Organic Search Demand Report

What is clear from the comparative fortunes of brands in organic search during 2022 is that there’s abundant opportunity to capture vast volumes of organic traffic in tough markets. The
key ingredient, however, is attunement to the demand of your customer base. Shein’s phenomenal rise to prominence in Western markets during the past three years is a case in point. Their strategy of testing thousands of small batch new product releases every day gives them a vast bank of data around market interest, giving them the opportunity to capitalize on trends quickly and leave behind approaches that aren’t connecting to their audience.

Interestingly, once the year moved into its latter stages and demand softened, non-brand search continued to see holiday clothes and occasion wear performing strongest YoY. The table of top performing keywords makes this clear, with terms like ‘swimsuits’, ‘beach bag’, ‘sandals’, and ‘swimwear’ all seeing impressive YoY growth. This is likely due to the return of travel and celebrations, but it’s interesting to note that whilst brand demand saw a dramatically changed picture over periods (i) and (ii), the dominant trends for non-brand search in the same period were often consistent.

The balance between brand and non-brand search visibility contributes to the broader brand vs performance marketing debate. It is our firm view that brand impacts performance, especially in retail. However, the industry norm we are determined to challenge is the balance between paid and organic search investments when targeting potential buyers. In our view organic SEO is widely underinvested in and misunderstood by many brands.