What is SEM? Introduction to Search Engine Marketing

You want to show up on the first page of search engines but also don’t want to wait months for that. So, what’s the solution? Hi everyone, this is P S Kathait. And today I will share What is SEM or Search Engine Marketing is. SEO is a time taking process and sometimes we don’t have that much time to start getting results. And the solution to this problem is SEM or Search Engine Marketing. And what is it? 

What is SEM or Search Engine Marketing?

SEM is a way of marketing in which you boost the visibility of your website or webpage on search engines through paid advertising. Basically, you’re paying search engines to show your website on the top of search results. Also, SEM is pay per click advertising method where you just pay whenever someone clicks on your ad. If no one clicks on the ad, you pay nothing.

For example,

• If 1000 people see your ad on a particular day and out of those, you get 30 clicks. So, you will just pay for the 30 clicks you got. If from the 1000 people no one clicks on your ad, you will pay nothing.

Every search engine offers you a platform to run ads. Because that’s how they make money. But we are going to discuss Google only.

Why 

As with 92% market share worldwide, Google dominates the search engine market. To market our business on the Google network, we need Google AdWords. 

What is Google AdWords?

It is an online advertising platform developed by Google. You can sign up on Google AdWords and start creating ads for your business. You can show ads based on the location, age, gender, search queries of your audience, their interests, and a lot of other factors. Also, you need some skills to operate Google AdWords. There are also a few terminologies which you should know before moving on to SEM.

Basic Terminologies of Search Engine Marketing

The first one is CPC or Cost Per Click. It is the price you pay for each click in your marketing campaign.

The second one is CTR or Click Through Rate. It is the ratio of the number of clicks to the number of impressions on your ad.

If your ad is seen by 50 people and 3 of them click on your ad, then the CTR will be 6%.

• After that comes Creative or Ad Creative. It is the heading and description of your ad. 
• Next comes SERP or Search Engine Results Page. These are web pages that a search engine shows you whenever you search for something.
• Then comes Impressions. It is simply the number of times your ad is seen. 
• And the last one is Quality Score. It is a ranking that Google gives your ad based on its CTR, relevancy, landing page, and a few other factors.

There are a lot of other terms also. But these are the important ones.

SEM vs SEO, Difference between SEO and SEM

Now there’s one thing you need to understand. SEM is different from SEO. Sometimes people gets confused between them. But they are two different things.

SEO - is when you try to drive traffic to your website organically. 

SEM - is when you drive inorganic traffic to your website.

In simple terms, if you are paying the search engine to get traffic or to show your website in the top results, then it is SEM or Search Engine Marketing. And when you don’t pay anything to search engines to get the traffic to your website or to get in the top results, then it is SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

When you are doing SEO, it takes time to see the results. But with SEM, the results are instantaneous. You can run an ad in the morning and start seeing the results by evening. But that’s not the case with SEO.

However, SEO will generate long-lasting results. And on the other hand, SEM will get you results as long as you are willing to pay for it.

How to identify SEM Ads?

Let’s say you have a gift shop. And there’s a festival coming up in a couple of weeks. So, obviously, people will be shopping online to purchase gifts, etc.

In this situation, it is next to impossible to get your website and products on the top with SEO. So, instead of stressing over SEO, you can spend a little money on SEM and pay the search engines to show your products at the top. This way you got both sales and brand recognition.

Why use SEM or Search Engine Marketing?

This is one of the reasons why you should use Search Engine Marketing. Let’s see some more reasons why you should use SEM.

The first one is brand awareness - Google gets more than 3.5 billion searches every single day. So, if you show up at the top of the search results, your brand or Business is definitely going to get a lot of traction. 

Second, it is great for local businesses - Let’s say, you have a clothing shop. And someone searches for ‘clothing shops near me. And if you show on the top, you are going to get the majority of traction.

Or let’s say if someone searches for ‘clothing shops in Delhi’. Now there are hundreds of clothing shops in Delhi. 

What happens if you show at the top?

Again you are going to get the majority of traction. So, this will not only boost your brand awareness but will also help you to boost the revenue of your Business.

Also, SEM generates immediate results. Unlike SEO, you don’t have to wait for months to start seeing the results.

As I said earlier, you can run the ad in the morning and start seeing results by evening. Also, through SEM, you get more qualified leads. If someone is searching ‘buy Nike shoes online’ then that person is already having a buyer intent. And that’s how you can benefit from Search Engine Marketing. For a good marketing strategy, you can try a mix of both SEM and SEO.

So, that was all about what is SEM.  Also, if you got to know something new today or if you have any doubts, do let me know in the comments section. Stay happy stay blessed.