SEM or Search Engine Marketing, has become a very common form of marketing. From businesses to fashion influencers, everyone is relying on the power of SEM. Since the dawn of digitalization, the internet has become a crucial part of everyone’s life. Do you know 5.16 billion people (as of January 2023) in the world are regular internet users? And this number is increasing gradually. This indicates the large customer base available on the internet. Therefore, to utilize this customer base potential, businesses take the help of SEM. Today, we will share what it is and how it benefits businesses.
What is Search Engine Marketing?
Let’s begin with a basic understanding of SEM. It can be considered a digital marketing strategy that helps enhance the ranking of a webpage or content in the Search Engine Result Pages [SERP].
SEM can be described as organic and paid search advertising. The organic SEM is executed by implementing search engine optimization techniques. On the other hand, paid search advertising is mainly called pay-per-click or PPC.
Search engines incorporate complex algorithms to determine the ranking of results when a user searches for them. The results are ranked as per the relevancy score of the content. For example, suppose a user types a query regarding the best sneakers of 2023, and then the search engine will go through its database. It will search for relevant results such as blogs about the sneakers, review blogs of shoes, eCommerce websites selling such sneakers, etc. Then, as per the relevancy, the result will be shown to the user as a Search Engine Results Page.
Application of Organic Search Marketing
Suppose you are using organic SEM techniques to build your ranking. Then you will add keywords in the content, will regularly update the content as per user intent, add alt text for images, write meta descriptions and tags, etc. All these steps will fall under organic search engine marketing, where users will naturally come to your website or landing page.
Application of Paid Search Marketing
Now suppose you want to use paid methods for your SEM. Then, you will implement methods like PPC, where you will buy keywords from Google Adwords. Later your ads will be shown to the users if they add this keyword to their research. Finally, the ads will be shown in noticeable space on the screen to attract the user. So you will directly implement initiatives for bringing traffic to your website. Most businesses use a combination of both strategies for effective results.
Benefits of Search Engine Marketing
Almost all businesses are taking the help of search engine marketing to advance their customer reach. Search engine marketing comes with several benefits compared to conventional marketing, such as;
a) Cost-Effective
One of the benefits of search engine marketing is that it is highly cost-effective. Therefore, businesses don’t need to spend a huge fortune to market their products and services. For instance, conventional marketing methods were highly resource-consuming while giving underperforming results. On the other hand, print media or television media platforms require a lot of resources for advertising which is not possible for small-scale enterprises. However, businesses can easily implement search engine marketing as it can be started with a small budget while giving effective results.
b) Targeted Advertising
Imagine the conventional ways of marketing where a newspaper pamphlet would be given to every receiver. Now imagine you are advertising your services for industrial plumbing to household people who don’t even need your services. Do you think you will get effective results from such marketing? The answer is no.
On the other hand, you can choose the target audience you want to market your products and services in search engine marketing. For example, you can choose demographics, location, age, etc.
c) Faster Results
With search engine marketing, you will get faster results. When you market your business through SEM, you show your products and services to the people already looking for them. This means the customers are already showcasing demand, and you are providing them with the direct scope of supply. This will enhance the conversion rate resulting in faster results from your marketing.
d) Measurable Key Metrics
In search engine marketing, you get measurable results. This means you can easily see the measurement of your reach, users who clicked on your ads or impressions your ad gets, the number of users who visited your website, etc. This is not possible with conventional marketing, which reduces the effectiveness of marketing strategy.
How Does SEM Add Value to Your Business?
See how SEM helps add value to a business through its marketing effectiveness.
a) Highly Scalable
SEM is highly scalable, so if your business grows, you can also increase your SEM operations easily. So when you invest once in your SEM, then you get long-term benefits. This helps small businesses with limited resources to invest but want to take a resource-optimized approach.
b) Increased Brand Awareness
You can easily use your name in headlines, URLs, descriptions, link extensions, etc. This helps create better marketing communication with your users, enhancing brand awareness. For example, suppose a user is looking for services similar to your business, but they don’t know about the existence of your business. So now, when they search, they will get your name on SERP, which will make them aware of your business.
c) Pay as per the Interaction
You don’t need to pay a fixed amount beforehand. Instead, the businesses pay after interacting with the user, ensuring complete value for money. The businesses only need to pay once when the user clicks on their ad.
d) Easy to Manage
The SEM is a simple and easy-to-maintain marketing pipeline for businesses. There are no hardcore principles or complexities. Moreover, businesses can also outsource external digital marketing agencies on competitive pricing.
Wrapping up
Search Engine Marketing is one of the best ways of advertising your brand in today’s online world. One of the most crucial benefits of SEM is that it is a cost-effective and measurable way of marketing your brand.