Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a digital marketing strategy that focuses on increasing your website’s presence and visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) through paid advertising. These search engines are Google, Bing and Yahoo but not limited to these.
This form of marketing is also called PPC, pay per click marketing.
Here are some effective SEM strategies and tips to help get started;
- Keyword Research
- Identify relevant keywords: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, to find keywords that your target audience is searching for. These are great tools in the help to get your pages visible.
- Long-tail keywords: Focus on long-tail keywords for example “best Sushi restaurant in Banbury”, they often have less competition and higher conversion rates.
- Ad copy optimisation
- Compelling headlines: Write attention-grabbing headlines that include your primary keywords. Make your content relevant and use imagery to help it get noticed.
- Clear call-to-action (CTA): Ensure your ad copy has a strong CTA, such as “Buy Now” or “Learn More.” Also make sure the CTA has a link to email or put the telephone number in for a faster response.
- Landing page relevance
- Consistency: Make sure the landing page matches the ad copy and keywords to improve user experience and Quality Score.
- Optimisation: Optimise landing pages for speed, mobile-friendliness, and clear navigation. It is very easy for a viewer to jump off a page or not look for further information if the speed is not right.
- Bid management
- Manual vs. automated bidding: Decide whether to use manual bidding for more control or automated bidding strategies like Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) for efficiency.
- Budget Allocation: Allocate your budget based on the performance of different keywords and campaigns. As you move through the learning phase of the campaign this will become apparent and you can also add some A/B testing too.
- Ad Extensions
- Use ad extensions: Implement ad extensions like site links, callouts, and structured snippets to provide additional information and improve ad visibility.
- A/B Testing
- Test variations: Continuously test different versions of your ads to see which performs better. You can use the same message but different copy or imagery.
- Analyse results: Use the data to refine your ad copy, keywords, and bidding strategies. Checking the ROI is vital as it will give you a strong idea of what your customers are searching on and what they want.
- Performance tracking
- Analytics tools: Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads to track the performance of your campaigns. You can put Google Tag Manager on the website and also use Hotjar which is a great way to see the customer journey.
- Key metrics: Monitor metrics such as Click-Through Rate (CTR), Conversion Rate, and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
- Competitor analysis
- Analyse competitors: Look at what your competitors are doing in their SEM campaigns and identify opportunities to differentiate your ads. Remember you will have USPs which you will be able to leverage against the competition.
Implementing these strategies can help you create effective SEM campaigns that drive traffic and conversions.
