SRogers93 and epirnik commented on another blog post about the difficulty of trying to build a quality website, and how important an understanding of internet metrics and search functions is in the endeavor to market yourself online. So, we thought it would be a good idea to do a brief overview of what search engine marketing is and how search engines work.
Search engine marketing (often abbreviated SEM) is a type of marketing that focuses on increasing the visibility of web pages in search engine results. While there are lots of search engines out there, Google is the most widely used, so let’s talk about how Google determines how a webpage will rank in search results. A webpage can rank in two places: organic search results, or sponsored search results. Take a look at the image above to see the difference.
Organic Search Results
Many people who rank well in organic search results do so because they have implemented a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, whereas those who show up in sponsored search results do so because they have paid for that placement through a Pay Per Click (PPC) strategy. 90% of people will click on listings from organic search results before clicking on listings in sponsored search results…which is great, because SEO is free!
Sponsored Search Results
A Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign can act as a supplement to your SEO efforts, and while it isn’t free, it only costs you money when someone clicks on your ads. PPC is run out of a free Google AdWords account in which you set up campaigns that reflect the products you sell. For example, you might set up a campaign called “Wood Furniture” and another called “Upholstered Furniture”. Then, you can break down each campaign into individual products and services, known as Ad Groups. For example, “Bed Frames” might be an ad group under “Wood Furniture”.
You also have the ability to set a budget within Google AdWords. Before starting a PPC campaign, you should think about how much you’re willing to pay to get a customer, and continually monitor your ads for poor performance. Poor performance could be due to the wrong keyword, the wrong target audience, the wrong headline, or the wrong copy. Keep tweaking these until you get the best cost per click possible!
The most important thing to remember about search engine marketing is that success does not happen overnight. It takes continual research on the changing criteria that crawlers use, and dedication to updating your website to reflect those changes.
Stay tuned for a follow-up post about four easy things you can do to implement an SEO strategy and improve your search engine rankings.
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