Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When I started working with an e-commerce client who was generating decent revenue through Facebook Ads (2.5 ROAS), everything looked fine on the surface. But here's what most marketers miss: their entire growth engine depended on Meta's algorithm and ad costs. One algorithm change could kill their business overnight.
Most businesses treat SEO and SEA as separate strategies. The SEO team focuses on organic rankings while the paid team optimizes ad spend. But what if I told you this separation is exactly why most marketing efforts fail to scale?
After helping this client break free from single-channel dependency and implementing what I call "distribution-first growth," I discovered something counterintuitive: the best SEA performance comes when you stop trying to control attribution and start building comprehensive distribution systems.
Here's what you'll learn from my 3-month transformation of a Facebook-dependent store:
Why Facebook's "improved" ROAS from 2.5 to 8-9 was actually SEO driving conversions
The dark funnel reality that makes attribution tracking meaningless
My step-by-step omnichannel approach that embraces attribution chaos
How to build coverage across all touchpoints instead of chasing control
The strategic shift from "build it and they will come" to "distribute everywhere they already are"
The results? We didn't just improve their marketing—we transformed their entire growth foundation from a house of cards into an unstoppable distribution machine.
Industry Reality
What marketers think they know about channel integration
Walk into any marketing team meeting and you'll hear the same conversation: "Let's optimize our Facebook ads" and "We need better SEO rankings." The industry treats these as separate optimization problems with different teams, different budgets, and different success metrics.
Here's what the conventional wisdom teaches:
Attribution-first thinking: Track every touchpoint, optimize based on last-click or first-click data
Channel siloing: SEO team owns organic, paid team owns ads, never shall they meet
Linear customer journey: See ad → click → buy (if only it were that simple)
Platform-specific optimization: Make Facebook happy, make Google happy, separately
Budget allocation wars: Should we spend more on SEO or SEA this quarter?
This thinking exists because it feels logical and measurable. Marketing teams love clean attribution reports that show exactly which channel deserves credit for each conversion. It makes budget planning easier and gives everyone clear KPIs to optimize against.
But here's where this breaks down in reality: Modern customers don't follow linear paths. They Google your problem, see your retargeting ad on Instagram, visit your organic blog post, get retargeted again on Facebook, search your brand name, and finally convert through direct traffic. Which channel gets the credit? Spoiler alert: it doesn't matter.
The industry's obsession with attribution tracking and channel optimization misses the bigger picture: distribution beats perfect optimization every single time. While you're optimizing your Facebook ad copy for the hundredth time, your competitors are building presence across every channel where your customers already spend time.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My wake-up call came through an e-commerce client who had built their entire business on Facebook Ads. When I first looked at their setup, it seemed solid: consistent 2.5 ROAS, predictable traffic, decent conversion rates. But as someone who'd seen too many businesses crash when platforms changed their algorithms, I knew this was dangerous.
The client's situation was textbook risky:
They were running Facebook and Instagram ads to a catalog of over 1,000 products. Great variety, quality items, but their strength was actually their weakness in the paid ads environment. Facebook Ads work best with 1-3 flagship products that can make quick decisions. Their customers needed time to browse, compare, and discover the right fit.
The mismatch was clear: Facebook Ads demands instant decisions, but their catalog required patient discovery. We were forcing a square peg into a round hole, and it was expensive.
I proposed something that made the client nervous: "Let's build a complete SEO strategy alongside your paid efforts." Not to replace Facebook Ads immediately, but to create what I call "distribution insurance." If one channel died, the business would survive.
What I tried first (and why it revealed everything):
I started with traditional channel separation. SEO team focused on organic content, paid team kept optimizing ads, both tracked in separate dashboards. The goal was simple: reduce dependency on Facebook while maintaining revenue.
Within the first month of implementing SEO strategy, something weird happened. Facebook's reported ROAS jumped from 2.5 to 8-9. The paid team was celebrating their "improved performance," but I knew better.
The attribution lie was exposed: SEO was driving significant traffic and conversions, but Facebook's attribution model was claiming credit for organic wins. Users were discovering products through organic search, then seeing retargeting ads, and Facebook said "See? Our ads converted them!"
This was my lightbulb moment about the dark funnel and why trying to control attribution is pointless.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After discovering that attribution tracking was basically fiction, I developed what I call the "Distribution Coverage Strategy." Instead of trying to track and control every interaction, focus on expanding visibility across all possible touchpoints.
