What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through optimization and advertising. SEM may use search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages, or use pay per click (PPC) listings.
Comparison with SEO
SEM is the wider discipline that incorporates SEO. SEM includes both paid search results (using tools like Google Adwords or Bing Ads, formerly known as Microsoft adCenter) and organic search results (SEO). SEM uses paid advertising with AdWords or Bing Ads, pay per click (particularly beneficial for local providers as it enables potential consumers to contact a company directly with one click), article submissions, advertising and making sure SEO has been done. A keyword analysis is performed for both SEO and SEM, but not necessarily at the same time. SEM and SEO both need to be monitored and updated frequently to reflect evolving best practices.
In some contexts, the term SEM is used exclusively to mean pay per click advertising, particularly in the commercial advertising and marketing communities which have a vested interest in this narrow definition. Such usage excludes the wider search marketing community that is engaged in other forms of SEM such as search engine optimization and search retargeting.
Another part of SEM is social media marketing (SMM). SMM is a type of marketing that involves exploiting social media to influence consumers that one company’s products and/or services are valuable. Some of the latest theoretical advances include search engine marketing management (SEMM). SEMM relates to activities including SEO but focuses on return on investment (ROI) management instead of relevant traffic building (as is the case of mainstream SEO). SEMM also integrates organic SEO, trying to achieve top ranking without using paid means to achieve it, and pay per click SEO. For example, some of the attention is placed on the web page layout design and how content and information is displayed to the website visitor. SEO & SEM are two pillars of one marketing job and they both run side by side to produce much better results than focusing on only one pillar.
On April 24, 2012 many started to see that Google has started to penalize companies that are buying links for the purpose of passing off the rank. The Google Update was called Penguin. Since then, there has been several different Penguin / Panda updates rolled out by Google. SEM has, however, nothing to do with link buying and focuses on organic SEO and PPC management. As of October 20th, 2014 Google has released three official revisions of their Pengiun Update.
The Basics of Search Engine Marketing
Whether you’re searching online for a shoe store in Denver or a Mexican restaurant in Austin, you’ll see SEM ads. Although typically small in size, these ads are noticeable just above or to the right of your search engine results. When done well, SEM, or search engine marketing, can attract consumers to your website. For small businesses looking for affordable ways to increase revenue, this tool can help you market to another base of potential customers.
SEM is different from SEO, or search engine optimization. Search engine marketing is paid advertising, while search engine optimization is organic. You can’t pay a search engine to help your website rank higher with SEO. With SEM, you create an ad using a specific keyword. This ad is then displayed alongside specific search engine results that correlate with the keyword in your ad.
With SEM, you don’t pay unless someone clicks on your ad. This is one reason why SEM, often called pay-per-click advertising, is so attractive to small businesses. Here are some more reasons why SEM has become such an attractive and affordable online marketing option for many companies:
- Immediate results. SEM advertising is the fastest way to drive traffic to your website. SEO, on the other hand, can take several months for measurable results to be realized. As soon as your pay-per-click ad goes live, it will begin showing up on search engine results pages.
- Flexibility and control. SEM allows you to design and control your online advertising campaign to meet your business needs. You can bid the amount that you are willing to pay to stay within your advertising budget. You can also choose to pay more for certain keywords at certain times of the day or week for more targeting and control.
- Remarketing. The more frequently that a prospective customer is exposed to your brand, the more likely it is that they will become a customer. With remarketing, a valuable benefit of SEM, you show ads to users who’ve previously visited your website as they browse the internet. You know that these customers are already interested in the products and services that you have to offer!
Now that you know some of the benefits that SEM advertising offers, learn why hiring a professional, experienced online marketing company like Web.com is the best way to achieve success for your business.
Now that you know some of the benefits that SEM advertising offers, learn why hiring a professional, experienced online marketing company like Web.com is the best way to achieve success for your business.
Pay Per Click Marketing
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PPC marketing is grossly misunderstood, many people feel that they know how to do it and it is too expensive. The truth is that most people do not understand the capabilities of Adwords and the ways to increase ROI through analyzing data with scientific methods. Having an experience Adwords manager managing your account can be expensive but it can also be well worth it. Professional Adwords managers can track your returns down to an exact dollar and increase your conversion rates as well as increase your ROI.
