Search Engine Marketing Services
Search engine marketing (SEM) is an effective form of digital marketing that Modern Day Digital utilizes on a regular basis for business clients. SEM works to bring immediate, targeted traffic to any business organization’s website. While search engine optimization (SEO) is a valuable means of boosting visibility over time, SEM can also drive traffic to landing pages quickly. It is especially beneficial for established and new websites with very little organic traffic.
SEM is deceptively simple, however, while it’s easy to set up a campaign, it can be tricky to get the results businesses want. This tool involves extensive research ensuring the keyword phrases that deliver paying customers with the lowest possible cost are selected A successful pay per click (PPC) marketing campaign also requires active monitoring, tweaking, and strong copy. These are all factors Modern Day Digital takes into effect when assessing our individual client’s needs and tailoring business specific SEM campaigns.
What is Search Engine Marketing?
Search engine marketing is a process of boosting traffic through paid ads on search engines like Google and Bing. These ads are often referred to as pay per click advertising. Other terms can be used like paid search ads and cost per click advertising.
Pay per click advertising, or PPC, extends the opportunity for businesses. Through exact audience targeting, multiple avenues for growing business revenue quickly reveal themselves. benefits for growing businesses. It allows the ability to target customers and viewers through relevant copy and keywords that match queries for a specific audience. Customized ads show up in search engine results next to organic listings. This can increase visibility and viability of a business’ landing pages, blog posts, and more.
How Does SEM Work?
Paid search marketing is all about the sponsored listings on search engines. When someone searches on Google for instance, they will see two types of search results: organic results and paid results. Paid results are displayed on the right-hand side and above organic results. Consumers will click on the most relevant result for their query.
When the consumer clicks on a sponsored ad, they are redirected to the advertiser’s homepage or landing page. The advertiser is in turn charged for the click with a price based on the keyword or phrase the ad targeted.
As an advertiser, Modern Day Digital is tasked by its clients and our collaborated vision to SEM in choosing the key phrases for which the ad is to be displayed. If we reach a mutual decision to stop paying for key phrases, the ad will no longer be displayed for these searches.
There are many successful search engine marketing strategies that can be employed. Google AdWords is the most popular platform for paid ads. For success, Modern Day Digital incorporates various marketing strategies while incorporating Google AdWords. For a well-rounded SEM strategy to work, it must combine:
- An effective ad budget
- Ad groups with target keyword variations
- Relevant ad copy with keywords
- Ad campaigns with a specific audience
- Monitoring metrics
Without monitoring, there is no way to know which campaigns are working, how much clicks cost, and when a campaign should be tweaked. Modern Day Digital is very skilled in monitoring SEM campaigns on a consistent and effectual basis.
Why Use Search Engine Marketing?
SEO and SEM both have advantages; they are necessary for a strong and diversified online marketing campaign. SEO is usually less expensive in the long-run, but measurable results take much longer to show.. SEM differs in the fact that it delivers immediate search engine visibility as well as the ability to establish authority.
If a website has a great SEO strategy without SEM, it can see an increase in organic traffic over a long period of time. The downside is the missed chance for a greater number and a variety of customers that SEM marketing offers. With no SEO, a website with an excellent SEM strategy can see short-term traffic gains and click-through rates. SEM offers fast growth; the disadvantage is this can be very expensive and divert marketing money from other areas. Therefore, SEO and SEM are both recommended to maximize marketing efforts.
Not sure if search engine marketing is the right move for your business? Consider these benefits or reach out to Modern Day Digital to help work through the process.
A PPC campaign can be setup within a day’s time, with ads displayed after an hour of activation. As soon as ads are live, they will be visible to prospective consumers. This avenue delivers immediate traffic to a business’ website, regardless of organic search engine rankings.
SEM digital marketing not only provides immediate traffic to a business; it also maintains consistent traffic. Unexpected spikes or lulls in traffic can be a problem, but paid marketing developed by Modern Day Digital can control how much traffic can be received.
If a business is not on the first page of search results, it is probably not going to be seen. Pay per click marketing is a fast and effective way for Modern Day Digital to keep business organizations on the first page of search engine results.
With AdWords and other networks, Modern Day Digital can make sure an organization’s ads are reaching the right audience. In conjunction, we can also use geotagging to ensure ads are only shown to certain areas. Users who see our client’s ads are searching for exactly what they have to offer and are receiving their desired assistance quickly.
Our client target methods ensure that those who are seeing our client’s ads are people who are specifically seeking their service. Exact targeted clients are more likely to be ready to buy now or in the near future. The ads Modern Day Digital generates are directed toward specific search queries, which makes this process a success.
Google can slap harsh penalties onto business websites if regulatory policies are not followed properly. Business organizations may not even realize the reason traffic has dramatically declined after such restrictions are put into place. There are many ways to be devalued by Google, including duplicate content or “black hat” SEO tactics. It is possible to recover, but it is no easy task. Modern Day Digital can help determine if websites have been hit with a penalty and are experienced in taking steps toward remediation.
Answers to Common Questions
Still a little confused about SEM? Here are some common questions our agency hears about search engine marketing and the services we regularly provide our clients. If you have additional questions or are ready to get started, please get in touch with us.
What is the Difference Between SEM vs SEO?
Technically, search engine optimization (SEO) is a part of search engine marketing. Search engine marketing or SEM can include both SEO and paid search marketing, which is called PPC (pay-per-click) or CPC (cost-per-click). In most cases, SEM is used to refer only to paid search.
Both strategies share a common goal of increasing the visibility of a website on search engines and boosting traffic. While SEO focuses on getting traffic from organic, natural, or free search results, SEM gains traffic by purchasing ads on search engines.
What is Google AdWords?
Google AdWords is the most popular search ad network. AdWords allows the user to buy search ads for display on Google search results. Bing and Yahoo also run an advertising network called the Yahoo Bing Network. Google’s advertising network is user-friendly with built-in tools to monitor marketing campaigns.
Through AdWords, Modern Day Digital can bid on keyword phrases for a business’ ad against other marketers. A bid is how much the user is willing to pay every time someone clicks on the ad. Unlike other bidding models, how much we pay per click is not the only factor that is considered to display the ad. Google also considers the quality score, or how useful and relevant the ad is to searchers. Google will consider how many clicks an ad has received in the past, how relevant the landing page is, and the click-through rate.
How Much Do Paid Search Ads Cost?
Pay per click advertising can vary a great deal in cost depending on the search phrases that are chosen and the number of ads that are ran. Paid ads cost advertisers a pre-defined amount every time someone clicks on the ad. This cost per click can range from $0.50 to several dollars. When a marketing campaign is set up by Modern Day Digital, our clients can choose the maximum amount they want to spend per click (or the bid) and the amount they want to pay for your entire campaign (the budget).