Search engine marketing (SEM) is an online advertising marketing strategy that is used to increase website visibility and sales in the search engine results pages (SERPs)
Search engine marketing (SEM) can also be referred to as pay-per-click (PPC) advertisement as it allows you to pay for an ad spot on Google search engine results pages (SERPs)
Why is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Important?
There is an increase in the numbers of online shoppers who are actively researching products online, because of this it is compulsory for businesses to invest in search engine marketing (SEM) as a way to reach more of their target customers who are already online looking for them.
80% of new website visitors find the website through an answer to a search in the search engine results pages.
You are only required to pay for ad impressions and clicks if you are running a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign. The ability to control your SEM clicks and impressions is an efficient way that makes it easy for you to manage your marketing budget.
Another added advantage of search engine marketing (SEM) is that each website visit you have will increase your website visibility and ranking in the organic search results.
Online shoppers enter search queries in the search engine with the intention of finding information of a commercial nature that they are ready to learn more about and purchase.
Consumers visit the search engine with an intention of buying a product or ordering a service, it is different from social media websites where consumers only go there to chat with friends and not with an intention to buy something.
With effective search engine marketing (SEM) you will be able to reach your potential customers at the perfect time when they need your products or service.
Search engine marketing (SEM) drives instant results; it is the fastest way to generate traffic to your business website.
How SEM Works
Search engine wants to serve online users with the best results when they search for queries online, because of this they make use of complicated algorithms that make it fast and possible to deliver the most relevant results to online users. These results sometimes include location, address, phone number, and other available information.
If you run a search engine marketing (SEM) campaign for your business, your ads will appear at the top of the search engine results which will give you more visibility so that your potential customers can reach you.
For example, let’s say you are a customer who is actively searching for a product to buy online. You will surely go to the search engine (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex e.tc) to type in the keywords of what you want to purchase.
After you are done with your search query, the search engine will provide you with various results that best answers your question, you will also be provided with ads from different companies that there keywords match your query in the search engine.
These ads appear at the top spot on the first page of search engine organic results, they appear with other search listings that resonate with your search query. Search engine serves you with paid ads that are highly relevant to your search query, which gives you a higher chance of clicking on them.
Now that you already understand how search engine marketing (SEM) works, let’s look at how SEM campaigns work from the perspectives of online marketers.
Search engine marketing (SEM) is an online marketing that works as a self-serve operation. Once an online advertiser selects their preferred network, they will be able to set up their campaign within a short time.
As a marketer if you want to set up a campaign within an SEM network, you will do the following:
- You will conduct keyword research and select keywords your potential customers use to search for your business.
- You will be able to select a geographical location for your ad to be shown.
- You will be able to create a text-based ad to show up in the search engine results.
- You will bid on a price that you are willing to pay for each customer who clicks on your ad.
Text ads are easy to set up. All you need to have is a catchy headline, the body text of your ad, a clear call-to-action, and your landing page URL.
Examples of Search ad Networks
Google ads and Bing ads are the two most popular primary search networks that online marketers use to target their potential customers.
Google ads are the most popular ad network in the world and it comprises two ad networks: which are Google Display Ad Network and Google Search Ad Network. Google ad gives you the ability to market your business ad on platforms such as Youtube, websites affiliated with Google, and Gmail.
Bing ads (Microsoft ads) on the other hand allow advertisers to promote their ads on Bing networks and yahoo network websites. Although Google ads have a much larger network than Bing ads; Bing ads have much lower pricing than Google ads. With Bing ads, online marketers can get a better ranking for a competitive keywords phrase for a much lower price than they will get on the Google ads network.
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