Search Engine Marketing

Capture Audiences on Search With Search Engine Marketing

Did you know that the average person conducts 3-4 daily searches online? Search engines are the first stop most people make when they have a question, want to find a local business, or have a problem that needs solving. Therefore, it’s essential to build a presence on search with your digital marketing. This is done through search engine marketing or SEM. Salem Surround can help you master SEM so that your business gets seen where it matters most.

What Is SEM?

Search engine marketing is the process of leveraging the popularity of search engines like Google to get your business seen online. SEM utilizes both paid and organic strategies to get your website higher in the ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs).

When someone types a query into a search engine, results are sorted based on complex algorithms designed to deliver the most relevant, high-quality results to users. Here’s a quick look at how search engines work:

1. Crawl – Search engines are constantly crawling the web to sort through billions of web pages.
2. Index – To sort through the endless sea of web pages, search engines organize pages based on markers like keywords, website speed, website bounce rates, meta-data, and how recently the website has been updated.
3. Rank – When a user searches for a particular term or phrase, or asks a question on search, web pages are ranked on SERPs based on their relevancy and quality. When your website appears higher up in search results, users are more likely to click.

SEO vs. SEM vs. PPC: What’s the Difference?

Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) are both strategies used for SEM. However, most marketers are referring to paid advertising through PPC when they are talking about SEM. Paid ads have the most prominent position on any SERP, so appearing in these results with PPC ads will help your business get seen by more viewers.

Another key difference between SEO and PPC is that PPC can work much faster to get your website to the top of search results than organic search marketing. For ongoing success, it’s best to combine both methods. Companies that use both PPC and SEO see 25% more clicks than those who only invest in one technique for search engine marketing.

How Do PPC Ads Work for SEM?

When we talk about PPC ads for SEM, we’re generally referring to Google Ads. Google claims more than 95% of the search engine market share, so it is likely the place your target audience is headed to perform everyday searches.

PPC ads are sorted in a similar way to organic search results. If your website is not optimized for search, your PPC ads may be penalized. To set up a search marketing campaign with PPC, you’ll need to:

1. Identify the right keywords to target through your ads along with negative keywords to eliminate from your campaign so that your ads are only seen in relevant searches.
2. Create Google Ads and build high-quality landing pages to move users through the sales funnel once they click on your text-only ads.
3. Set your budget and launch your ads.
4. Track the performance of your ads and make adjustments based on this data. Factors to consider include the number of impressions your ads receive, the click through rate of your ads, and your ads’ quality scores. These key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you assess how frequently your ads are being seen and converting your target users.

Benefits of Investing in SEM

SEM can benefit both brick and mortar businesses and ecommerce businesses of all sizes. If you’re still not sure about investing in SEM as part of your digital marketing campaign, consider these potential benefits:

• Increased brand recognition
• More conversions
• Accurate audience targeting
• Improved organic traffic
• Trackable growth
• Affordability

Contact Salem Surround to Launch Your SEM Campaign

As experts in Google Ads and other search engine marketing tools, the marketing professionals at Salem Surround are ready to help you succeed with SEM. Contact us today to schedule a strategy call with one of our PPC specialists.