Why you should use programmatic SEO

Do you want more results from SEO? One way to do it is via programmatic advertising.

So how can your business optimise your digital marketing efforts, and compete in a saturated market? We suggest combining programmatic and SEO channels, to meet consumers at all stages of the buying funnel.

Few health organisations are taking advantage of programmatic advertising; in combination with SEO, it can target qualified customers across the entire sales funnel. When done well, this can secure consistent revenue for your brand online.

What is SEO? 

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is all about optimising your website in order to improve its ranking in search results. SEO is a long-term compounding digital marketing strategy to attract qualified customers: in the research and purchasing stages of the buyer’s funnel.

SEO is the most popular source of traffic for healthcare and pharmaceutical brands, where the industry’s channel share is a whopping 73%. Many businesses focus on SEO first and foremost; it brings in high quality traffic, and is a free/unpaid source of potential customers. While this traffic won’t translate to immediate sales, engagement can be measured via other conversion actions like downloading a guide or signing up for email updates. 

What is programmatic advertising?

Programmatic advertising is an instantaneous method of paid digital advertising. Unlike Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, programmatic ads can appear in front of highly targeted audiences across multiple digital platforms, such as podcasts and catch up TV. 

To buy programmatic ad space, a business needs to bid in a digital auction. Bids are automatically made based on pre-set audience segments.

Unlike SEO, the users who see your ads will fall into particular interest groups, preselected by you at the time of automation. This can result in greater ROI, as programmatic draws a higher volume of leads into the buyer’s funnel: resulting in more sales.

Combining programmatic advertising with SEO

Up until now, many search experts have seen programmatic and SEO strategies as separate entities. But they can coexist, as a part of a holistic overall marketing strategy that gives your brand greater visibility across the whole sales funnel.

• Programmatic advertising breaks into the user’s mind before they reach the stage of searching for a solution to their need. 
• SEO reaches consumers in the research stage of the buying process, and nurtures them towards conversion.

Programmatic can increase organic search volume

How? Well, you can’t search for what you don’t know! Programmatic advertising works to increase awareness of your brand which, in turn, can grow and scale the number of people searching for your products or services. By serving your ads on other websites, you can reach audiences that are relevant to your brand but would have otherwise never visited your site. You can do this through audio, video, rich media mobile ads, display banner ads and advertising. By pairing this with targeting options such as Google Affinity audiences, life events, page categories, demo targeting and white lists, you can reach your most relevant audience whenever they’re online.

Nurofen, for example, could target new parents (as a life event) – with pain relief for newborns.

Third party cookies can also be used, but these are being phased out by Google in favour of first party cookies. When combined with SEO, programmatic allows you to build your first party data pool over time: which exponentially improves the results of both channels.

How does programmatic work when combined with SEO?

SEO reaches search demand – but in order to increase share of voice, you may need to increase search demand by raising brand awareness. This is where a top of the funnel activity like programmatic can help. 

The combined benefits of programmatic advertising and SEO are crucial, in helping your business achieve its long-term goals. In this fast-paced digital climate, brand awareness is vital in order to grow. For brands who invest in targeted awareness and back it up with top of the page ranking, a stream of new and converted customers is much more likely.

Just 1.7% of programmatic spend comes from the healthcare industry; for ambitious companies looking to grow, this represents a major advantage against competitors.

Not sure whether you should be investing in programmatic advertising, focusing on SEO or developing a complete digital strategy? Vine Digital is a highly experienced digital marketing agency that can help your business thrive in the digital world – from optimising your website, to growing your audience, to rolling out a custom marketing campaign. Contact us today or call (02) 8006 8100.