What is Search Engine Marketing, and how does it power your online visibility?
Amongst the myriad ways through which one can increase business on the internet, SEM happens to be one of those concrete methods to actually achieve this.
In today’s digital world, where businesses are striving and jostling for attention.
SEM offers a surefire way to bring more exposure to your website and draw the right traffic through search engines like Google and Bing.
This tutorial is going to introduce basic understanding from SEM:
how it works, why it is so important, and how to use the system in marketing by a complete beginner.
What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
Search Engine Marketing is that form of online marketing wherein websites are promoted by enhancing their visibility on SERPs.
This normally involves paying for ads so that whenever users search for keywords related to their products or services, businesses can create and bid for their ads to appear against those keyword searches.
When users use such keywords, the ads emerge at the top of the search result pages.
While SEO is about improving organic rankings by optimizing one’s content, SEM is all about buying ads to appear in search results.
SEM vs. SEO: What’s the Difference?
While both SEM and SEO are all about visibility improvement in the search engines, the methods they employ in doing so are different:
SEO is all about optimizing one’s content and fixing up the website structure in order to gain organic rankings.
This may take quite some time before any results can be seen; however, in most cases, they also tend to be long-lived.
SEM is paid inclusion in search results; hence, this is the quicker route to visibility and traffic.
Most important of all, a comprehensive strategy tends to include both SEM and SEO to achieve maximum online exposure.
How Does SEM Work?
The backbone of SEM without a doubt is pay-per-click advertising. It basically allows companies to build ads that show up in search engine results.
Each time an end-user clicks on the ad, the business has to compensate a fee; thus, the name “pay-per-click”.
Here’s a basic breakdown of how SEM works:
Keyword Research:
You have to find the keywords that your target audience would most likely use in searching for a product or service similar to what you are offering.
Ad Creation:
Once suitable keywords have been selected, the next task will be to create ads that need to appear in the search results whenever somebody searches with a selected keyword.
These usually include a headline, a small description, and a website link.
Bidding:
With SEM, you’re bidding on keywords. The amount you’re willing and able to pay per click-your bid-may help decide where your ad shows up on the search results page.
Other factors-again, ad quality and the relevance of your landing page-play into ad placement.
Ad Auction:
Every time someone searches for a keyword, an auction happens. That’s how the positions of ads appearing are determined.
The auction takes your bid in consideration along with the quality score of your ad.
Ad Appearance:
If your ad is the winner of the auction, then it will appear in the search results of that keyword.
When these users click on your ad, they are taken to your website, and you pay the price bid.
Why is SEM Important to a Business?
SEM has quite a number of advantages to businesses willing to increase their visibility online. Let’s look into some of the key reasons:
Immediate Visibility
Unlike SEO, which takes months to deliver results, SEM gives almost instant visibility.
The moment your ad goes live, your website could be on the top in search results, making this a great avenue for any business that needs quick results.
Targeted Traffic
With SEM, you reach users who actually search for certain products or services; hence, SEM is an effective means of driving qualified traffic onto your website.
You can tailor the ad so that it displays for certain search queries, thus making sure that your ad comes in front of the right audience.
Example:
In case you have an e-commerce store selling clothes, then you can target keywords like “buy summer dresses online” to capture users ready to buy your products.
Measurable Results
One of the biggest advantages of SEM is the absolutely measurable results.
In Google Ads and Bing Ads, you are even able to monitor real-time performance.
You can get to know how many clicks your ad is getting, how much you’re spending, and even the return on investment.
Flexibility
You have total control over the ad campaigns on SEM.
You can stop or start any campaign at any moment you like; change your budget, test different ad creatives, target different keywords, to find out exactly what works and what does not.
Cost Control
In SEM, you pay only when someone clicks on your ad; thus, it’s a very affordable strategy for companies of any size.
You can budget in an amount that fits your needs-be it $10 or $10,000-knowing you’ll never spend more than you can afford.
Step to Build an Effective SEM Campaign
Now that we understand the importance of SEM, let’s dive into the how-to behind creating a successful campaign:
Do Keyword Research
Keyword research is at the heart of any SEM campaign.
Start with a list of possible keywords a prospective customer would use to search for your product or service.
Then, take that list and work it into Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to start sifting out opportunities.
Combo Tip for Beginners:
Concentrate on a mix of high-volume keywords and long-tail keywords. Long-tail keywords may be less competitive, with better-targeted traffic that can be more converting.
Set Your Budget and Bidding Strategy
Once you have known your target audience, budget how much you want to invest in your SEM campaign. Create a daily budget and select a bidding strategy that will match your objectives.
Some common ways to bid include the following:
Manual CPC: You set your maximum cost per click.
Enhanced CPC: Google automatically adjusts your bids to help you get more conversions.
Target CPA: This is a flexible bid strategy that requires you to set an average CPA target, at which Google then optimizes the bids to assist you in reaching that target.
Write Compelling Ads
Your ad copy is the key to securing clicks.
Your ad should be short, quick, and striking. It must clearly contain a CTA, so users know what is to be expected next in their action, whether it be signing up for a newsletter, downloading a guide, or making a purchase.
Example:
For an online course provider, some of the compelling CTAs would be “Start Your Free Trial Today” or “Sign Up for Instant Access.”
Optimize Your Landing Page
When a user clicks your ad, they get sent to a certain landing page on your website.
You would want this relevant to the keyword and ad that they clicked.
The landing page should have an extremely relevant and logically leading path that would take a visitor to the wanted action, either to buy something or fill out a form.
Beginner’s Tip:
A well-optimized landing page should have an attention-catching headline, visible value propositions, and an apparent CTA.
Track and Optimize
Once your SEM campaign has gone live, it is very important that you will always be continuing to track its performance.
Pay special attention to the following key metrics:
CTR – Click-through rate:
The number of users who clicked on your ad.
Conversion rate:
The number of users who finished the desired action on your landing page.
CPC:
The cost of every click.
Regularly optimize your campaigns through keyword testing, adjusting your bids, perfecting your ad copy.
Best Practices to Succeed in SEM
The following are some best practices that you need to observe to enhance the potential of your SEM
campaign:
Run Variant Ads:
You’ll want to create several variations of your ad to figure out which one works best. You can do A/B testing; perfect the copy and improve CTR.
Employ Negative Keywords:
Negative keywords will keep your ads from showing up on irrelevant searches and save you money from wasted clicks that don’t convert.
Focus on Quality Score:
The quality score for search engines, like Google, will determine the relevance, click-through rate, and the experience of your landing page.
Therefore, the better your quality score, the better the ad placement at lower costs.
Conclusion: Embark on an SEM Voyage Today
SEM is the only tool that can put your business immediately on the front page, drive targeted traffic, and ultimately yield success that is very measurable for businesses of any size.
Apply some keyword research, set a budget, craft compelling ad copy, and optimize those landing pages to tap into the power of SEM as you’re building your business.
Ready to get started with SEM?
Head to either Google Ads or Bing Ads now and work your way through the steps to create your first campaign in this guide. The more you play with and tweak, the better the results will be.
Take the plunge today and watch your online visibility soar!