PPC marketing is grossly misunderstood, many people feel that they know how to do it and it is too expensive. The truth is that most people do not understand the capabilities of Adwords and the ways to increase ROI through analyzing data with scientific methods. Having an experience Adwords manager managing your account can be expensive but it can also be well worth it. Professional Adwords managers can track your returns down to an exact dollar and increase your conversion rates as well as increase your ROI.
PPC Management Service – Adwords Managers Increasing ROI
The secret to pay per click advertising or PPC management is to understand how to measure your success and increase your conversion rates. There are many ways to measure your success such as conversion rates, click through rates, visitor duration thresholds etc… We as the campaign managers need to know how to make the best use of the data gathered from a PPC campaign in order to optimize the campaign performance. Improving a campaign performance can ultimately lead to an increase in clicks and or impressions as well as a decrease in average cost per click. Paying less money for a larger amount of clicks ultimately translates into dollar signs for a business owner. As a ppc managerit is our job to ensure that the campaign is improving in performance in ways like the one mentioned and many more.
If you have never setup an Adwords campaign and you want to learn how to you should watch these few videos first or visit the Adwords Beginners Guide Center.
The secret to pay per click advertising or PPC management is to understand how to measure your success and increase your conversion rates. There are many ways to measure your success such as conversion rates, click through rates, visitor duration thresholds etc… We as the campaign managers need to know how to make the best use of the data gathered from a PPC campaign in order to optimize the campaign performance. Improving a campaign performance can ultimately lead to an increase in clicks and or impressions as well as a decrease in average cost per click. Paying less money for a larger amount of clicks ultimately translates into dollar signs for a business owner. As a ppc managerit is our job to ensure that the campaign is improving in performance in ways like the one mentioned and many more.
If you have never setup an Adwords campaign and you want to learn how to you should watch these few videos first or visit the Adwords Beginners Guide Center.
How many keywords do I need to have in my account? What’s a small account?
What’s a big account?
There will never be a definitive answer to the question “how many keywords do I need in my account.” That is like trying to answer how long a book needs to be or how many colors one should use in a painting. However, we can talk meaningfully about optimal ranges. Too few keywords will be certainly easy to manage, but remember that you will have fewer terms to test. Each keyword will generate its own spend/profit ROI. So, the more keywords you have, the more opportunities you will have to pause the poor performing ones and increase the spend on the good ones.
On the flip side, having more keywords means you’ll have more optimization opportunities, but also a lot of terms to have to manage and deal with. Every time you get a report, you’ll have to go through a ton of keywords. You could get completely bogged down with just managing the terms which could not only take time from your analysis, but could become costly in terms of man hours which could negatively affect the ROI of the program. In terms of size, I’ve seen accounts with as little as a few dozen keywords all the way up to three million keywords.
What’s a big account?
There will never be a definitive answer to the question “how many keywords do I need in my account.” That is like trying to answer how long a book needs to be or how many colors one should use in a painting. However, we can talk meaningfully about optimal ranges. Too few keywords will be certainly easy to manage, but remember that you will have fewer terms to test. Each keyword will generate its own spend/profit ROI. So, the more keywords you have, the more opportunities you will have to pause the poor performing ones and increase the spend on the good ones.
On the flip side, having more keywords means you’ll have more optimization opportunities, but also a lot of terms to have to manage and deal with. Every time you get a report, you’ll have to go through a ton of keywords. You could get completely bogged down with just managing the terms which could not only take time from your analysis, but could become costly in terms of man hours which could negatively affect the ROI of the program. In terms of size, I’ve seen accounts with as little as a few dozen keywords all the way up to three million keywords.
How much am I going to be spending? What will be my average cost per click (CPC)? Will I make any money for my advertiser with this thing?
Sorry to say, but these are all questions that can’t be answered until you start your campaign and can see what it will do. However, I can tell you can set your daily budgets for each campaign so you’ll only pay for what you think is reasonable. CPCs can range from 2 Rs to 200 Rs or more, but right now, unless it’s a very competitive term, you will probably be paying in the neighborhood of 5 Rs to 80 Rs per click.
