SEM FAQs
1. What is the difference between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
2. What is the difference between paid search and natural (organic) search?
3. What is pay-per-click (PPC)?
5. How do you choose keywords?
6. Are search engine marketing results measurable?
7. How do I decide if search engine marketing is right for my business?
8. Why should I outsource my search engine marketing?
1. What is the difference between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing the content on your website so that it can be easily found and indexed by search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, with the ultimate end result being that your site appears at the top of searches for your product or service.
Search Engine Marketing also involves the process of increasing your website’s visibility in the search engine results page, but in contrast to SEO, SEM is paid for. SEM deals with ads in the pay-per-click section (also called sponsored links) of the results page, via a process of bidding on certain keywords. The process of bidding on keywords is a science, and it is easy to spend marketing dollars on the wrong audience at the wrong time or in the wrong place.
SEO and SEM go hand-in-hand. The best way to give your site exposure and add credibility is to employ both, so your site ranks high in natural search results as well as in paid listings.
2. What is the difference between paid search and natural (organic) search?
Paid search refers to the listings at the top and on the right side of the search engine results page, which are also known as sponsored links. Paid search focuses on a large number of keywords, is an approach that can be implemented quickly, and is highly measurable.
Natural, or organic, search refers to the listings returned by a search engine when a user searches using a keyword. They are not paid for on a cost-per-click basis. They are there because they are the sites that the search engine has determined to be the most accurate match for the keywords entered, with the most accurate at the top. It takes time to get to the top; it is not something that happens overnight.
This is why it is a good idea for your company to focus on both approaches. You can get the benefits of each: the credibility that comes with ranking high in natural/organic search, and the ability to manage and track your ROI with paid search.
3. What is pay-per-click (PPC)?
PPC is where advertisers pay only when a user clicks on their ad. Advertisers will generally have a long list of keywords that they bid on, and the price per click, also called cost per click, varies depending on the search engine and the level of competition for that particular keyword. Managing pay-per-click can be challenging, because an advertiser must find the balance between bidding fear and greed. There is an inherent greed for more sales, more leads, and more orders. But the fear of high cost per order can constrain the bidding strategy.
Bid optimization refers to the science of bidding just the right amount in your pay-per-click ads. If you have ever tried to manage a PPC campaign, you know that it is possible to spend hours adjusting bid amounts. You increase your bid to try to get to the top spot and then exhaust your budget, or you bid less and generate less traffic and fewer leads. The process can be time consuming and expensive.
360Partners uses a program based on an advanced portfolio theory and statistics, with inputs from both the search engines and our bid management team, which tells us exactly what amount to bid for your particular keywords. This ensures that you get the best placement for your ad at the best value.
5. How do you choose keywords?
Creating a keyword list is a multiple-step process that begins with understanding the client’s business. It is necessary to know what the products are, who the customers are, how their customers currently find them, what action does the client want them to take, etc.
We then use a series of different public and proprietary tools to create a comprehensive list of keywords for the client, which can contain as many as 2,500 keywords. We then use sophisticated tracking capabilities that are able to specify which keywords are performing best.
One extra step we take to help conserve budget: We create a negative keyword list as well, which is a list of words that you specifically wouldn’t want to return your site in the search results. For example, if you sell emergency generators, you don’t want your ads to appear when someone searches the term “number generator.”
6. Are search engine marketing results measurable?
Yes! And at 360Partners, our SEM campaigns are designed to achieve top-quality, measurable results.
Two of the most common metrics for measuring a SEM campaign include Cost per Acquisition (CPA) and Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS). Both are effective techniques for measuring business performance and each also has their limitations.
Cost per Acquisition (CPA) is simply the cost of the entire campaign divided by the number of acquisitions. CPA is simple to quantify and can be somewhat automated through tracking codes placed on “Thank You” pages after actions are completed. CPA is limited because it does not account for different values on a particular acquisition. Some acquisitions are more valuable than others.
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) is the value sold divided by the marketing expense. ROAS is more accurate and informative than CPA because it values the size of the individual acquisition. This allows marketing managers to gauge which campaigns are generating the highest overall returns. However, ROAS is more difficult to calculate because individual order value must be determined. Some marketers simplify value = revenue while others calculate value = actual gross contribution per acquisition.
7. How do I decide if search engine marketing is right for my business?
To decide if SEM is right for your business, ask yourself a few questions:
- Does my business’ growth depend on search?
- Am I happy with the current number of sales/leads/conversions from my website?
- Am I expanding the business and need the advertising to support it?
- Do I have the time to spend to monitor, test, and implement new search marketing techniques, or the ability to give some control to someone else to do it?
- Is this something I am passionate about or is my energy better spent somewhere else?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, a search engine marketing campaign could be very beneficial to your business.
8. Why should I outsource my search engine marketing?
Three reasons: experience, continuity and results.
Search engine marketing campaign is a time-consuming and complicated venture. Significant resources are needed to perform well in SEM, and it could easily be more expensive to hire full-time employees. Plus, an in-house team might not return the same results as an outsourced one whose main goal is to improve your website’s rankings and get you more leads.
Another consideration is employee turnover or illness. An employee whose sole responsibility is to handle your search marketing campaign could suddenly leave or become a victim of an accident or long-term illness. Unless that employee’s work methods were completely documented, you could lose all that legacy knowledge in an instant.
Another reason is experience. The landscape of search engine marketing is ever-changing. There are new websites and advertisers entering the realm every day, and Google and Yahoo! are constantly updating their programs in order to generate the most relevant results. An SEM firm with years of experience knows how to anticipate and work with these changes to better serve your campaign.
Lastly, a reason to outsource your company’s SEM campaign is simply because it is not your core competency. Outsourcing to experts ensures that everyone can focus on what they do best.
