What is search engine marketing (SEM)

What is search engine marketing (SEM)?

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a powerful tool for online promotion. WEDEX will tell you what SEM is and how to use it.

What is SEM (Search Engine Marketing)?

Search engine marketing, also known as SEM or Search Engine Marketing, is one of the types of digital marketing used to improve a website’s position in search engines.

Proper use of SEM tools will help not only to raise the position of the website in the search results, but also to attract more customers in the long run.

The difference between SEM and SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) are two different approaches to accomplishing the same task – improving website visibility. For better understanding, let’s explain the difference:

SEO is a set of strategies that organically affects the visibility of a website on the web. Examples: improving the quality of content, implementing keywords appropriately, creating user-friendly website interfaces, etc.
SEM is a paid method of digital website promotion through search engine tools (for example, Google Ads).

If we consider search engine marketing as a set of tools for website promotion, then we can say that SEO is an integral part of SEM. However, today digital marketers refer to search engine marketing only as paid methods.

What tasks does SEM solve?

In general, due to its common goal with SEO, SEM solves similar problems:

bringing the site to the top positions of search engines;
increase in traffic;
attracting more customers (leads).

It should be noted that, as with SEO, SEM will be useful if you have a specific and clear digital strategy. The pointed use of SEO or search engine marketing tools may bring short-term effects, but in the long run, it will not be enough for sustainable development.

What is the importance of Search Engine Marketing?

It’s a well-known fact that most clicks and link transitions are made on the first page of search engines. Hence the need to promote your site higher in the search results, which is solved by search engine marketing.

Perhaps the main difference between SEM and other digital marketing tools is its irreplaceability. As of today, there is no more effective way to promote websites and individual pages in search results.

Why should you choose search engine marketing?

SEM has a list of significant advantages that distinguish it from any other digital or search marketing tools. Here are some of the benefits that search engine marketing can offer:

Significant increase in conversion. SEM tools allow your ads and advertisements to be seen not only by more people, but also by customers who are more interested. This is possible thanks to Google’s search algorithms.
Increase brand awareness. Converting traffic into orders is good, but SEM also helps to improve and expand a brand’s online presence.
Availability of instant results. SEO solves the tasks of long-term search engine optimization, while SEM allows you to get the first results instantly. Due to the speed of its work and the appearance of results, search engine marketing can play a key role in the first stages of promotion.
Creating an additional source of constant traffic. As long as SEM ads are running, additional traffic is generated for your website, which will bring new customers.

The benefits of search engine marketing are more than significant. The most interesting thing is that SEM is a key marketing tool not only for «young» businesses, but also for large companies such as Rozetka, Nova Poshta, Prom.ua, and many others. Among Western companies, SEM is used on a regular basis by such giants as Amazon, Nike, Booking.com, Facebook, etc.

The example of these companies shows that SEM can and should be used for various purposes, as the potential results can cover all the needs for brand or website promotion.

How SEM works

Let’s analyze the principle of search engine marketing from both the user and the marketer’s side.

Digital and search marketing and user experience

The best example of where you can see an ad created through search engine marketing is search results labeled «advertised» or «sponsored». These results are most often seen on the first page of search, right at the top of the list.

In addition, «sponsored» links can also be seen among other links a little lower on the first or second page. But SEM is not limited to search results. Different ads can be seen in other places as well, as we will discuss below.

Search Engine Marketing and the work of a specialist

SEM for a marketing specialist looks a little (actually, quite) different. To create any ad, you need to work through the Google Ads interface, which provides the ability to customize future ads.

The principle of working with Google Ads is similar to the process in any other advertising account. The specialist first studies the brand, target audience, and planned advertising. Then they create an ad that is customized to the customer’s needs: they select keywords, apply search «filters», such as age group, location, type of device used by the potential client, and the optimal time for displaying the ad.

Of course, the number and quality of impressions depend not only on the ad settings, but also on the amount of money that was budgeted for the search campaign. Let’s take a look at the most popular formats used by advertising campaigns.

Types of ads and campaigns

Generally speaking, there are several types of ads and campaigns that are created by search engine marketing.

Search Ads

These are the text ads that get to the top of search results. Most of them are ranked by keywords. They contain a title, description, and URL link, and are labeled as «Ads», «Sponsored», or «Ads».

Shopping Ads

It looks like an ad with a product image, price, title, and a link to the seller’s website. Such digital ads can be placed on the main page of a search engine, in separate sections like Google Shopping, or directly on websites.