That’s a visitor to your website who has been triggered by a keyword you think is relevant to your business, so that’s a pretty reasonable cost. Will you make money?
You won’t know that until after you’ve tested the account (with real money).
How should I group my keywords? How should I group my ad groups into campaigns?
There will be a post in this column about best practices surrounding keyword and ad grouping soon. The short answer is to put similar keywords in groups. There should be a natural sense of which should be grouped under product terms, brand terms, competitor terms, general terms, etc. Just try to get them in a few different groups by topic and that will be good enough for now.
Sorry to say, but these are all questions that can’t be answered until you start your campaign and can see what it will do. However, I can tell you can set your daily budgets for each campaign so you’ll only pay for what you think is reasonable. CPCs can range from 2 Rs to 200 Rs or more, but right now, unless it’s a very competitive term, you will probably be paying in the neighborhood of 5 Rs to 80 Rs per click.
That’s a visitor to your website who has been triggered by a keyword you think is relevant to your business, so that’s a pretty reasonable cost. Will you make money?
You won’t know that until after you’ve tested the account (with real money).
How should I group my keywords? How should I group my ad groups into campaigns?
There will be a post in this column about best practices surrounding keyword and ad grouping soon. The short answer is to put similar keywords in groups. There should be a natural sense of which should be grouped under product terms, brand terms, competitor terms, general terms, etc. Just try to get them in a few different groups by topic and that will be good enough for now.
That’s a visitor to your website who has been triggered by a keyword you think is relevant to your business, so that’s a pretty reasonable cost. Will you make money?
You won’t know that until after you’ve tested the account (with real money).
How should I group my keywords? How should I group my ad groups into campaigns?
There will be a post in this column about best practices surrounding keyword and ad grouping soon. The short answer is to put similar keywords in groups. There should be a natural sense of which should be grouped under product terms, brand terms, competitor terms, general terms, etc. Just try to get them in a few different groups by topic and that will be good enough for now.
How many campaigns can I have? How many ad groups? How many ads per group?
Here are current standard account limitations. However, if you show the engines you will be spending money with them, they can extend these parameters when needed.
Google
• 10,000 campaigns (Both Active, Paused and Deleted)
• 20,000 ad groups per campaign
• 2,000 keywords per ad group
• 50 text ads per ad group
• 1 million keywords per account
Here are current standard account limitations. However, if you show the engines you will be spending money with them, they can extend these parameters when needed.
Google
• 10,000 campaigns (Both Active, Paused and Deleted)
• 20,000 ad groups per campaign
• 2,000 keywords per ad group
• 50 text ads per ad group
• 1 million keywords per account
• 10,000 campaigns (Both Active, Paused and Deleted)
• 20,000 ad groups per campaign
• 2,000 keywords per ad group
• 50 text ads per ad group
• 1 million keywords per account
Ad Limits
- Ads per ad group: 50 (for text, image, responsive search, etc.).
- Responsive search ads per ad group: 3 (recommended for optimal performance).
- Total ads per account: 10 million active or paused ads.
- Ads per ad group: 50 (for text, image, responsive search, etc.).
- Responsive search ads per ad group: 3 (recommended for optimal performance).
- Total ads per account: 10 million active or paused ads.
Additional Limits
- Negative keywords:
- Per campaign: 5 million.
- Per account: 10,000.
Yahoo
• 20 campaigns
• 1000 ad groups per campaign
• 1000 keywords per ad group
• 20 ads per ad group
Bing
• 10,000 campaigns
• 10,000 orders (ad groups) per campaign
• 10,000 keywords per ad group
• 20 ads per ad group
• 100,000 keywords per account
Can I bid on competitor branded terms? Can they bid on my brand terms?
Currently, Google is the only one of the top three engines that let’s you bid on competitor terms or use those terms in their ads (full details here).do not allow trademarked terms to be bid upon or used in ad text.
- Search engines with SEM programs
- Google
- Yahoo!
