Search engine marketing, or SEM, is one of the most effective ways to grow your business in today’s increasingly competitive digital landscape. With countless businesses vying for visibility online, it’s crucial to leverage effective advertising strategies, and SEM stands out as a powerful method to promote your products and scale your business.
In this guide, you’ll get an overview of search engine marketing basics, along with tips and strategies to master SEM for your business.
What Is Search Engine Marketing?
Search engine marketing involves using paid advertisements that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). An SEM strategy revolves around bidding on keywords that users might enter into search engines like Google or Bing when searching for specific products or services. This bidding process increases the chances of your ads appearing at the top of relevant search results.
These ads, often known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads, come in various formats. Some are simple, text-based ads, while others, like product listing ads or Shopping ads, are more visual, showcasing important details such as pricing and customer reviews.
The greatest advantage of SEM is its ability to position your ads in front of highly motivated customers at the exact moment they’re ready to make a purchase. This precise targeting makes SEM a highly effective tool for growing your business.
SEM vs. SEO: What’s the Difference?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) typically refers to paid search marketing, where businesses pay search engines like Google to display their ads in the search results.
On the other hand, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website content to earn a free spot in the search results. This is done by ensuring your content is highly relevant to the keywords users are searching for.
Both SEO and SEM should be integral parts of your online marketing strategy. While SEO helps drive long-term, organic traffic at the top of the sales funnel, SEM is a cost-effective way to drive immediate conversions at the bottom of the funnel.
Keywords: The Foundation of Search Engine Marketing
Keywords are the cornerstone of search engine marketing. As users enter keywords into search engines to find what they need, it’s no surprise that keywords form the foundation of SEM strategies.
SEM Keyword Research
Before choosing keywords for your SEM campaigns, you must conduct thorough keyword research as part of your keyword management strategy.
Start by identifying keywords that are relevant to your business and likely to be used by potential customers searching for your products or services. Tools like WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool can help you discover related keywords that can serve as the basis for various SEM campaigns.
This tool provides valuable insights such as search volume and competitiveness for each keyword in Google.
Beyond finding keywords to bid on, comprehensive keyword research can also help you identify negative keywords—terms that should be excluded from your campaigns. Negative keywords aren’t necessarily negative in connotation but are instead irrelevant terms unlikely to lead to conversions. For example, if you sell ice cream, you might exclude the keyword “ice cream recipes” because those searching for recipes are not looking to buy ice cream.
This concept is known as search intent or the likelihood that a prospect will complete a purchase or another desired action after searching for a particular term. Keywords with high commercial intent, indicating a strong intent to purchase, include:
- Buy
- Discount(s)
- Deal(s)
- Coupon(s)
- Free shipping
Keywords and Account Structure for Search Engine Marketing
Another crucial element of SEM success is the proper organization of your account structure.
Logical keyword grouping and well-organized account structures can lead to higher click-through rates, lower costs-per-click, and overall better campaign performance. Keyword research plays a key role in determining the best way to structure your account.
Google Ads and Bing Ads accounts should be structured as follows for optimal results:
As illustrated above, a well-structured Google Ads account consists of five key components:
- Ad campaigns
- Ad groups
- Keywords
- Ad text
- Landing pages
Ad campaigns should often focus on similar products or services. For instance, if you run a hardware store, one ad campaign might target autumnal products like leaf blowers and rakes, while another could focus on power tools.
Ad groups further categorize each campaign for relevance. Continuing with the hardware store example, one ad group could be for different types of rakes, while another might focus on various leaf blower models. Though this organization takes time to set up, the long-term benefits—including higher click-through rates at lower costs—are well worth the effort.
The Search Engine Marketing Ad Auction
A common misconception about SEM is that the biggest budget always wins. While a larger budget can be advantageous, particularly for highly competitive keywords, it’s not a necessity for SEM success. This is because ads undergo an ad auction process before appearing on search results pages.
How the Ad Auction Works
The ad auction occurs every time someone enters a search query into Google. To participate, advertisers bid on keywords and specify how much they’re willing to pay per click. If Google determines that your chosen keywords match a user’s search query, your ads are entered into the auction.
How Ads ‘Win’ the Ad Auction
Not every ad appears on every search. Google considers several factors in determining ad placement on the SERP, and not every keyword justifies the display of ads. The two main factors in the ad auction are your maximum bid and the Quality Score of your ads.
- Maximum bid: The highest amount you’re willing to pay for a click.
- Quality Score: A metric based on the overall quality and relevance of your ad.
Google uses these factors to calculate your ad rank, determining where your ad will appear.
The Importance of Quality Score in SEM
Given that Quality Score constitutes half of the ad rank formula, it’s a crucial metric in search engine marketing. Higher Quality Scores can lead to better ad placements at lower costs, as Google prioritizes ads that are highly relevant to users’ queries.
In the table above, although Advertiser 1 has the lowest maximum bid, their higher Quality Score gives their ad priority placement.
Quality Score is arguably the most important metric in SEM. To learn more about its impact on your campaigns, explore our resources at IDMA Academy.
Succeed at Search Engine Marketing with IDMA Academy
At IDMA Academy, we are passionate about helping you excel in search engine marketing. Whether you’re new to paid search marketing or an experienced professional, we provide everything you need to succeed in SEM.
One of the biggest challenges in SEM is understanding which parts of your campaigns need attention and which are performing well. To evaluate your account, try our free Google Ads Performance Grader.
In just 60 seconds, the Google Ads Performance Grader conducts a thorough audit of your SEM account and highlights areas needing improvement. Accounts are evaluated against 10 key SEM benchmarks, including:
- Wasted spend
- Click-through rate
- Quality Score
- Negative keyword usage
The IDMA Academy Google Ads Performance Grader is completely free, so get your grade today and start improving your SEM campaigns!
