What Is SEM: A Complete Guide

When it comes to marketing your business, nothing is better than SEM (Search Engine Marketing).

This is one of the best types of DIGITAL MARKETING, which will help you get a lot of attention.

We all know that today everyone is online. And it's a big platform to advertise your product.

But what makes them different from traditional ones is their targeting capacity.

Source: Unsplash

Through SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING, a business can easily identify and target their audience, which will help them get maximum ROI. This is why SEM is so popular.

If you are the one who ever wondered "what is SEM", this complete guide is for you.

So, let's get started.....

Table of contents

• What Does SEM Mean?
• What Is SEM And How It Works?
• What Are The Types of SEM?
• SEM vs SEO: What's The Difference
• What Are The Advantage of SEM?
• What Is The Purpose of SEM?
• Why Is SEM Important For Your Business?
• How Can I Improve My SEM?

What Does SEM Mean?

SEM is a paid strategy to improve the visibility or ranking of the website or product.

Everyone wants to rank on top of the SERP (Search Engine Result Page), but very few can achieve it organically.

But don't worry. There is another way to rank on the top of the search engine result page. This is none other than SEM (Search Engine Marketing).

Every search engine, including Google, offers you a chance to rank on the top of the page. 

But for this, you need to pay some bucks to the search engine depending on multiple factors.

These factors can be a product type, search volume, competitor's bid, and the rank you want.

With SEM, a brand or business can rank their product, service or website on the search engine page targeting selective keywords. 

This paid strategy also help businesses to reach their target audience and showcase their product or service first. 

Whenever you search for something on a search engine, you have seen some links which are categorized as "Ad". 

These links are often visible on the upper and lower slot of SERP. For higher slots, you need to pay more bucks than your competitor's bid.

Also, some paid search ads appear on the top and sidebar of the search engine page in a FEATURED CAROUSEL.

What Is SEM And How It Works?

As we discussed earlier, SEM is a way to get more traffic to your site. 

SEARCH MARKETING is a wide term that is used for any paid strategy which helps you rank SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

However, search marketing also refers to organic marketing using SEO and SEO-FRIENDLY content.

But there are too many things that you need to consider while concluding what is SEM and how it works.

Before directly moving towards how SEM works, let us first see how to start or begin SEM for your business.

Let us see step by step:

If you have a small business or a big enterprise, you need to improve the visibility of your service, product or webpage.

Just register yourself or your business at Google Ads. After making your account at Google Ads, create a campaign. 
To build an SEM campaign, you need to first do a DEEP KEYWORD RESEARCH.

These keywords or search terms help you and the search engine to target a specific audience. 

After choosing the right keyword for your business, it's time to set a bid for your ad campaigns. 

Always remember that the higher the rank you want, the higher the amount you need to pay. 

However, SEM depends on multiple factors. These factors are the product type, search volume, type of search advertisement, etc.

Google Search Marketing is also known as PPC (Pay Per Click). It's a marketing model in which a business can advertise their product or service and only pay when any user clicks on their advertisement.

How Does SEM Work?

Well, there are many things that work behind the operation of SEM. 

Typically, keywords and bidding are important factors in search engine marketing.

When you put some target keywords in your Google Ads campaign, then Google will show it to all the users who are searching for these keywords or the related terms.

This also depends on the bidding, if you pay more, your content will rank more.

However, biding is not only the factor, the search engine also looks for your website and overall response, including reliability, accuracy and user experience.

So, if you want to rank high, then you need to be more accurate and reliable. Also, you need  to improve the trust factor of your content, product and service.

This is all about how SEM work, now let's move towards the types of SEM.

What Are The Types of SEM?

Here are the 4 types of search engine marketing with SEM examples:

• Text Ads
• Google Shopping Ads
• Responsive Ads
• Local Service Ads

Let us take a deep look:

Text Ads

This is one of the easiest types of SEM. These types of ads include headlines, body copy and links to your website, webpage or product.

Text Ads are typically visible at the top, bottom or at the side of SERPs (Search Engine Result Page), depending on your search engine and biding.

Plus, text ads are based on your target keywords. If you target your ad campaign for certain keywords, your website will rank only for those terms.

Best for: Website promotion, articles, blogging and informative content.

Text Ads: SEM Example

Google Shopping Ads

This type of search engine marketing is also based on the principle of target keywords. 

Google shopping ads are visible at the top, middle, and sidebar of the search engine result page.

The only difference between Text ads and Google shopping ads is that the visual part of Google shopping ads includes, pictures and products of your products and services.

Best for: Selling products and services.

Google Shopping Ads: SEM Example

Responsive Ads

Responsive ads are quite different from the above types of SEM. These ads generally work on special algorithms of search engines.

Whatever the search engine is, they have some sets of rules by which they collect and know the behaviour of any user's search pattern.

In short, the search engine gathers the information that the user searching for and then show them advertisements related to his or her past or present searches.

