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We’ve all heard the term Search Engine Marketing (SEM). But what is it? And is it something your business should be doing to reach more prospects? In a word, yes. In today’s online-driven world, businesses compete to capture the attention of their target audience with more and more competition each day. Understanding SEM and using best practices for your ads can become an indispensable tool for enhancing your online visibility and connecting with more motivated prospects. Ready to learn more about search engine marketing? Let’s go.
What is Search Engine Marketing?
Search Engine Marketing, or pay-per-click, is a digital marketing strategy that involves promoting a website or landing page through a search engine. These ads, delivered to prospects when they search for a business, increase the visibility in the search engine results pages (SERPS). Unlike Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which focuses on optimizing a website's content, images, and design to improve organic, unpaid search rankings, SEM involves paying to drive targeted traffic to the website.
What are the Key Components of SEM?
SEM can be complicated, which is why many small businesses aren’t able to compete online with their larger competitors. But with the right tools and knowledge, search engine marketing can be successful for any business, organization, or firm.
1. Search Engine Advertising (SEA)
Search Engine Advertising (SEA) is a form of online advertising that involves placing ads on search engine results pages (SERPs) to promote a website or business. Unlike organic search results, which are determined by the search engine's algorithms, search engine advertising allows businesses to pay for their ads to be displayed prominently when users search for specific keywords or phrases.
The most popular platform is Google Ads, which has 91.5% of the share, followed by Bing at only 3.19%.
How does it work? Advertisers bid on keywords related to their products or services. When users enter those keywords into the search engine, the ads are triggered and displayed at the top or bottom of the search results. If you’ve ever clicked a “Sponsored” ad at the top of the search page, you’ve been successfully marketed through search engine marketing.
2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
With Pay-Per-Click ads, (PPC), advertisers pay a fee only when their ad is clicked. This digital marketing technique is a way of buying visits to a website, rather than trying to earn those visits organically. PPC ads are also available on other platforms, such as social media and websites.
PPC ads are a cost-effective way for businesses to reach more consumers, as they are only charged when the audience is interested enough to click on the ad. This helps ensure more interested, motivated prospects reach the landing page, and that marketing funds are spent effectively.
3. Keyword Research
Keyword research is a fundamental aspect of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It involves identifying and analyzing the terms or phrases (keywords) that users enter into search engines when looking for information, products, or services. The goal of keyword research is to understand what users are searching for and to optimize online content and advertising around those specific terms.
Why is keyword research so important? It can help improve search engine rankings, ensure more targeted traffic, and optimize PPC ads.
Keyword research can include excluding certain search terms. Negative keywords can help weed out searches that aren’t viable for the business goals. For instance, if you were selling smartphones, you might use the keywords “premium mobile phones,” “luxury cell phones,” “high-end smartphones,” or “top-tier smartphones.” However, as a precaution, you could include “free smartphone” as a negative keyword. This way, any searches where people are specifically looking for a free phone won’t receive your ad, and you won’t waste marketing dollars on non-viable prospects.
4. Ad Copy and Creatives
As with all copy and creatives your business uses, capturing your audience's attention and conveying your message effectively and in a limited space is essential.
Determining the right content and creative for ads should be strategic, considering your target audience, campaign objectives, and the platform. Review your competitors' posts, test multiple options, and analyze your results.
5. Landing Page Optimization
Once a user clicks on the ad, what next? The landing page should be a seamless experience for your prospect. Does the information and tone line up with the ad? Is the page providing the information promised and offering options to connect with you?
You are paying for search engines to deliver more prospects to your website – make sure what they see when they get there helps them convert.
What are the Benefits of Search Engine Marketing?
Now that we know how search engine marketing works, how can it benefit your business? And is it worth the hassle of learning the system and setting up SEM ads?
1. Instant Visibility
That’s right – instant. One of the greatest benefits of search engine marketing services is that once your ads are live, the results can be immediate. Prospects seeking your services or solutions will start to see your ad and have the opportunity to connect with you.
This is unlike SEO, which takes time to show results and improve search rankings. For those businesses wanting dramatic, immediate results, SEM is a great option.
2. Targeted Advertising
Where is your target audience? If you are a local business, providing services or solutions to the community within a 25-mile radius, you don’t want to waste your marketing dollars with nationwide ads.
Successful targeting allows advertisers to connect with specific demographics, locations, and user behaviors. When a relevant audience sees your ads, you’ll see more conversion rates and growth.
3. Measurable Results
Always know how your ads are working and what results you’re seeing. SEM provides detailed analytics, so tracking your performance is simple and easy. Metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and return on investment (ROI) provide valuable insight and help you find places to make adjustments.
4. Flexibility and Control
The control is all yours! With SEM, you can control budgets, bidding strategies, copy and creative, ad placements, duration of campaigns, and more. This flexibility enables you to quickly adapt and optimize strategies based on performance.
Conclusion
The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing. And it can be hard to keep up and stay ahead of the competition. Search engine marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses aiming to increase their online presence. If you want to reach more of your targeted audience by harnessing the power of a search engine marketing consultant, LeadingResponse has the solution.
Achieving ROI and managing high-performing search campaigns is in our DNA. Search Engine Marketing is one of our core solutions, and we built our business around it. Utilize real-time bidding algorithms to create, manage, and optimize high-performing ad campaigns on major search engines and ensure exceptional ROI for your business. What are you waiting for? Contact us for a free consultation.