Media advertising (Display Ads)

Typically, this type of ad looks like banners on websites, apps, and YouTube. These ads use static or animated images with a call to click on a link.

Local Search Ads

When a business has a physical link to a location, SEM allows you to create an ad that will be ranked among users who are located in a particular region or city. Local Search Ads can often be seen on Google Maps (ads for local businesses or establishments) and in local search results. It includes the address, contact details, opening hours, and the «Call» or «Get directions» buttons.

Advertising in the format of search remarketing (Remarketing Ads)

Ads that are created for users who have already visited websites and did not complete the conversion (for example, did not place an order). They can appear in ad units on websites or social networks. It looks like a banner with the same products or services that the user has already interacted with.

Native ads (Native Ads)

This type of SEM ad organically fits into the content of the website and may look like a part of it or a «partner offer». It is usually seen on news portals, blogs, or thematic websites.

How to work with SEM

As with SEO, search engine marketing can look complicated if you don’t develop a specific approach to this tool. So, here are some basic steps to gradually implement Search Engine Marketing into your marketing strategy.

1. Creating a strategy

If you haven’t used SEM before, you should think about how to organically integrate search engine marketing into your existing brand promotion strategy.

Set short-term and long-term goals, and determine how SEM can help your business grow.

For example, at this stage of the company’s development, the goal is to increase brand awareness. How many customers do you need to attract for this? How much traffic is needed? What budget is available for digital promotion? These questions should help you understand what your strategy will look like with SEM in mind.

2. Key words and their importance

Before launching your company, you should collect a list of keywords related to your niche. To do this, you can analyze competitors and their ads, use Google Keyword, Ahrefs, or other similar services. If you have the appropriate budget, you can conduct research on which keywords work best for your ad and which ones do not.

3. Different ads – different results

Each type of business will have its own type of SEM ads. For example, for an online household chemicals store, text ads with relevant keywords and Google Shopping ads are better suited. For a professional photographer, text ads also make sense, but social media promotion or display ads can generate more conversions. Experiment with search engine marketing formats.

4. Check campaigns and don’t forget about organic SEO

To check the effectiveness of your search ad, there are corresponding sections in Google Ads – don’t forget about them! Pay close attention to how your ad ranks and what trends in user activity you observe.

And while SEM can bring immediate results, you shouldn’t forget about the long-term impact of SEO. Both SEM and SEO work better when combined, so adapt both promotion strategies to each other.

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How to improve SEM?

In order to improve the results and increase the conversion of SEM campaigns, you should pay attention to the following steps.

Personalization of ads

For better SEM performance, you should use ad personalization. To do this, you need to create different ads based on the preferences of your audience. For example, you can offer different positions on the website to different types of users – for some, it is more relevant to offer smartphones, and for others, computers.

Adherence to a single style

Style is an integral part of branding. To make your SEM ads work even better, you need to reduce the style of your website and ads to a common denominator. Besides, appearance is not everything. The user’s connection to through text should also be the same in both the ad and the website.

Audience research

Knowing your own and potential audience is very important for further conversion. For more accurate SEM, you need to create several target user groups that are divided by age, gender, location, or interests.

Another useful digital tool will be search remarketing and encouraging similar audiences. Most SEM tools have the ability to create ads for similar audiences, which will help to significantly expand the list of potential customers.

Audience trust

Search engine marketing is built not only on money but also on customer trust. In addition to inviting loyal customers to leave positive feedback, you can add a link to a review page to your ad.

If you show a little creativity, the link label can be designed like this: «More than 1000 positive reviews». It is important that the data provided is true, because otherwise the effect will be completely opposite.

SEM alternatives to Google Ads

Today, Google and their Google Ads tool are considered the main platform for digital marketing. And while this trend is unlikely to change in the near future, there are already several alternatives.

Search engine marketing tools for social media are the first to come to mind. Although such ads are limited to the social media audience, they may work better for some areas. Also worth mentioning are Amazon’s ad tools, which offer access to an audience that is ready to buy.

Conclusions

SEM is a powerful tool for improving your website’s search engine rankings, adjusting your marketing strategy, and attracting more customers. In this article, we have reviewed the basic principles of working with SEM, types of ads, advantages of SEM, and why you should still use search engine marketing. Stay with WEDEX and learn about other useful online marketing tools at!