- Bing
- Ask.com
- Soso.com - China
- Baidu - China
- Seznam.cz - Czech Republic
- Yandex - Russia
- Rambler - Russia
- Timway - Hong Kong
- Onkosh - Arabic search - Middle East
- Aýna - Arabic search - Middle East and North Africa
- Leit.is - Iceland
- justdial.com - India
Requirements for Adwords banners
Banners:
The Technical requirements for all image sizes the File size has to be "50 KB or smaller".
Supported ad specs
File types
Formats GIF, JPG, PNG, SWF, ZIP
Max. size 150KB
Ad sizes
Square and rectangle
200 × 200 Small square
240 × 400 Vertical rectangle
250 × 250 Square
250 × 360 Triple widescreen
300 × 250 Inline rectangle
336 × 280 Large rectangle
580 × 400 Netboard
Skyscraper
120 × 600 Skyscraper
160 × 600 Wide skyscraper
300 × 600 Half-page ad
300 × 1050 Portrait
Leaderboard
468 × 60 Banner
728 × 90 Leaderboard
930 × 180 Top banner
970 × 90 Large leaderboard
970 × 250 Billboard
980 × 120 Panorama
Mobile
300 × 50 Mobile banner
- Negative keywords:
- Per campaign: 5 million.
- Per account: 10,000.
• 20 campaigns
• 1000 ad groups per campaign
• 1000 keywords per ad group
• 20 ads per ad group
Bing
• 10,000 campaigns
• 10,000 orders (ad groups) per campaign
• 10,000 keywords per ad group
• 20 ads per ad group
• 100,000 keywords per account
Can I bid on competitor branded terms? Can they bid on my brand terms?
Currently, Google is the only one of the top three engines that let’s you bid on competitor terms or use those terms in their ads (full details here).do not allow trademarked terms to be bid upon or used in ad text.
- Search engines with SEM programs
- Yahoo!
- Bing
- Ask.com
- Soso.com - China
- Baidu - China
- Seznam.cz - Czech Republic
- Yandex - Russia
- Rambler - Russia
- Timway - Hong Kong
- Onkosh - Arabic search - Middle East
- Aýna - Arabic search - Middle East and North Africa
- Leit.is - Iceland
- justdial.com - India
Requirements for Adwords banners
Banners:
The Technical requirements for all image sizes the File size has to be "50 KB or smaller".
Supported ad specs
File types
Formats GIF, JPG, PNG, SWF, ZIP
Max. size 150KB
Ad sizes
Square and rectangle
200 × 200 Small square
240 × 400 Vertical rectangle
250 × 250 Square
250 × 360 Triple widescreen
300 × 250 Inline rectangle
336 × 280 Large rectangle
580 × 400 Netboard
Skyscraper
120 × 600 Skyscraper
160 × 600 Wide skyscraper
300 × 600 Half-page ad
300 × 1050 Portrait
Leaderboard
468 × 60 Banner
728 × 90 Leaderboard
930 × 180 Top banner
970 × 90 Large leaderboard
970 × 250 Billboard
980 × 120 Panorama
Mobile
300 × 50 Mobile banner
Campaign Settings
Change your campaign settings
For each ad campaign that you create, you can control how much you're willing to spend on clicks and conversions, which networks and geographical locations you want your ads to show on, and more.
This article goes over each of your campaign settings, what they mean, and how to make changes to them.
For each ad campaign that you create, you can control how much you're willing to spend on clicks and conversions, which networks and geographical locations you want your ads to show on, and more.
This article goes over each of your campaign settings, what they mean, and how to make changes to them.
Types of campaign settings
Campaign settings can include your budget, network, bidding options and adjustments, location targeting, campaign end date, and other settings that affect an entire campaign. Keep in mind that not all campaign settings are available with every campaign type. Learn more about campaign types and their available features.
Campaign settings can include your budget, network, bidding options and adjustments, location targeting, campaign end date, and other settings that affect an entire campaign. Keep in mind that not all campaign settings are available with every campaign type. Learn more about campaign types and their available features.
General settings
- Campaign name: Edit the name of a particular campaign.
