A Quick Guide to SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Search engine marketing is a great way to get your business to stand out from the competition. Here is a quick guide to using SEM.

If you are concerned about effectively marketing your business and engaging your target audience, you need to understand search engine marketing (SEM). But what is search engine marketing, and how does it differ from search engine optimization (SEO)? When asking “what is search engine marketing?”, the most important thing to keep in mind is that it refers to paid ad results on Google.

It does not refer to optimizing your website and web page design to rank higher on Google search results – that’s SEO. Search engine marketing is how you approach designing, implementing, and targeting your paid ads. It is a vital eCommerce strategy that will help your business reach high-value leads. Read on to find out everything you need to know about search engine marketing.

1. Why Pay for Google Ads?

First, you might be wondering why you should be paying Google for search result ads as opposed to, say, paying for text message marketing. The simple response is that SEM works. Google is, by far and away, the most popular search engine in America, something that people use for every single purchase or purchase query. What’s more, research has shown that around 63% of users will click on a paid ad on Google search results. If you care about an effective marketing strategy, you cannot afford to ignore SEM.

2. How Ad Auctions Work

To understand what is SEM, you need to know how a Google Ad Auction works. Basically, you must “bid” to ensure that your company appears at the top of search results whenever a user types in certain keywords. Ergo, you are “bidding” for the right to that keyword.

For example, if you want your New York marketing company to show up first whenever someone types “best marketing in New York”, you would have to bid for the key phrase at the Google Ad Auction. It’s that simple.

3. Keywords Are Key

The success of an SEM campaign depends heavily on the keywords you use. It is important to understand user intent and to use keywords that your target audience would genuinely use. This often requires a lot of research and professional help from experienced internet ad agencies.

You also need to ensure that your keywords are not too competitive i.e. they aren’t being used by millions of other companies. For example, fighting to show up first on results whenever someone types “marketing” into Google is a lost cause.

4. Building a Search Engine Marketing Strategy

Once you have your keywords and you are ready to pay for ad space, it’s time to put together an expert SEM strategy. Remember, you still need to get people to click on your ad when it shows up on Google results. This means putting together a compelling meta-description that will convince users to click on your link in one sentence or less.

It means using web analytics to measure your SEM campaign and make changes where needed. It means checking that the right types of users are clicking on your ads. By doing all of this, you can build a sustainable and profitable SEM campaign.

Hire an Expert SEM Consultant Today

Good search engine marketing often requires professional help, especially if you want to see instant results. For this, you have come to the right place. To find out more about the services we can provide, do not hesitate to get in touch with a friendly member of our team today.