Search engine marketing allows businesses to promote products and services through paid advertisements online. This also gives small business owners the opportunity to compete with the bigger players in the marketplace.
Search still remains a powerful way to reach your target audience. And SEM gives you the chance to go a step ahead of your competitors. The advantage with paid ads is that your products appear first on search engine results page when users type in related keywords.
The process may not be simple for beginners, though. In fact, even a professional SEM vendor will attest they still have a lot to learn. Search engine marketing requires an understanding of keyword research. If you are familiar with Search Engine Optimization or SEO, then chances are you’ve already heard of keyword research as well.
In SEO, keywords serve as the foundation of any campaign. You’ll want to rank for these search terms that your target audience is most likely to use. The same goes for SEM only that you’re now dealing with paid ads. And you need the guidance of a reliable SEM company throughout.
The Foundation of a Successful SEM Campaign
So, what it is so important about keyword research when it comes to SEM.
The first step in creating a SEM campaign is performing a comprehensive keyword research. You need to look for the best keywords, which can be done using free or paid online tools.
By conducting a keyword research, you’ll also be able to identify negative keywords or those search terms that are least likely to bring in conversions. You’ll want to focus on keywords with the higher chances of conversion or a strong desire to purchase or avail of a service.
Keywords should as well be grouped accordingly so you can attract higher click-throughs. This means that every ad campaign should consist of ad groups that focus on a specific group of products or services.
If you are selling men’s clothes, for example, you’ll want to create a separate add group for tops and bottom wear, or casual and formal. This process will require more work but will also work better for you in the long run.
High Advertising Budget Doesn’t Guarantee Success
Along the way, you’ll also hear about the ad auction. There’s a misconception that the ad auction works in favor of business with a higher advertising budget. This isn’t true as any SEM company in Singapore will also agree on.
Although having higher advertising funds may have some advantages, there’s no guarantee your ads will come out in search results just because of your budget.
For every keyword you bid on, you also state how much you’re willing to pay for every click. If Google sees that your bids within a particular search query then your ads will be entered into the auction. This doesn’t mean though that all related ads will be shown. Google still measures the quality score of your ads.
Several factors affect an ad’s quality score. And for this, it’s best that you work with professional SEM companies. You’ll want your every ad to be structured and designed properly.
Google favors ads that are highly relevant to search queries. You want to be consistent with the offer you mentioned in your headline, for one. And users should be able to see on your landing page the content you promised to deliver on your ad.