- Campaign type: Determines which of the settings and options below you'll see as you customize your campaign. Tailors the set-up process to just what's relevant for your goals.
- Locations: Target your ads to almost any geographic area. Specify countries, territories, regions, cities, or custom areas where you want your ads to show.
- Languages: Target your ads by your customers' language preference. For example, only customers whose Google interface language is Spanish will see ads in a campaign targeted to Spanish.
- Networks: Determine where on the Internet your ads will show. Ads can appear on Google's Search Network or Display Network, or both.
- Devices: Campaigns target all types of devices by default. Note that if you have a "Display Network only" campaign, you can target specific operating systems, device models, as well as carriers and wireless networks. To see these options, go to the “Devices” section on your Settings tab, and click advanced mobile and tablet options. If you have a different campaign type and would like to use these targeting options, you might consider creating a “Display Network only” campaign.
- Bidding option: Choose automatic or manual bidding for ad clicks (Max. CPC). Advanced options let you choose to pay per thousand viewable impressions (vCPM bidding) or set a cost-per-acquisition bid (Conversion Optimizer, CPA bidding).
- Budget: Adjust your campaign's daily budget at any time.
- Delivery method: Choose either standard or accelerated delivery for your daily budget to determine how quickly your ads are shown each day if your campaign is limited by budget.
- Campaign name: Edit the name of a particular campaign.
- Campaign type: Determines which of the settings and options below you'll see as you customize your campaign. Tailors the set-up process to just what's relevant for your goals.
- Locations: Target your ads to almost any geographic area. Specify countries, territories, regions, cities, or custom areas where you want your ads to show.
- Languages: Target your ads by your customers' language preference. For example, only customers whose Google interface language is Spanish will see ads in a campaign targeted to Spanish.
- Networks: Determine where on the Internet your ads will show. Ads can appear on Google's Search Network or Display Network, or both.
- Devices: Campaigns target all types of devices by default. Note that if you have a "Display Network only" campaign, you can target specific operating systems, device models, as well as carriers and wireless networks. To see these options, go to the “Devices” section on your Settings tab, and click advanced mobile and tablet options. If you have a different campaign type and would like to use these targeting options, you might consider creating a “Display Network only” campaign.
- Bidding option: Choose automatic or manual bidding for ad clicks (Max. CPC). Advanced options let you choose to pay per thousand viewable impressions (vCPM bidding) or set a cost-per-acquisition bid (Conversion Optimizer, CPA bidding).
- Budget: Adjust your campaign's daily budget at any time.
- Delivery method: Choose either standard or accelerated delivery for your daily budget to determine how quickly your ads are shown each day if your campaign is limited by budget.
Advanced settings
- Ad extensions: Show relevant business information (such as a phone number) with your text ads. Create and manage your ad extensions from the "Ad extensions" tab. (Site Link Ext, Location Ext, Call Ext, Review Ext, Rating Ext, Rich Snippet Ext)
- Schedule: Start date, end date, ad scheduling: Specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your AdWords ads to appear. You can also adjust bids for your ads during certain time periods.
- Ad delivery: Ad rotation, frequency capping: Your ad rotation selection determines how often we deliver your active ads in relation to one another within an ad group. Frequency capping limits the number of times your ads appear on the Google Display Network to a unique user.
- Automatic campaign optimization (Display Network only): By default, your campaign is optimized based on the targeting elements you've selected, such as keywords, audiences, or placements. Select "Auto-optimized" if you'd like Display Campaign Optimizer to find additional conversions for your campaign automatically.
- Experiment (BETA): Make experimental changes to your bids, keywords, and ad groups in your campaign. As traffic accumulates on your experiment, statistical differences may emerge. Evaluate and apply changes based on your tests.
- Ad extensions: Show relevant business information (such as a phone number) with your text ads. Create and manage your ad extensions from the "Ad extensions" tab. (Site Link Ext, Location Ext, Call Ext, Review Ext, Rating Ext, Rich Snippet Ext)
- Schedule: Start date, end date, ad scheduling: Specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your AdWords ads to appear. You can also adjust bids for your ads during certain time periods.
