Introduction Guide to Search Engine Marketing Campaign Strategy and SEM Pay Per Click Advertising
Introduction Guide to Search Engine Marketing Campaign Strategy and SEM Pay Per Click Advertising
The 2023 Complete Beginner's Guide for Businesses and Content Creators
Table of Contents
SEM or search engine marketing is the paid search marketing method that buys advertising spaces to appear in search results. The benefit of paid listings is receiving more website traffic through keyword searches in top advertising slots that maximize online exposure.
What is Search Engine Marketing
SEM or search engine marketing works by displaying paid ads on search result pages to a targeted audience. Bidding on the right search keywords and advertising real estate can quickly drive traffic to a website. Search engine marketing provides any business with opportunities to gain exposure to be in front of ideal customers and capture more addressable markets.
How Search Engine Marketing Works
SEM or search engine marketing is one of the fastest ways to get your business found online within an allotted budget. Let’s say you are a startup company trying to create awareness about your new product. SEM can help you fast-track and market to a relevant audience by strategically showing them ads from your business.
Example of an SEM Pay Per Click Advertising Listing in Google
How to Run Search Engine Marketing Advertising Campaigns
You can choose two major advertising platforms to service SEM ads – Google Ads and Bing Ads. You will also have the option to select where the ads appear.
Search Engine Marketing Ad Placement
- Bing or Google search results
- Retargeting ads
- Google shopping
- Display ads through Google Partners
Examples of Search Engine Marketing Ad
Here are examples of online ads appearing in Google and Bing. Both platforms are free to sign up.
Google Shopping Ad
Google Ads: Advertising campaigns in Google Ads will be posted in the Google search engine.
Bing Shopping Ad
Bing Ads: Advertising campaigns in Bing Ads will be posted in the Bing search engine.
How Search Engine Marketing Drives More Search Traffic
Here are the three most-practiced search engine marketing bidding strategies to leverage for advertising campaigns.
3 Types of Search Engine Marketing Bidding Strategies
- PPC (Pay-Per-Click) or CPC (Cost-Per-Click)
- CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand-Impression)
- CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
Search Engine Marketing Bidding Strategy #1: PPC – Pay Per Click Marketing
What is PPC Marketing
PPC or pay-per-click is the most popular and commonly used method of SEM advertising. Advertisers pay a fee every time an ad in search results or a display ad is clicked on.
What is CPC?
CPC or cost-per-click is often used interchangeably with PPC. CPC is the metric that measures the specific cost for one single click of an ad.
How Does PPC Marketing Work?
Pay-per-click is an effective SEM method to gain search visibility and acquire online traffic quickly. PPC works by advertisers bidding on the keywords they wish to rank for in Google Ads or Bing Ads. The more value a keyword is, the more search volume it will generate, which leads to a higher bidding price to rank for a top position in search results.
How to Create a Successful PPC Marketing Campaign?
Not every advertisement space is created equal because not every PPC campaign guarantees a high return on investment or low cost per acquisition. To run a successful and profitable pay-per-click campaign, focus on the content and messaging that goes into creating the ad. Learn more about how to create a successful PPC campaign.
How to Win in PPC Keyword Bidding
Here are the top three most important metrics for a successful PPC campaign.
Top 3 PPC Keyword Bidding Metrics
- Create an optimal landing page user experience.
- Produce catchy ad copywriting.
- Outbid competitors in ad cost.
In addition, Google will assign quality scores that range from one to ten to an ad, with one being the worst and ten being the best. Learn more about how to create a winning PPC keyword campaign.
How PPC Marketing Drives Traffic to a Website
Think of PPC as bidding for an auction. The final bid amount is what you pay every time someone clicks on the PPC keyword ad. Bidding for keywords on prime advertising real estate costs more than the less visible ad spots.
Advantage of PPC Marketing
The advantage of PPC is gaining more opportunities to convert a sale or lead as long as you have the budget.
Disadvantage of PPC Marketing
Depending on the industry and what keywords you are bidding for, keyword auctions can get expensive and burn through ad spend quickly.
Search Engine Marketing Bidding Strategy #2: CPM –Cost Per Thousand Impression Marketing
What is CPM Marketing?
The “Impression” in cost-per-thousand-impression stands for the number of times visitors see an advertisement. The industry standard for paid impression is measured in increments of every one thousand views. Hence, the “M” in CPM is used to represent 1000.
How CPM Marketing Drives Traffic to a Website
Instead of paying for each click, you are paying a set amount for every 1000 views of a keyword text ad or a display ad.
Advantage of CPM Marketing
You can reap the potential benefit of receiving increased exposure with the CPM model.
Disadvantage of CPM Marketing
With CPM, ads may be shown to a potential visitor who does not end up visiting your website, resulting in a lost opportunity that you are paying for.
Search Engine Marketing Bidding Strategy #3: CPA – Cost Per Acquisition Marketing
What is CPA Marketing
The “acquisition” in cost-per-acquisition means paying for a visitor’s response to a specified call-to-action. You pay a fee when a conversion action is performed on the website.
How CPA Marketing Drives Traffic to a Website
With CPA, you can define the action visitors should take for the advertiser to get paid. Here are a few examples of call-to-actions that can be defined as part of the CPA campaign.
Examples of CPA Call to Action
- Make a product purchase
- Sign up for newsletters
- A lead submitting a form fill
- Any other type of specific conversion metrics you have defined
Advantage of CPA Marketing
One of the most significant advantages of a CPA model is the ability to better control ad spending and pay only for results.
For example, if you are making a CPA campaign for visitors to sign up for the weekly promotions, you only pay when someone signs up.
Disadvantage of CPA Marketing
Once the threshold of the CPA campaign rule you’ve set is reached, you can potentially miss out on additional ad clicks due to the set CPA price limitation.
For example, if you set a CPA limit as $1, other advertisers are bidding $1.10. You could miss out on lucrative potential customer acquisition because of a $0.10 bidding price difference.
Leverage SEM Keyword Research Tools to Uncover Insights on SEM Keyword Bids
A keyword research tool like Semrush can give you an upper hand in uncovering less competitive, lucrative keywords and save on advertising spending in the long run.
Semrush is one of the top search engine marketing research platforms known for its ability to conduct profitable keyword research, competitor analysis, and provide a complete SEO and SEM audit of any website. Keyword research tools are imperative in search engine marketing because they give you the insight to stay above the competition.
Semrush
Best for SEM Marketing-
Discover all the best keywords to target and bring traffic to your site through Semrush keyword research tool.
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Audit webpages and suggest ideas to improve SEM performance.
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Uncover all of the keywords and content in competitors'SEM strategies.
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Research competitors to uncover their display ads and SEM marketing campaigns.
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