Increasing Paid Search Traffic by +102% YoY

Key Takeaways

‍

Salomon, an outdoor apparel and shoe brand, increased their total paid search traffic by +103% YoY in Q1-Q2 2021. During this period Salomon increased their paid ad spend by +409% YoY. Salomon’s paid search advertising campaign entails text based ads and product shopping ads. 

Paid Search Tactic — Text Based Ads: 

• Keywords: Salomon uses a variety of branded and non-branded keywords to reach users at different stages in their buying journey. In Q1-Q2 2021, they focused on a smaller number of higher converting keywords. Salomon uses branded long-tail keywords to convert users with high intent to drive more clicks.  
• Ad Copy: Salomon stands out from competitors on SERP features by using “Salomon® Official Site” in the ad headline. This helps users quickly identify Salomon’s website and ultimately increase their CTR. Salomon tests a variety of different ad descriptions focusing on customer pressure points. 
  

Paid Search Tactic —Product Shopping Ads: 

• Product Reviews: Salomon uses product reviews to win clicks over competitors and increase credibility. Salomon utilizes a third-party review tools to integrate product reviews onto Google.
• Price Point: With Google’s Comparison Shopping Service, users can easily compare prices and promotions amongst competitors. Brands use Google's price benchmarking features to help price products consistently with the market. Brands utilize a larger bid cap on competitively priced products.
• Special Offers & Sales: Salomon uses the special offering section to promote their free shipping. This helps differentiate products amongst others, lowering switching costs from one brand to another with deals such as free shipping and discount codes.
• Optimize Ad Creative: Salomon captures high-intent branded searches by formatting their ad titles as such: brand name + product name + product details. Salomon’s product photography is high-res (1620x1620px) and has been shot on a solid white background. 
• Optimize Product Pages: Salomon provides thorough product details to ensure their ads appear for all relevant searches. On their web product pages, they use keywords in page title, meta description, image alt text, and product description.

‍

Salomon, an outdoor apparel and shoe brand, increased their total web traffic by +61% YoY in Q1-Q2 2021. 

‍

During this same period, Salomon’s paid traffic increased by +102% YoY.

‍

This increase in paid traffic can be attributed a +409% YoY increase in Salmon’s total paid traffic spend.

‍

Salomon’s paid search advertising campaign entails text based ads and product shopping ads.

Text Based Ads

1. Branded & Non-Branded Keywords. Salomon’s top performing paid keywords use a mix of branded (41%) and non-branded (59%) keywords.

‍

2. Low-Volume, High Intent

• ‍# of Keywords. In Q1-Q2 2021, Salomon reduced the number of paid keywords they rank for by -493. Salomon’s paid strategy in Q1-Q2 2021 was to focus on a smaller number of keywords that are higher converting.
  

• ‍Branded Long-Tail Keywords. Salomon bids on branded long-tail keywords such as “salomon ultra 3 mid gtx mens”. Long-tail keywords more specific and have more user intent compared to short-tail keywords such as “hiking boots”. Additionally, long-tail keywords make up 70% of all Google searches**. 

‍

3. Ad Headline

Branded Headline

Of the top-performing search ads, 89% of them have headlines that start with "Salomon® Official Site".

Competitors and retailers, such as MEC and Atmosphere, use Salomon branded keywords in their ad headlines and descriptions.

Having “Salomon® Official Site” in the ad headline helps users quickly identify Salomon’s website and increases their CTR. 

‍

4. Ad Description

Salomon top performing search ads descriptions focus on these six categories:

‍

Product Shopping Ads

• ‍Drive Qualified Traffic. Product shopping ads drive qualified traffic by featuring product information directly in the ad to help users make informed purchase decisions before clicking.
  

• ‍Retail-Centric. Product shopping ads do not use keywords. Instead, Google uses the Merchant Centre feed and crawls websites to determine what search queries will trigger your ads.
  

• ‍Increase Impressions. More than one shopping ad can appear at a time - meaning one search query could result in a user viewing a variety of different products and text ads.

‍

1. Product Reviews

• ‍Stand Out with Product Reviews. Salomon stands out from competitors by utilizing product reviews. Having reviews can help customers make qualified decisions and increased brand credibility.

• ‍Third-Party Reviews. Salomon uses a third-party tool, Bazaarvoice, to help collect and manage customer reviews. These reviews are integrated onto Google so that they appear on Salomon’s shopping ads. 

‍

2. Price Point

• ‍Compare Prices. With Google’s Comparison Shopping Service, users can easily compare prices and promotions amongst competitors with their "compare price" feature. Salomon keeps their prices competitive to maintain a strong position in the market.
  

• ‍Price Competitively. The price of a product is an important factor in the buyer's purchasing decision. Brands use Google's price benchmarking features to help price their products consistent with the market. Brands utilize a larger bid cap on competitively priced products.

‍

3. Special Offers & Sales

• ‍Differentiate with a Special Offer. Salomon stands out from competitors by promoting free shipping in the ads’ special offers section. This helps differentiate products amongst others, lowering switching costs from one brand to another with deals such as free shipping and discount codes.

• ‍Merchant Promotions. Salomon uses Google’s Merchant Promotions to feature sale prices. This helps highlight their products and reduce CTR while driving conversions.

‍

4. Optimize Ad Creative

• ‍Brand Titles. High-intent searches are often branded queries such as “Salomon Gtx”. Salomon uses their brand name in the ad title first, followed by product name, and other important attributes such as size, colour and gender. 
  

• ‍Image Quality. Following Google’s suggested best practices*, Salomon uses high-res product photography (1620x1620px) that has been shot on a solid white background. Salomon uses a variety of angles so users can have a good understanding of what the product is. 

‍

5. Optimize Product Pages

• ‍Google Shopping Feed. Product ads in Google Shopping don't use keywords and depend on the thoroughness of product feeds to show up for relevant queries.

• ‍Keywords. To appear in more searches, Salomon uses keywords in their page title, meta description, image alt text, and product description.

‍