- Ad delivery: Ad rotation, frequency capping: Your ad rotation selection determines how often we deliver your active ads in relation to one another within an ad group. Frequency capping limits the number of times your ads appear on the Google Display Network to a unique user.
- Automatic campaign optimization (Display Network only): By default, your campaign is optimized based on the targeting elements you've selected, such as keywords, audiences, or placements. Select "Auto-optimized" if you'd like Display Campaign Optimizer to find additional conversions for your campaign automatically.
- Experiment (BETA): Make experimental changes to your bids, keywords, and ad groups in your campaign. As traffic accumulates on your experiment, statistical differences may emerge. Evaluate and apply changes based on your tests.
Editing your campaign settings
If you don't have any campaigns yet, click the +Campaign button to create a new campaign and follow the instructions on the page to complete your ad group. Learn more about creating a new campaign.
Once you have a campaign, you can edit its settings as often as you like. Here's how to do it:
- Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
- Click the Campaigns tab.
- Under All campaigns,click the name of the campaign that you'd like to edit.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Click Edit next to the settings you'd like to change.
- Click Save after each change.
Differences Between Broad Match, Phrase Match, and Exact Match Keywords in Google Ads:
Broad Match:
Definition: Matches your ad to searches that are related to your keyword, including synonyms and variations.
Reach: Broadest reach, capturing a wide audience.
Example: For the keyword "women's shoes", ads may show for searches like "ladies footwear" or "buy shoes for women".
Use Case: Ideal for discovering new keyword opportunities but may attract irrelevant traffic.
Phrase Match:
Definition: Matches your ad to searches containing your keyword phrase in the same order but can include additional words before or after.
Reach: Moderate reach with more targeted relevance.
Example: For the keyword "women's shoes", ads may show for "buy women's shoes online" but not for "shoes for women cheap".
Use Case: Effective for targeting more specific audiences with controlled flexibility.
Exact Match:
Definition: Matches your ad to searches that exactly match your keyword or close variations (like misspellings or plural forms).
Reach: Narrowest reach with the highest relevance.
Example: For the keyword "women's shoes", ads show only for "women's shoes" or "women shoes".
Use Case: Ideal for maximizing ad spend efficiency with highly targeted traffic.
Key Takeaway:
Use Broad Match for exploring keywords, Phrase Match for balanced targeting, and Exact Match for precise control and conversion-focused campaigns.
- Sign in to your AdWords account at https://adwords.google.com.
- Click the Campaigns tab.
- Under All campaigns,click the name of the campaign that you'd like to edit.
- Click the Settings tab.
- Click Edit next to the settings you'd like to change.
- Click Save after each change.
If you don't have any campaigns yet, click the +Campaign button to create a new campaign and follow the instructions on the page to complete your ad group. Learn more about creating a new campaign.
Once you have a campaign, you can edit its settings as often as you like. Here's how to do it:
Differences Between Broad Match, Phrase Match, and Exact Match Keywords in Google Ads:
Broad Match:
Definition: Matches your ad to searches that are related to your keyword, including synonyms and variations.
Reach: Broadest reach, capturing a wide audience.
Example: For the keyword "women's shoes", ads may show for searches like "ladies footwear" or "buy shoes for women".
Use Case: Ideal for discovering new keyword opportunities but may attract irrelevant traffic.
Phrase Match:
Definition: Matches your ad to searches containing your keyword phrase in the same order but can include additional words before or after.
Reach: Moderate reach with more targeted relevance.
Example: For the keyword "women's shoes", ads may show for "buy women's shoes online" but not for "shoes for women cheap".
Use Case: Effective for targeting more specific audiences with controlled flexibility.
Exact Match:
Definition: Matches your ad to searches that exactly match your keyword or close variations (like misspellings or plural forms).
Reach: Narrowest reach with the highest relevance.
Example: For the keyword "women's shoes", ads show only for "women's shoes" or "women shoes".
Use Case: Ideal for maximizing ad spend efficiency with highly targeted traffic.
Key Takeaway:
Use Broad Match for exploring keywords, Phrase Match for balanced targeting, and Exact Match for precise control and conversion-focused campaigns.
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