Phase 1: Website Restructuring for SEO (Month 1)
First, I completely restructured their website with SEO in mind. This wasn't about making it look different—it was about changing how we thought about user entry points.
Traditional websites are built like stores with one front door (the homepage). SEO websites treat every page as a potential entry point. I mapped out their 1,000+ products and created search-optimized pathways for each category, product type, and use case.
Phase 2: Content Creation at Scale (Month 1-2)
Here's where my experience with programmatic SEO came in handy. Instead of writing individual blog posts, I created systematic content covering:
Every product category with detailed buying guides
Comparison content between their products and competitors
Use case scenarios for their entire catalog
Long-tail keyword content that Facebook ads couldn't economically target
Phase 3: Embracing the Dark Funnel (Month 2-3)
Instead of fighting attribution chaos, I leaned into it. Here's the counterintuitive approach that worked:
Stop believing in linear funnels. Real customer journeys look like this: Google search → Instagram browse → Facebook retarget → Google brand search → email nurture → direct conversion. Which channel "won"? All of them.
Build touchpoint coverage, not channel optimization. I focused on ensuring our brand appeared wherever customers were already looking, rather than trying to force them down specific funnels.
Phase 4: Cross-Channel Content Synergy
This is where SEO and SEA started working together instead of competing:
SEO keyword data informed ad targeting: High-performing organic keywords became paid campaign targets
Ad performance informed content creation: High-converting ad copy became blog post topics
Organic content supported ad landing pages: Blog readers who weren't ready to buy got retargeted with relevant ads
Brand search optimization: People seeing ads would Google the brand name, so we optimized for branded searches
The Technical Implementation:
I set up what I call "coverage tracking" instead of attribution tracking. Instead of trying to measure which channel converted, I measured:
Total brand searches (people actively looking for us)
Direct traffic growth (people returning or referring others)
Multi-session conversion paths (people taking time to decide)
Overall revenue growth regardless of attribution
The key insight: Distribution beats optimization. Better to be present across 10 channels imperfectly than to perfectly optimize 2 channels.
Coverage Strategy
Build presence everywhere customers look, not perfect funnels
Attribution Myth
Facebook claiming credit for SEO conversions taught me attribution is mostly fiction
Dark Funnel
Real customer journeys: Google → Instagram → Facebook → Email → Direct conversion
Revenue Focus
Track total business growth, not individual channel attribution
The results validated everything I'd learned about distribution-first growth:
Month 1: Organic traffic started growing while Facebook performance mysteriously "improved" (really just better attribution stealing)
Month 2: Brand searches increased 200% as people discovered us organically then looked us up directly
Month 3: Total revenue increased 60% while Facebook ad spend stayed flat. The client was finally seeing the power of omnichannel distribution.
The attribution report was wild: Facebook claimed 70% of conversions, Google claimed 60%, and direct traffic was 40%. That's 170% attribution, which proves the whole system is broken.
But here's what really mattered: overall business growth. Revenue was up, customer acquisition costs were down (spread across channels), and the business was no longer vulnerable to single-platform risk.
The client learned that trying to track every touchpoint was not only impossible but counterproductive. Instead, we focused on total business metrics and channel coverage.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
1. Abandon attribution from day one
Don't waste time building elaborate tracking systems. Focus on total business growth and channel coverage instead.
2. Distribution beats optimization every time
Better to be present across many channels imperfectly than to perfectly optimize just a few.
3. The dark funnel is your friend
Customers will find you through multiple touchpoints. Build for that reality, don't fight it.
4. Cross-channel data sharing is everything
Use SEO keyword data to inform ad targeting. Use ad performance to guide content creation.
5. Platform dependency is business suicide
Any business that depends on a single channel for growth is one algorithm change away from death.
6. Brand searches are the ultimate metric
When people start Googling your brand name, you know your distribution is working.
7. Revenue trumps attribution
Would you rather have clean attribution reports or profitable growth? You can't have both.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies, this approach means:
Content marketing that supports trial conversions
Paid ads retargeting content readers
Brand search optimization for trial signups
Cross-channel lead nurturing sequences
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores, this means:
Product SEO supporting shopping ad performance
Category content driving product discovery
Retargeting ads for content browsers
Brand-focused paid search campaigns