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Search engine marketing is a form of paid search advertising that promotes your content at the very top of search engine results pages (SERPs). The publisher of the ad pays a fee every time a user clicks on the paid search result, which means SEM is a type of pay-per-click (PPC), or cost-per-click (CPC) advertising.
Digital marketing has largely pivoted away from paid advertising in the past decade, as
evidenced through the meteoric rise of content marketing.
Nevertheless, SEM and other forms of click advertising still have substantial strategic
value when used prudently as part of a larger marketing strategy. Some of the reasons
why you should use SEM in your digital marketing efforts include the following:
Click-through rates (CTR) for most forms of display advertising average less than 0.5%. This means that, of the users who see a display ad, less than half a percent will actually click on it.
By comparison, the average CTR for paid search campaigns is 2%. Paid SEM services are several times more likely to move the needle for your business than other forms of digital advertising.
Making your way to Page 1 of search results in Google, Bing and other search engines through organic content marketing takes time and effort – up to 100 days in many cases.
As you build out your organic content and optimize your existing web pages to perform better on search, SEM can help provide some relief in the way of generating traffic. Search engine marketing is not a substitute for an organic strategy; however, it can be useful for supporting the early phases of your content marketing efforts.
Non-paid search results on the first half of Page 1 regularly see CTRs of 50% or higher, which is much better than the 2% delivered through paid search.
Nevertheless, paid search results are still the first listings users see as they scroll through Page 1 of SERPs. This exposure can help build brand awareness by as much as 80% in some cases, according to Google.
Major search engines like Google and Bing provide PPC shopping ads that list toward the top of a SERP.
For B2B and B2C brands that sell products and services directly through their site or through other online marketing places, paid shopping ads basically provide a shortcut to the online point of sale.
More than 30% of all searches have local intent. For local services such as plumbing, landscaping and event planning, listing near the top of results could make the difference between business going to them or to a competitor.
Google offers Local Service Ads that local-services businesses can use to rank higher in search results. Unlike paid search, publishers pay for lead generation, not for clicks. Leads count as phone calls, messages or bookings made through the ad.
Search engine management involves a bidding process, whereby publishers compete to
list for search queries.
For Google’s Search Network, ad publishers bid for space based on the maximum amount they’re willing to pay per click and the quality of the ad. Google determines which CPC ads to display through the following process:
With Quality Score as a factor, the highest bidder is not necessarily the winner.
Service-based businesses that sign up for Local Service Ads determine a weekly budget for their ads in advance.
Unlike PPC marketing services, publishers pay per lead, which is a phone call or message. Cost per lead varies based on the type of job and the local market. There is no bidding process. Instead, Google automatically determines which ads to post based on the following factors:
The main difference between search engine optimization (SEO) and SEM is that the former is unpaid.
Search engine optimization relies on organic, unpaid content to improve site visibility. This might include on-page optimization with technical SEO and website copy optimized to rank for specific keywords. It could also rely on off-page optimization through social media marketing, email marketing, backlink strategies and other off-site tactics.
Without strong SEO, SEM can end up costing more money. This is because of the important role that Quality Score plays in determining CPC.
Optimizing your website or landing page to rank for certain keywords is therefore important for tempering the cost of PPC strategies.
As a full-service digital marketing agency, Brafton can take the reins on your SEM campaign management. Our PPC strategists can help you through every phase of the SEM process.
We’ll make sure you get what you pay for, and then some.