Chris Young
Grasp SEM's fundamental role in the digital realm, with practical insights on running effective SEM campaigns, and how it interlinks with other marketing strategies.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plays a pivotal role in the digital landscape, strategically enhancing a company's online visibility and attracting answer-seeking traffic. SEM provides advertisers the ability to “pay” to have their business at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) for a specific and/or broad set of keywords that have intent. This makes SEM an indispensable tool for most companies operating in today's digital market.
SEM is a type of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing that focuses paid advertising on search engines (primarily Google), rather than social media ads, display ads, and other forms of paid marketing. Unlike organic search results, which are ranked by SEO factors, paid search ads are displayed on the SERPs based on the bid amount and quality score, making them highly visible to searchers. This powerful strategy offers distinct advantages over other forms of digital marketing, mainly due to the intent-driven nature of search engines. When users type in specific keywords into a search engine, they are actively seeking information, products, or services, which indicates a higher level of buying intent compared to passive browsing on social media or other platforms.
Paid search ads created through SEM campaigns, given their prominent positioning on SERPs, can effectively capture this high-intent traffic. SEM is also substantially more precise than other forms of PPC and even organic marketing. By selecting the keywords that their target audience is likely to use, businesses can ensure their ads reach the most relevant audience. The ads themselves provide a snapshot of what the business offers, typically including a catchy headline, a compelling description, and a clear call to action. In the most effective SEM campaigns, the link in the ad leads to a landing page specially designed to convert visitors into customers, completing the customer journey from search query to conversion.
Keyword research and selection are foundational elements of effective search engine marketing. They involve identifying and selecting relevant words or phrases that potential customers are likely to use when searching for products or services similar to what a business offers. By understanding the keywords your target audience uses, you can tailor your website's ads to align with these queries and increase your visibility in relevant search results.
To identify relevant keywords, it's important to “put yourself in the shoes” of your audience and understand their needs, questions, and the language they use. This can involve brainstorming, surveying customers, and analyzing competitors to uncover common search terms. Once a list of potential keywords is compiled, each term needs to be evaluated based on search volume and competition. High search volume indicates that a keyword is frequently used by searchers, whereas competition refers to how many other websites are also trying to rank for that keyword.
A keyword with high search volume and low competition is ideal as it signifies a high potential for traffic with minimal investment. However, these keywords are, in most cases unicorns–they just don’t exist. Businesses usually end up striking a balance between the two factors. Sometimes, targeting niche, long-tail keywords (longer, more specific phrases) with lower search volume but also less competition can yield better results, as they can attract highly relevant, targeted traffic. However, in today’s day and age, this is rather unlikely. The best that most companies can hope for is to find the most relevant terms and set a budget that maximizes exposure while still being profitable.
There are numerous tools available to aid in keyword research and selection. Google's Keyword Planner is a popular choice, offering insights into search volumes and competition for different keywords. SEMrush and Ahrefs are comprehensive SEO tools that can provide detailed keyword data, along with a wealth of other SEO-related information. These tools can also be incredibly valuable in shaping an effective SEM strategy, helping businesses identify lucrative keyword opportunities and understand the search landscape in their industry.
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Once the keywords are identified, ads and copy must be created around these keywords. The primary goal of your ad copy is to attract users' attention and persuade them to click on your ad instead of others. Effective ad copywriting requires a compelling headline, an engaging description, and a clear call-to-action (CTA) that aligns with the user's search intent. The ad copy should highlight your unique selling proposition and succinctly explain how your product or service can solve the searcher's problem.
Best practices for crafting compelling ad copy include using your chosen keywords within the ad text, as this helps demonstrate relevance to the searcher's query and can improve ad rankings. With Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), advertisers have the ability to A/B test by activating several headlines and descriptions. Based on the selected bid strategy, Google (and other search engines) will optimize to the best possible combinations.
Using ad assets (formerly known as extensions) can also significantly enhance your ads' visibility and effectiveness. Ad assets provide additional information about your business, such as phone numbers, additional website links, or your physical location directly in your ads. These not only make your ads more informative and attractive to users but can also improve your ad ranking on the SERPs. Assets like sitelink assets (additional links in your ad), call assets (add your phone number), and location assets (show your business address) can be particularly useful in driving higher click-through rates.
When it comes to PPC advertising, you essentially bid on the keywords you want your ads to appear for; this bid amount can influence where your ad is placed on the search engine results page. Setting competitive bids involves understanding what each click is worth to your business, and this usually requires testing different bid amounts and measuring the results.
