Optimal Search Engine Marketing Strategy Customer Behaviour (Case studies from Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

In the era of the information age, it is normal for a business to have an online attendance on the Internet. However, existence alone is insufficient; the business has to be obviously visible on the search engine whenever a user searches for a product or service provided by that type of business in order to survive and thrive in a competitive market. Thus, the significance of an optimal search engine marketing strategy is extremely important for marketers in particular and for businesses.

This study, two case studies from Saudi Arabia were selected to explore this subject. The essay considered how the two selected case studies use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid listings such as Pay Per Click (PPC). Data was gathered from secondary data such as that provided by government departments and business reports.

The objective of this study is to understand and explore the massive contribution of paid listings and SEO as search engine tools, to examine how both can serve to raise the number of user/potential customer visits to business websites and to determine what the major challenges are with respect to when and why marketers should use paid listings and/or SEO.

This Study found that both case studies invest a low budget in their SEO. In contrast, they both devoted a larger part of their search engine marketing budgets to PPC. However, it was found that SEO brings a higher number of clicks compared to PPC, suggesting that more visitors/users that business could be converted into actual customers.

The recommendations of this study can be used to guide the marketers to correct their choice of an optimal search engine marketing strategy, in turn allowing businesses to more accurately determine their online marketing budget.