The good news is that you can do a few simple things to ensure your search engine marketing efforts are successful. In this article, we will look at how to do SEM right.
“The reality of SEO is the reality of any successful endeavor: It will take strategic, consistent, and sufficient efforts to rank well”
Viola Eva, Founder of Flow SEO
What is Search Engine Marketing? SEM Vs. SEO
Search engine marketing is a form of digital marketing that aims to promote websites by increasing their visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).
There is considerable confusion surrounding the difference between search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimisation (SEO). The two terms are often used interchangeably. In fact, don’t be surprised if you hear people in the industry refer to SEO as SEM.
Generally, SEM involves paying Google and other search engines to show your website at the top of SERPs for specific keywords.
On the other hand, SEO is a free and organic way to improve your website’s ranking on the SERP.
It involves optimising your website’s content and structure so that search engines can easily crawl and index your pages. Good SEO practices also include improving your website’s user experience (UX) and loading it quickly.
SEM and SEO are essential for any business that wants to be visible online.
SEO is a great way to drive evergreen traffic at the top of the funnel. At the same time, SEM is an easy, affordable, and effective way to drive conversions and sales at the bottom of the funnel.
Understanding that SEM is just one part of your online marketing strategy is essential.
To succeed, you need a holistic and integrated approach that combines SEO, SEM, social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, and more.
How to make SEM work for you: 3 easy steps to success!
Search engine marketing is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Understanding how SEM works and tailoring your approach to your business goals is key to success.
If you’re interested in boosting your online presence and reaching a wider audience, then diving into SEM (Search Engine Marketing) can be a great strategy. To get started, take these three simple steps:
Start with suitable keywords
Keywords are the foundation of any SEM campaign. You need to target keywords relevant to your business and have a decent amount of monthly searches.
Look – you may spend hundreds of dollars on SEM, but if you fail to use the best keywords in your niche, you’ll never reach your target audience.
Make sure you invest in keyword research. There are various keyword research tools available.
Tools such as SEMRush, KeyClusters, and Ahrefs help narrow down the list of keywords you need to rank for.
These tools allow you to enter keywords related to your business and then provide you with data on monthly searches, competition level, and more.
If you find the aspect of researching daunting, consider working with a digital marketing company that has years of success and experience.
Don’t forget about long-tail keywords
These are particular keywords and usually consist of three or more words.
For example, “SEO services for small businesses.” These keywords may have fewer monthly searches than general ones, but they’re usually much easier to rank for. So, include a couple of long-tail keywords into your SEO marketing strategy.
“If you don’t have a long-tail SEO strategy, you’re missing out.”
Aleh Barysevich, Founder of SEO PowerSuite
Understand your niche
The next step is to understand how what’s happening within your niche. Again, proper research will be critical to your success. At Digitlab, we perform a detailed competitor analysis to learn why your competition ranks so well and what they’re doing with their SEO marketing. By understanding your industry, being familiar with its standard practices, and knowing what visitors expect, you can quickly find ways to improve the user experience.
“No matter how niche or mainstream your market is, great content remains a significant focus for SEO.”
Kristopher Jones, Founder of LSEO
Google considers the user experience as a significant ranking factor. A poor user experience can sink your SEO score, resulting in fewer visitors and a lower ranking on the SERPs. On the other hand, an excellent user experience can help your brand quickly reach the top of the SERPs.
Aim for valuable content
User experience is only one significant factor that Google uses to rank your website. Another critical factor is content. Your website’s content should always be:
- Relevant content,
- Quality, original content,
- Contain valuable information to the user.
“Ensure you’re writing content the way that you’d explain it to someone over the phone.”
Carolyn Lyden, Lead SEO at Search Hermit
Consider frequently creating original, quality content for your website. Fresh content will draw in new visitors and help you rank for keywords you may have missed.
Quality content will also establish you as an industry leader. Being an industry leader brings many benefits. Some benefits include:
- Authority: Your audience will view you as a trusted, reliable source. They’ll use your services more and refer to you more often.
- Backlinks: Other websites will start linking to your website. Your traffic will increase when they link to you, and Google will rank you higher in the SERPs.
Regularly publishing new content is essential to your success. Do keep in mind that the content needs to be original. If Google and other search engines find that your content is plagiarised, they will penalize you. This penalty could hamper your SEM marketing efforts.
One final note on creating valuable content, always make sure your content is part of a bigger cornerstone SEO content strategy – but this is a much bigger topic for another day.
Make SEM work with a trusted partner.
You can create an SEM campaign that works for your business by following the steps outlined above. However, as a busy business owner or marketing professional, you may not have the time to dedicate to managing a campaign. That’s where a trusted partner comes in.
Our team at Digitlab, has years of experience managing SEM campaigns for businesses. We understand how to create ad copy and landing pages that convert, and we know how to optimise your marketing to get the most out of your campaign.
Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help you bring order to your search moarketing efforts.