A competitive bid isn't necessarily the highest bid. It's a balance between what you're willing to pay-per-click and the profitability of that click to your business. You also need to take into consideration the competition and search volume of your chosen keywords. High-competition keywords generally require higher bids to gain visibility, but they also have the potential to drive more conversions. However, it's important to ensure that the cost of your bid doesn't exceed the potential return on investment (ROI) from the resulting traffic.
When it comes to managing your campaign budget, consistency and regular monitoring are key. Your daily budget should be allocated in a way that you're able to gain meaningful data about your campaign performance without exhausting your funds too quickly. It's also crucial to consider the times when your audience is most active online and adjust your ad scheduling to ensure your budget is spent during these peak times. The conversion value of each keyword should also be considered. Some keywords may cost more per click but result in higher-value conversions, which could justify the higher cost. By closely managing your bids and budget, and making data-driven decisions, you can maximize the effectiveness of your SEM campaigns and ensure your spending translates into valuable outcomes for your business.
Getting an SEM campaign up and running isn’t the finish line, it’s actually just the first step! Once the campaign has been created and launched, optimizing the campaign for improved performance and conversions is a necessity. Optimization requires diligent monitoring, analysis, and continuous adjustment based on key performance indicators (KPIs). These KPIs can include metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, cost per click (CPC), and return on ad spend (ROAS). It’s important for marketers to understand that these KPIs map directly onto the effectiveness of a given aspect of an SEM campaign. CTR, for instance, gives an indication of how appealing and relevant your ad is to users while conversion rate helps measure the effectiveness of your ad and landing page.
While expertise drastically reduces the learning curve, nothing beats some good ol’ fashioned AB testing for SEM optimization. This usually involves testing two different versions of an ad or landing page to see which one performs better. Variables that can be tested include headlines, ad copy, CTAs, images, and overall design elements on the landing page. By comparing the performance of these versions, you can identify the elements that most resonate with your audience and contribute to higher conversion rates.
Continual improvement is key to successful SEM campaigns. This means not only fine-tuning your ads and landing pages based on A/B testing results but also adapting your keyword strategy and bids as market conditions, competition, and business goals evolve. For example, you might find that certain keywords are not driving the expected traffic or conversions, or their CPC has become too high. In such cases, you could explore alternative, less competitive keywords, or refine your ads and landing pages to improve quality scores and thus lower CPC.
The true magic of SEM can be multiplied when used in conjunction with other marketing strategies such as search engine optimization (SEO). Combining SEO and SEM ensures both immediate visibility (through SEM) and sustained organic reach (through SEO). While SEO efforts can take time to bear fruit, SEM can quickly put your business on the map with paid search ads. Over time, as your organic ranking improves, you can gradually decrease SEM spending on keywords where you rank high organically, optimizing your budget allocation. Taking the data insights from one channel can also inform strategies in another. For instance, keywords that perform well in SEM can be used to optimize SEO efforts or shape content on social media platforms, ensuring a seamless and coherent brand experience across all channels.
In terms of social media advertising, integrating these platforms with SEM can create a cohesive user journey. Users may first encounter your brand through a targeted ad on a social platform, then later conduct a search where they encounter your paid search ads. This kind of cross-channel consistency enhances brand recall and encourages conversion. Retargeting ads can also be used on social media so that users who click on your SEM ads will receive another touch point on their favorite social media platforms. Many prospects require multiple touchpoints before making a purchase decision and engaging in omni-channel marketing increases the likelihood of conversion.
By adopting a holistic, integrated approach, businesses can ensure that their marketing efforts are complementary and mutually reinforcing. This not only maximizes the efficiency and effectiveness of each channel but also contributes to a more unified and consistent brand experience. As a result, businesses can expect improved brand recognition, higher customer engagement, and ultimately, a better return on their marketing investments.
Engaging in all of these marketing activities can be a daunting task especially when there’s a lack of prior experience and exposure to the different marketing tactics. When large marketing budgets that need to produce positive ROI are added into the mix, this goes from daunting to downright risky. Managing several different campaigns simultaneously across multiple channels can also further complicate the situation to the point where it feels like you’re playing 3D chess. In these cases, expertise in managing all of the different campaigns can mean the difference between total marketing dissonance or a harmonized symphony of efforts that produce real results. Engaging a marketing agency like Be More Digital who can successfully manage the different aspects of a marketing campaign increases the likelihood of positive outcomes and can even mean the difference between success and failure. Be More Digital has decades of combined experience managing SEM, PPC, and SEO campaigns with happy clients across a number of industries. Get in touch with our expert marketing team today for a free proposal or take a look at our case studies to discover how we’ve helped other companies grow their revenue.
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