The Smart Lab: 3 Competitive Advantages of Paid Search

As a jeweler in 2019, you want to make sure you have a solid digital marketing strategy to gain the attention of online shoppers in your area.

Any good digital marketing strategy will include a mix of different forms of marketing, but most of your budget likely will be allocated to paid search. Here are three reasons why paid search is so important.

Reason #1: Competitors Can Buy Your Name Online

Paid search is one of the best ways to direct traffic to your website. You can make sure your site appears at the top of the search results on Google by bidding on specific keywords.

When people search for things online, Google divides what the person typed in the search bar into different “keywords.” Advertisers can then bid money on these different keywords and the amount of money (combined with several other factors, such as brand reputation quality) determines which advertiser’s ad gets served to the person searching.

The game to win the attention of shoppers online is fiercely competitive. One strategy your competitors might use is buying your company’s name so that their company appears ahead of, or right under, yours when someone searches, as we see below with Rare Carat and Blue Nile.

Imagine having someone search for your jewelry store only to end up on your competitor’s website! (Editor’s note: While it is legal to bid on your competitor’s name so that your ad appears, you are not allowed to use your competitor’s name in the ad copy; Jensen Jewelers accused Signet Jewelers-owned chain Zalesof engaging in this practice and sued the company in federal court last January.)

To avoid this nightmare scenario, make sure you have a paid search strategy in place.

Reason #2: You Can Ensure Top Placement For “High-Intent” Searches

The words people type into Google’s search bar can be used to determine their intent for the search.

High-intent searches include keywords like “buy” or “near me.” When companies bid for these keywords and appear high in the search rankings, they are more likely to make a sale than companies that do not implement such keywords.

Reason #3: You Can Appear Before Your Competitors for the Same Searches

You might think there isn’t a big difference in appearing first, second or third in a Google search. The data, however, tells us that the difference can mean a lot in terms of profit.