2022 was a year when the marketing industry transformed significantly. Every aspect of consumer behaviour changed due to the pandemic. As a result, marketers and advertisers adapted by utilising search engine marketing (SEM) and improving their marketing strategies in Singapore based on the needs and interests of consumers.
To drive much-needed traffic to your website, gain leads, and convert customers, you must follow the latest and most effective marketing SEM practices today. Be aware of the current state of SEM to create the most effective paid advertising strategy for your business.
Here’s a list of SEM trends you should watch out for in 2023.
8 SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING TRENDS IN SINGAPORE TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2023
1. VOICE SEARCH IS ON THE RISE
Years ago, voice search became trendy, thanks to the likes of Siri and Alexa. You could use a voice-enabled command to search for something on the Internet just by talking to your phone. While this fad seemingly faded into oblivion lately, voice search is becoming a prominent trend to consider for SEM services in Singapore.
Voice search affects both SEO and SEM services. More people have been using voice search to seek answers for frequently asked questions. In that case, try using more long-tail keywords in your website content.
According to Google, around 70% of requests to the Google Assistant use natural language. That means voice web search queries are most likely to contain questions in the form of long-tail keywords.
For instance, most voice web search queries include questions like:
- What is the weather in Singapore today?
- Where is the nearest grocery store?
- What is the price of the newest iPhone?
- How can I treat a fever?
LEARN MORE: The Ultimate Guide To Voice Search (And How it Impacts Your SEO)
In summary, voice search usually revolves around frequently asked questions that use long-tail keywords. That is why you should incorporate long-tail keywords into your paid ads. Doing so should give you higher ad rankings and help you connect with people using voice search on Google.
2. EXPECT MORE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
When using AI for SEM in Singapore, you can optimise your ads to improve your conversion rate. Google Ads offers a type of ad called Responsive search ad (RSA).
Responsive search ads offer automated features that let you optimise your call to action (CTA), headlines, and meta descriptions. Thanks to AI-based ads, you can craft better ads to target web users at the right time.
Artificial intelligence can now also deduce and understand the user’s search intent, hence generating much more accurate and relevant search results on SERP. The challenge for marketers today is to produce content that aligns with the user’s search intent to guarantee higher SERP ranking.
3. MOBILE STILL REIGNS SUPREME
A few years have passed since Google announced its mobile-first indexing update. Google predominantly uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking since most users access Google Search with mobile devices.
It is undeniable that mobile reigns supreme over desktop when it comes to the worldwide market share. Because of this, you must optimise your ads for mobile to reach as many users as possible.
To optimise your ads for mobile, here are some of the things you need to do:
- Use a strong CTA
- Write compelling headlines
- Make a mobile landing page for your ads
- Utilise ad extensions for mobile
For more tips, check out this guide provided by Google.
4. VIDEO ADVERTISING IS CRUCIAL
Ever since YouTube became a part of the Google Display Network, marketers have been using video advertising as an effective way to gain leads. Creating video campaigns on Google Ads lets you display ads in videos. Video campaigns are also measurable, which means you can check your views and cost per ad.
Video campaigns offer a ton of benefits such as:
- Boost sales
- Drive more traffic to your website
- Raise brand awareness
- Reach the right audience
Consumers most likely prefer videos compared to other types of content, so it is probably a good idea to launch a video campaign as soon as possible. You can reach your target audience on YouTube by creating a quality video ad. You can follow video production trends to produce more relatable content. Set your budget limit to avoid overspending, and determine who sees your videos based on a user’s interests, age, location, and more.
5. VISUAL SEARCHING
As opposed to text searching, users upload a picture when using the search engine for the query. For example, instead of typing in ‘antique grandfather clock’, you can upload an image of the grandfather clock you are looking for on Google Lens. Then, Google will help deliver results that best match the image you uploaded. Google Lens combine computer vision, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented reality (AR) to make visual search possible and accurate.
In 2021, Instagram introduced visual search that helped ramp up visual discovery whilst shopping on the app. It is also similar to Pinterest Lens, a feature on Pinterest to search for things on the platform using uploaded images. Besides voice search, visual search is one of the SEM trends in 2023 that you need to keep tabs on.
Here are some tips on how to optimise your images for visual search:
- Provide multiple images
- Use high-resolution images
- Optimise the image title and description
- Use alternative texts
- Use image captions
- Optimise image file types and sizes
6. OPT FOR AUTOMATION
Many aspects of search engine marketing will be heavily influenced by automation in 2023. To begin with, automatic keyword and ad group bidding eliminate the need to manually set bids. In addition to automatic bidding, automation also on scheduling and pre-setting ground rules for each SEM task and process.
Marketers can also benefit from automation in the department of site monitoring. What automation tools do is track broken links, page load time, and site uptime. Furthermore, automation also expedites backlink monitoring.
Although SEM automation still needs human intervention, it significantly reduces manual tasks and improves efficiency. The challenge for marketers is how to maximise and utilise these tools.
7. INCREASED RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Google is the biggest search engine in the world, and Google Ads is one of the best management platforms for online advertising. Yet, it would still be beneficial if marketers pay attention to other platforms such as social media.
Digital marketers looking to scale up their PPC must consider social media paid to advertise. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok garner the largest demographics. Moreover, these demographics are divided into niches and sub-niches. It will be easier for marketers to launch a targeted ad campaign.
Here are some tips on how to make the most of your paid advertising on social media:
- Set an objective
- Determine your audience
- Prioritise a platform/s
- Have a cohesive and concise message
- Choose the right ads format
8. COMPETITIVE SHOPPING ADS
If there is an increase in non-Google SEM strategies, the competition for shopping ads, especially in Google, is going tougher in the following years.
Shopping ads help retailers to ramp up their shopping campaigns to showcase their products and increase traffic on their website or e-commerce platform account. As opposed to text ads, shopping ads show the product’s image, name, price, and store name. Expect the role of shopping ads to be more significant in the coming trends in search engine marketing.
Shopping ads benefits include:
- Improved qualified leads
- Less complicated retail-centric campaign management
- Increased visibility
- More extensive competitive data reporting
FINAL REMARKS
SEM services in Singapore are an excellent way to gain leads and convert customers quickly. Consider outsourcing your SEM services to an SEM agency in Singapore if you need help.
Contact our digital marketing agency at 6690-2454 to outsource your search engine optimization and marketing services.
