Fundamentals of Search engine marketing

Hey there! So good to have you back again. In this blog, we will be touching upon the basics of SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and its growing importance. We will also cover why SEM is important in digital marketing and how to do it right. Hope you are all excited and ready to learn new tips and tricks for getting SEM right. Let us quickly get started. 
Did you know that Search Engine Marketing is now considered the Zero Moment of Truth in digital marketing? Before we deep dive, let us first understand what does this concept of zero moment of truth means? 
Well, Zero Moment of Truth refers to the moment in the buying process when the consumer does proper research before making a purchase. The reason why Search Engine Marketing is considered the Zero Moment of Truth is that search engines today are used to perform the smallest of queries for understanding the meaning of a particular word/phrase before purchasing products online. Digital technology has now impacted each aspect of our daily lives. 
In simple terms, SEM is a digital strategy that is used by Digital Marketers to increase the visibility in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). SEM refers to the paid ad campaigns generally making use of Google Ads. Before running paid ads, it is advisable to have the following: 

• Have a strong website
• Have a decent amount of content on the existing pages
• Have a specific budget set aside for running paid campaigns
• Deep understanding of potential target audience
• Resources for making catchy and attractive ads copies
• Tools for measuring various metrics 

You must be wondering how SEM works? So, here’s how it functions:

Let me take an example of Brand A which is planning to launch its new shampoo in the market named ‘Silk N Shine’. 
What is the objective of Brand A? The objective is to be present and provide information about ‘Silk N Shine’ on the landing page in case a user searches for any keyword.

The key feature of the newly launched Silk N Shine is that it is the first of its kind shampoo plus a conditioner. It helps to fight against hair fall problems. It also helps in making your hair look silky. They are also providing basic information on the kind of shampoo a user needs to use based on their hair texture. 
To execute any search marketing campaign on Google, you need to open an account on Google AdWords. Google AdWords is a self-serve / DIY platform to execute search engine marketing. Once you log into your account, you will be able to create your campaign.

The structure for your campaign would be something like this: 

Account-> Campaign-> Ad groups->Keywords. 
At the campaign level itself, one needs to decide on the settings and budgets. Ad groups will be of different variations of buckets around category/brand/etc. Keywords will be specific keywords according to specific ad group buckets.

To showcase it in an example: –

• Thematic campaigns need to be very tightly aligned with the ad group. It will help you to improve the quality score.
• The other important thing to remember is to select the type of match you want to put for Keywords. 

They are of the following types:

1. Broad match: Ads will appear even in case of misspellings, synonyms, related searches, and other relevant variations
2. Phrase match: Ads will appear for a keyword when a phrase and close variations of that phrase are used.
3. Exact match: Ads will appear on an exact term and close variations of that exact term.
4. Negative match: Ads will not appear on keywords selected as negative. 

After this, you need to create ad copies that will be showcased to the user when they search for a specific keyword. 

Once the Campaign is structured, ad groups and Keywords are decided. You can run the campaign for a specific duration / on basis of the objective. You can monitor the campaign in real-time through the AdWords dashboard. It will show you the following data 

• How much budget has been exhausted?
• Which ad group is driving maximum clicks?
• Which keyword is driving maximum clicks?
• Which ad is driving maximum clicks?

And lastly, monitor and optimize your campaigns based on the objective.

The key takeaways from Search Engine Marketing would be:

1. Campaign execution: you can make the campaign live immediately
2. Real-time: optimization and monitoring can be done in real-time
3. ROI: one of the best mediums to drive ROIs for brands 

All these points prove that marketing your product online is beneficial as well as cost-effective in comparison to offline marketing. 
Reasons why SEM is important:  

• SEM is conversion-focused
• SEM helps in increasing brand awareness
• SEM works best for local marketing
• Helps in generating immediate results
• It brings a consistent amount of traffic
• SEM helps in getting more qualified leads
• Helps in understanding the search intent
• It is great for mobile marketing
• SEM also provides a lot of flexibility 

SEM can be quite tricky and confusing at first. No doubt it comes with trial and error. SEM requires an in-depth understanding of SEM services like Google AdWords. One point to be noted here is that even though it may be quite challenging, it is worth all time and effort. 

Tips and tricks for getting SEM right are as follows: 

• Study your audience well
• Outline your goals clearly
• Allocate a budget
• Make use of Ad Groups
• Use the right keyword
• Put a lot of thought and effort into your landing page 

If this sounds interesting and fun, then you must enroll for the digital marketing course. The digital marketing course syllabus covers all the important topics which are necessary to build a successful career in the field of Digital Marketing. To know more about digital marketing course, feel free to get in touch with us. All the best and happy learning!