Search Engine Marketing: What Is It? Definitions and Basic Concepts

Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a very powerful technique to increase your website’s rating on search engines like Google and attract targeted visitors. It is possible to increase brand exposure and sales by investing in search engine marketing.

What Is Search Engine Marketing?

The main goal of search engine marketing is to get your website seen by search engines like Google. It involves using a variety of tools, methods and approaches to increase your website’s visibility and increase its chances of appearing at the top of search engine results.

Achieving higher rankings in search results can be accomplished in two primary ways:

The first is through natural consequences. These are established by Google’s algorithm, which takes into account factors such as your website’s content quality and how relevant it is to a user’s search query. Another important consideration is your domain authority, which is influenced by various factors such as the amount of backlinks, the potential of your content, the root domain, and more.
Another technique is paid results. Unlike natural search results, appearing in these sponsored spots requires paying for each click your ad receives. To advertise on search engines, you can use platforms like Google Ads. You can bid on ad space and pay only when someone clicks on your ad.

In practical terms, search marketing can be separated into two categories: search engine optimization (SEO) tactics that try to improve organic rankings, and search engine marketing (SEM) techniques that focus on getting your brand to appear in sponsored results. For purposes of clarity we will refer to paid search advertising as SEM in this context.

In general, search engine marketing involves optimizing your search engine advertising using various tools and tactics. The goals are to get your website to rank better in search results, get more people to click on it, and ultimately get more discussion. Although there are other possibilities, including Bing Ads, Google Ads is the most used platform for SEM.

Search Engine Marketing Concepts

Keywords: are words or phrases that consumers type into search engines to see specific ads or search results. Words can be used alone or in combination, such as “buy Nike shoes” or “best accounting software,” as keywords.

Similarity: You must specify the degree of similarity between the keywords you select and the search phrases users provide when creating a campaign in Google AdWords. We call this uniformity. An exact match displays an ad only when an exact keyword is typed, but a broad match displays an ad for related synonyms or phrases.

Text ad: The most common ad found in search engines is text. Usually, it consists of a title, an editable visible URL, and a brief description. Nowadays, there are many advertising options, such as shopping ads.

Ad groups: Multiple ads targeting the same keyword are combined into Google Ads. This enables you to identify the most successful ads.

Campaign: In Google AdWords, a campaign is a group of ads with similar goals that act as an organizational structure. If you sell school supplies online, for example, you might run three separate campaigns: one for textbooks, one for backpacks, and one for drawing tools.

Landing Page: After clicking on the ad, the user is sent to this webpage. Landing pages should be designed for conversions and prompt visitors to perform some activity like filling a form to download an eBook to get high search engine marketing results. The landing page, ad text, and keywords should all be there

search network: The places where your ads appear are called the “search network.” Ads may appear on other platforms, such as YouTube, but the most popular choice is at the top and right of the search results page.

Impressions: How often a commercial is seen.

Clicks: Number of times the user clicked on the ad.

Click-through rate, or CTR: is the ratio of clicks to total impressions.

Cost-per-click or CPC: is the average cost spent for each ad click.

Quality Rating: A rank that Google assigns to keywords and ads that affect cost per click. Ad relevance, click-through rate, and landing page experience are all factors in the score. The goal of this system is high-quality ads with great locations and cheap prices.

What Value Does SEM Add to Your Business?

Generates Highly Qualified Traffic

Attracts Potential Customers: SEM gives you the ability to attract visitors to your website right from the start. These are highly qualified leads because they are actively looking for goods or services related to your company.
Increases brand awareness: Seeing your brand in search results can help increase brand awareness even if customers don’t click on your ad right away. This may lead to other discussions later.

Generates Visibility

Establishes your market presence: Even if a person doesn’t click on your ad right away, they will recognize your company with a specific demand or satisfaction when it appears in the top search engine results. This visibility strengthens your market presence and increases brand recognition.

Generates Conversions

Flexible and affordable: SEM is a solution that can be used by companies of all sizes. It is accessible to startups and small enterprises because of its reasonable minimum investment options. You can make campaigns more complex as your brand expands to keep up the momentum.
Pay-per-click pricing: ensures that your money is spent efficiently because you only pay when customers click on your ads.

By harnessing the power of SEM, your company can grow and meet its goals faster. Please contact us if you would like to use search engine marketing to build your brand. We’d be happy to talk with you about your needs and help develop an SEM strategy that will help you get closer to your goals.

READ | What is Social Media Marketing (SMM), how it works and its 4 advantages and disadvantages

READ | 7 websites with free data analysis education