-Hoon Park & Kannan Srinivasan, 2011. "A "Position Paradox" in Sponsored Search Auctions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 612-627, July.
    7. Patrick Winter & Paul Alpar, 2020. "Effects of search engine advertising on user clicks, conversions, and basket choice," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(4), pages 837-862, December.
    8. Peter Landry, 2021. "Keywords, limited consideration, and organic product listings," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 505-566, December.
    9. Abou Nabout, Nadia & Lilienthal, Markus & Skiera, Bernd, 2014. "Empirical Generalizations in Search Engine Advertising," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 206-216.
    10. Yang, Yupin & Lu, Qiang (Steven) & Tang, Guanting & Pei, Jian, 2015. "The Impact of Market Competition on Search Advertising," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 46-55.
    11. Sha Yang & Shijie Lu & Xianghua Lu, 2014. "Modeling Competition and Its Impact on Paid-Search Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 134-153, January.
    12. Ron Berman & Zsolt Katona, 2013. "The Role of Search Engine Optimization in Search Marketing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(4), pages 644-651, July.
    13. Vibhanshu Abhishek & Kartik Hosanagar, 2013. "Optimal Bidding in Multi-Item Multislot Sponsored Search Auctions," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 61(4), pages 855-873, August.
    14. Avi Goldfarb, 2014. "What is Different About Online Advertising?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 44(2), pages 115-129, March.
    15. Raluca M. Ursu, 2018. "The Power of Rankings: Quantifying the Effect of Rankings on Online Consumer Search and Purchase Decisions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 530-552, August.
    16. Shengqi Ye & Goker Aydin & Shanshan Hu, 2015. "Sponsored Search Marketing: Dynamic Pricing and Advertising for an Online Retailer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1255-1274, June.
    17. Amin Sayedi & Kinshuk Jerath & Kannan Srinivasan, 2014. "Competitive Poaching in Sponsored Search Advertising and Its Strategic Impact on Traditional Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 586-608, July.
    18. Park, Chang Hee & Agarwal, Manoj K., 2018. "The order effect of advertisers on consumer search behavior in sponsored search markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 24-33.
    19. Ashish Agarwal & Tridas Mukhopadhyay, 2016. "The Impact of Competing Ads on Click Performance in Sponsored Search," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 538-557.
    20. Chalil, Tengku Munawar & Dahana, Wirawan Dony & Baumann, Chris, 2020. "How do search ads induce and accelerate conversion? The moderating role of transaction experience and organizational type," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 324-336.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:97:y:2021:i:4:p:746-763. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.