Search engines as a traffic source for the main online shops operating in Portugal

Abstract

E-commerce is a fundamental activity for companies in a digital context and attracting visitors to the website is an essential condition for the success of these platforms. There are several existing traffic sources to bring potential buyers to the online shop, from social networks to email marketing, posing to digital marketing professionals the challenge of equating the effectiveness of each one of them. In this context, this study aims to analyze the importance of the search engine as a way to attract visits to the main Portuguese online shops, or those operating in Portugal with the .pt domain. Specifically, we intend to analyze the percentage of traffic coming from search engines in comparison with other traffic sources. This research focused on a sample of 20 e-commerce platforms of Portuguese nationality, or international ones acting in Portugal with the .pt domain. Based on the data collected from the SimilarWeb platform it was possible to analyze the amount of traffic to the websites coming from each source and, therefore, measure the one that comes from search engines (Udartseva, 2020). It was possible to verify that the main source of traffic of the e-commerce platforms under analysis, contributed approximately with 53% of the total traffic. It was also found that, of the traffic obtained through this source, 76% derives from organic search, being 24% the result of advertising investment. Based on the results obtained, considerations and suggestions for professionals regarding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies are outlined.