For this, a publisher needs to fix different headlines, keywords, pictures, links, attractive descriptions in their ad campaign. 

So, whenever a user searches for things related to your products or service, the search engine will automatically show him or her your advertisements on different websites. 

Best for: Selling products and services.

Responsive Ads: SEM Example

Local Ads

Local Ads are especially helpful for local businesses, including cafes, restaurants or any shop. 

Here, local means: A business that is located near any user who is searching for the terms related to your business, products and services.

These ads generally visible when a user searching for something "near me". 

Local Ads allows you to advertise your business at a selective place of SERPs.

This type of search engine marketing includes your business, product or service name, description, links with ratings or sometimes even pictures.

Best for: Local Businesses

Local Ads: SEM Example

All the above types of SEM are great for every business that wants high traffic and leads.

SEM vs SEO: What's The Difference?

Many people consider SEM and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), the same. But this is not the truth. 
SEO and SEM are both online and Digital Marketing Strategies.

We all know about the benefits of SEO for businesses, this is why it is important to learn the difference between SEO and SEM.

So, let us take a look...

SEO is basically an ocean that includes SEM. So, if you are going to do online marketing for your business, you need to be aware of SEO Tips.

But if both SEM and SEO are used for the same purpose, then what's the difference.

The only difference between SEM and SEO is the way of making. 

SEM is a paid digital marketing strategy, whereas SEO is used for both paid and organic digital marketing strategies.

What Are The Advantages of SEM?

If you are looking for 'what are the advantages of SEM', then you're at the right place.

Here are the 3 advantages of search engine marketing:

1. Grabs Attention

SEM is the best way to grab the attention of millions of online users. 

Every small business needs attention to become a big enterprise, and in this role, SEM will work as your best friend.

There is no doubt that running paid ads on search engines will definitely help you rank on top and get more traffic, which ultimately converts into leads if your service and products are good.

2. Easy And Quick To Implement

This benefit of SEM is very helpful for your business and you. Because you need not spend years learning search engine marketing and running your campaigns.

All you need to be aware of the Google Ads tips and techniques. By following these tips, you can easily run and implement a search engine marketing campaign.

3. You Can Monitor Your Growth

Every ad manager needs to monitor its business continuously so that they can take major steps for their company's growth.

Google Ads will allow you to monitor your growth, traffic, clicks, etc. This is one of the great advantages of SEM. 

What Is The Purpose of SEM?

Many times you have come across the question 'what is the purpose of SEM'. 

SEM is a very helpful digital marketing strategy. It will help you promote your business and get the leads. 

SEM has many benefits for businesses, which will help you grow and earn more. So, why not give it a try!

Why SEM Is Important For Your Business?

SEM is very beneficial for businesses. It has many advantages if you need tremendous growth in your business.

It will help you advertise and rank on top of the SERP. What can be better than this!

We all know that every user clicks on high-ranking links. So when you will rank high through paid SEM, you will definitely get a lot of attention.

How Can I Improve And Optimize My SEM?

Here are the 5 ultimate hacks and tips to improve and optimize your SEM:

1. Evaluate Current Searches And Queries

This is one of the best ways to optimize and improve your SEM. All you need to do is deep Keyword Research.

Every month the queries change, these keywords also change. However, most of the time, some keywords doesn't change.

So, you need to analyse the customer problems, market insights, public census data, queries and then search the keywords accordingly.

It's best to use long-tail keywords in your Google Ad campaigns.

2. Apply SEO And SEM Together

As we know, SEM is a paid marketing strategy, but you still need to use SEO for successful search engine marketing.
For this, you need to apply SEO tips that will help you get the attention of the users and customers.

According to some studies, 50-60% of clicks comes from organic results. This is why you need to apply both SEO and SEM together.

3. Eliminate Negative Keywords

Eliminating negative keywords is one of the best ways to optimize and improve your SEM. 

For this, you need to continuously monitor your Google Ad campaign. The campaign will show you what keywords are doing good. So, eliminate those keywords which cost you high and generate fewer leads.

4. Use Numbers And Attractive Terms

Using numbers and any specific or attractive term will definitely help you get the huge attention of your target audience.

Many studies show that numbers are more attractive form to bring traffic. 

So, create your ad user-friendly and use catchy words.

5. Dynamic Remarketing Ads

Dynamic Remarketing Ads are helpful in case a user visits your site and add a product to his or her cart, but didn't purchase the item due to some reasons.

So, all you need to do is personalize and create dynamic Remarketing Ads. This will help you approach the user and make him or her remember about their purchase.

This hack will definitely improve and optimize your SEM. So, try out this today!

Bottom Line

SEM is the best type of digital marketing, which will help you get huge traffic and leads. 

But applying it in the right is very important. This is why we have compiled the best hacks and tips to optimize and improve your SEM.

So, understand and apply these tricks to make your small business a big enterprise.