What Is Search Engine Marketing?
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a strategy designed to enhance a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
While the term was historically used to describe both organic search methods like SEO and paid advertising, it now specifically refers to paid search ads.
SEM is also commonly known as paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
Why is SEM Essential?
As more consumers turn to the Internet for product research and shopping, SEM has become a critical strategy for expanding a company’s online presence. In fact, most new website visitors come from search engine queries.
With SEM, advertisers only pay for actual visits resulting from their ads, making it a cost-effective way to advertise. Plus, each visitor to the site can improve its organic search rankings over time.
Because search queries often reflect the intent to make a purchase, users are typically more receptive to advertisements, especially when compared to other platforms like social media, where users aren’t actively looking for products.
SEM targets users at a time when they are receptive to relevant information. Unlike many other digital ads, PPC ads don’t disrupt the user’s activities and provide immediate results, making SEM one of the fastest methods to drive traffic to a website.
How SEM Functions?
While SEO focuses on content marketing to generate organic traffic, SEM relies on paid advertisements to attract visitors. Search engines use complex algorithms to ensure that the most relevant results are shown, considering factors like user location and search history.
In SEM, paid ads appear prominently at the top and sides of the search results page, allowing advertisers to secure better visibility compared to organic results.
For instance, when you search for a product or service, ads related to the keywords you enter will appear along with relevant organic listings. Since these ads align with your search, you are more likely to click on them.
From the marketer’s perspective, SEM networks are self-serve platforms where campaigns can be set up quickly. When creating a campaign, marketers must:
- Conduct keyword research to identify relevant terms
- Choose a geographic location for the ad
- Craft a text-based ad for display
- Analyze the cost per click (CPC) for the chosen keywords
Text ads are simple to create, requiring a headline, description, call-to-action, and a link.
SEM is often viewed as a highly efficient use of marketing budgets.
Primary SEM Networks
The main platforms for SEM campaigns are Google Ads (formerly AdWords) and Bing Ads. Google Ads operates through two networks: Google Search Network and Google Display Network. The first targets search-related sites, while the second includes properties like YouTube and Gmail. Bing Ads covers Yahoo and Bing’s networks.
Google Ads is a larger network, but Bing Ads can sometimes offer lower costs, better clickthrough rates, and more competitive keyword pricing.
Steps to Build an SEM Strategy
- Keyword Research: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find quality keywords that resonate with your target audience. Aim for keywords with an optimal balance of search volume—high enough to generate traffic but not so high that they become prohibitively expensive.
- Setting Up PPC Campaigns: PPC campaigns are organized around themes that align with business objectives. They are divided into smaller ad groups, which focus on specific products or services. Organize your campaigns to maximize efficiency, especially since PPC ad targeting can be very granular.
- Creating Ad Copy: Craft compelling ad copy that aligns with search intent. Start with attention-grabbing headlines and include your unique selling points in the ad description. Make use of ad extensions like site links, phone numbers, and callouts to enhance the user experience.
- Optimizing Landing Pages: Ensure your landing pages match the content in your ad. This improves your ad ranking and quality score, which can lower the cost of ads and boost conversions. Focus on clear calls-to-action, mobile-friendly designs, fast load times, and quality content.
- Managing Bidding Strategies: Test different bidding strategies to find the one that provides the best results. Most platforms offer manual or automated bidding. Start with manual bids if you’re working with a smaller budget and then move to automated bidding for larger campaigns.
- Budget Allocation: Distribute your budget to the highest-performing ads and target the most relevant audiences. For example, B2B companies often allocate more of their budget to ads on desktops during working hours to increase the likelihood of conversions.
- Refining and Optimizing Campaigns: Constantly optimize your campaigns by improving quality scores, adding more extensions, and using remarketing to boost brand visibility. Fine-tuning your ad campaigns based on performance data can maximize your ROI.
How A/B Testing Can Enhance SEM
A/B testing is a valuable tool for improving the efficiency of SEM campaigns. By testing variations of landing pages, you can optimize for higher conversion rates, either by increasing average order value or revenue per visitor.
Optimizing your landing page can also help reduce your cost per click by improving your Quality Score.
Tools like Leadangle Web Experimentation make it easy to structure and run A/B tests, providing real-time results and integrations with popular ad networks like Google Ads and Meta.
