What Is SCO Marketing And How It Differs From SEO

In digital marketing, SCO is an acronym that can mean several different things. Read on for an in-depth explanation and disambiguation of SCO in marketing.

SCO Vs. SEO: How Are They Different?

SCO and SEO are quite different.

SEO concentrates on optimizing a website for search engines. It aims for high rankings and visibility, in order to get more organic traffic to your or your client's website.

SCO deals with optimizing any type of online content to fit your target audience and lead to customer acquisition.

SEO is an integral part of SCO. However, as online promotion techniques increase and expand, many terms and practices blend with one another. At the same time, new, specialized areas are formed, and new jargon comes up.

So, you will often hear different professionals referring to the same things with different names, or vice versa.

In any case, SCO, as in search channel optimization, means tailoring your SEO practices to rank high in every search engine individually, not just Google.

What Is SCO?

SCO is about shaping your content for various online advertising activities and marketing platforms while tailoring it to resonate with your audience throughout the buying process.

What Is SCO In Marketing?

In SCO marketing, the same acronym stands for three different approaches. They are all vital for your overall online marketing efforts and your customer journey down the sales funnel.

Search Channel Optimization: SCO

Search Channel Optimization is the process of tailoring your website’s SEO to rank for each different search engine, adapting your content and other SEO factors accordingly.

Social Channel Optimization: SCO

Social Channel Optimization means shaping your content and social profile to leverage your presence within each social channel while customizing it for your target audiences.

Sales Cycle Optimization: SCO

Sales Cycle Optimization analyzes customer journey and behavior for your brand to communicate with your audience at different touch points throughout the sales funnel. Here, you need to serve the right content in the right way at every step of the way.

How Can You Create A Successful SCO Strategy For Your Company?

To take full advantage and create a successful SCO marketing strategy for your company, you must employ all three SCO pillars above.

Needless to say, your biggest effort and investment will go to the area(s) where you can reap the most positive results.

Let’s have a closer look at each one.

SCO Search Engine Optimization

SCO ranking is crucial, especially when targeting markets outside Google's domination.

Search Engine Market Share Statistics

Search engine statistics reveal that Google’s global market share is 91.88% (2022).

At the same time, Bing is used by approx. 15% of internet users globally.

As the leading Russian search engine, Yandex accounts for 63.6% of user visits in Russia and 1.63% of worldwide searches (2023).

In China, Baidu currently owns 67.46% of the Chinese search market and around 2% in Taiwan.

Many SEO experts claim that optimizing for Google is enough. However, this is not always the case.

Depending on your product or service, it’s worth investing in your website SCO to rank at the top in different search engines.

Website SCO - Tips

Here are some SCO for website tips to get you going.

Note that we don’t include Google here. You can find a wealth of information on how to rank in Google, including SEO hacks and tips, in our SEO blog.

SEO for Bing

• Bing announces most of its ranking factors freely, so it takes the SEO guesswork out.
• For your link building, include links from old websites. Old links are a sign of trust for Bing, so you get profited for better rankings.
• Exact match domains and keywords are an important ranking factor.

SEO for Baidu

• Meta descriptions that match title tags are critical in Baidu. You need to handle keyword consistency (on-page and off-page) with precision and care.
• For improved visibility and load speed, you need a .cn domain name and local hosting in China. This, though, comes with legal implications and Chinese bureaucracy.
• To attain position 0 in search results you must index your featured content in Baidu’s special platform. Then, you can qualify for Boxed Computing, the equivalent of Google’s featured snippets.

SEO for Yandex

• Adding a Russian language version to your website affects your overall rankings in Yandex.
• In SERPs, Yandex takes into account the time of the day the search takes place.
• Yandex users employ location names more often than in other search engines. So, if you sell locally, make sure you optimize for every location separately.

After running your search channel optimization, you can then deal with optimizing your content for each social medium and audience.

SCO In Digital Marketing

In digital marketing, Social Channel Optimization is a vital tool to get your message through and spread it around to possible prospects.

One thing to remember is that different social channels have different standards and popularity in every country. For example, Google Maps and/or YouTube do not operate in certain countries like China, Crimea, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Syria, and more.

Social Channel Optimization

Once you have figured out your top social platforms and you have optimized your social profiles, you need to start posting audience-targeted content.

The most important rule here is to serve content your audience can relate to, using the right format at the right time.

Here are some tips for SCO marketing in TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter.

TikTok Content Optimization

• Your videos must catch user attention immediately so that your viewers can engage in 1 second (literally!)
• Use eye-catching captions with inviting phrases, like: “This is what happens when…”, “This is why I love…,” etc.
• Only post high-quality videos. This relates to the quality of your brand as well.

Facebook Content Optimization

• Every post needs a visual.
• Activate reviews on your page and use them widely.
• Long posts (over 80 words) work much better and incite engagement.

Twitter Content Optimization

• Short tweets work best - ideally up to 110 characters.
• Use quotes, stats, and charts. Also, make polls for extra engagement.
• Now and then, add photos and videos for extra retweets.

By offering your audience what they want to see, you can create waves of memorable branding. Your prospects increase and jump into the consideration stage more quickly and easily.

After the consideration stage, you need to optimize your selling cycle.

Selling Cycle Optimization

Online advertising and sales are the pillars of today’s economy. Whether the actual sale happens online or offline, it all starts with a screen.

Here, you need to follow the “traditional” funnel that takes the user all the way to your cart and purchase. In other words, the TOFU, MOFU, BOFU model.

Selling cycles begin with identifying what your users do and who they are. So, you need to:

• Research and document the buyer journey.
• Identify bottlenecks and pain points.
• Establish your buyer personas with all details.

Now, you are ready to follow all selling steps carefully while providing the right type of interaction with the right content at each stage.

SEO and SMM (Social Media Marketing) can make your future customers notice you and connect with you.

You can keep them hooked with your brand via newsletters, ebooks, free downloads, case studies, webinars, and all kinds of informative and useful content that’s offered for free.

Once they become your customers, you can keep them engaged with short polls, offers, discount pop-ups, and more.

Frequency, timing, and content are crucial to bring all types of SCO together and, thus, grow your audience and increase your sales.

SCO: Search Channel Optimization The Right Way

SCO and SEO do much more than just raise your pages to the top of search results. With this in mind, at Atropos Digital, we run detailed analyses of your audiences and targets.

Based on your expertise and our experience, we create high-ranking content that invites your prospects to become customers. We build solid, long-term success and turn SEO into a real marketing tool that increases visibility and sales.

We collaborate with worldwide organizations and SEO agencies (white label). Find out more.