What is SEM? 5 Types Of Search Engine Marketing Explained

In today’s world where people turn to search engines for everything from finding a plumber to researching the best hotel for their travel destination, increasing your online visibility is crucial for business success. This is where Search Engine Marketing (SEM) comes in to help you stand out on search engine results pages (SERPs). This article dives into five key types of SEM, from the organic listing focused Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to the future of Voice Search Optimization. 

What is SEM?

Before we go in deep, let’s first have a look at what exactly is SEM? 

SEM is sometimes used to refer to PPC like Google Ads, but the terms are technically referring to a marketing technique that uses both SEO and PPC. This strategy improves both organic and paid traffic to your website, covering each of the individual types weaknesses using the other’s strength. 

This is one example of SEM being used in real marketing practices by Google Ads. The Sponsored tag at the top of the first listing is a mark of PPC listing on Google search result page. For an established company or entity like Google Ads, this strategy might not really be able to bring out their maximum potential but using it on a growing business will bring out a few great benefits.

5 Types of Search Engine Marketing:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

Search Engine Optimization refers to the practice of optimizing your website and its content to rank higher in organic search results. SEO strategy varies but the execution generally involves several core principles; identifying the relevant keywords that users search for related to your website, optimizing your website’s content and structure based on those keywords, and building high quality backlinks from other websites. 

There are many benefits of a well-executed SEO strategy. You can expect to see a steady increase in organic traffic, which is the number of visitors who find your site naturally through search result pages. SEO also delivers long term results, as optimized content continues to attract users over a long period of time. Perhaps the biggest perk of SEO is a very cost effective strategy, which allows you to gain significant benefits without needing to invest heavily into advertising. If you wish to find out more about SEO and their benefits, you may want to take a look at our blog article on What is SEO and Why SEO is Important for Business. 

Advantage of SEO : 

• Better user experience – SEO strategies doesnt only boost traffic, it also improves the content and technical aspect of your site. This ensure people visiting your site will have a pleasant experience
• Better brand trust and credibility – a high ranking in search engines signifies credibility. This creates better trust between your brand and the customer.
• Long term effect – Once your website gains consistent organic traffic and a high search engine ranking, it can continue to receive the traffic for a long time after the effort has ended.

Disadvantage of SEO :

• Take a longer time to see results – Getting your site to rank higher is a process that takes time. It might take several months or years before you’re able to see significant improvement in your traffic and online visibility.
• Need a continuous effort – A consistent and ongoing effort is needed because search engine algorithms continuously change and competitors are constantly optimizing their own websites.You will need to stay up to date with the latest search engine algorithms and best practices in order to maintain your rankings. 
• Have to be dynamic in your approach – Google conducts periodical updates to their search algorithm to improve search results. SEO strategies will need to be adaptable to accommodate the changes brought by those algorithm updates.

2. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising:

Pay-Per-Click Advertising involves creating targeted ads that appear on search engines. When the users clicks on your ad, they will be directed to your website. PPC ads work through a bidding system. You choose the keywords in which you want your ad to appear for and set the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for each day. This bidding process determines where your ad appears on the search engine results page (SERP). 

PPC offers several advantages for businesses. It allows for a highly targeted reach, which ensures your ads will only be seen by users actively searching for the products or services you choose to advertise. PPC campaigns are also able to deliver fast results, driving traffic to your website as soon as the campaign is set up. Additionally, PPC platforms provide detailed data and analytics, allowing you to track the performance and provide optimization of your campaigns. Of course, the results are still highly dependent on the strategy taken and how successful the optimization of keywords is.

Take a look at the difference between Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Advertising for a more in-depth breakdown on how they work and what are the differences between SEO and PPC. 

Advantage of PPC : 

• Instantaneous result – Your ads will appear in search result pages or relevant websites as soon as the campaign is approved and running. This provides your website an instant presence boost toward your targeted audience.
• Full control on user flow – PPC allows you to have full control over the page that the users will end up on when they click on your ads. This allows you to direct users to a specific promo or sale landing page on your site. 
• Free if no one clicks on it – A huge advantage of PPC is that you only need to pay when someone clicks on your ads, hence the name Pay-Per-Clicks. If your ads are displayed but don’t garner any clicks, you won’t be incurred any charges.

Disadvantage of PPC :

• Effect stop when campaign ends – Once your PPC campaign ends, your ads will stop appearing to the users. This means you won’t be getting any new paid traffic unless you started a new campaign or resumed the current one.
• Higher cost – Compared to SEO, you will be charged whenever people click on your PPC listing. The cost per click will vary depending on multiple factors such as the industry and competition for that keywords.
• Less credible – While PPC does provide immediate traffic, some people may perceive paid ads as a less credible listing than organic search result listing.

3. Local Search Marketing:

For businesses with a physical storefront, local SEO is a huge game changer. When people search for a product or service in their local area, you will want your business to be the first one they see in the search result. Local SEO helps to optimize your online presence to increase the visibility in local search results. One of the ways it helps is through Google My Business listing optimization. This free listing allows you to manage your business information to be viewed by potential customers including location, operating hours, and customer reviews. Having positive online reviews will also significantly boost your credibility and help with gaining trust from potential customers.

Advantage of Local Search : 

• Increase foot-traffic – Local search marketing attracts customers to your physical store. By appearing in local search results, you will attract people who are looking for businesses like yours in their area. 
• Tap into local customer base – Local search allows you to target customers within a specific area, which allows you to get more long lasting customers who will stick around due to the proximity and convenience of your business.
• Higher trust – People would often trust local businesses more due to proximity and being able to visit their physical store. They can also read the reviews of previous customers, improving their trust toward a business.

Disadvantage of Local Search : 

• Long term effort –  Optimizing your business for local searches requires continuous effort as it involves optimizing the online listing, managing and collecting reviews from customers.
• Potential effect from negative review – Getting negative reviews would not only affect your morale, but also potential customer’s trust. You will need to be wary and respond accordingly to negative reviews, addressing it in a professional and reassuring way.

4. Social Search Engine Optimization:

Social media platforms play a huge role in SEM strategy. By leveraging the content on your social media to appear on search result pages for both the social media platform and also search engine, you can drive more traffic into your website. This is achieved by consistently sharing high quality, informative and attractive content on your business social media. 

You might have stumbled upon some of this content on Facebook or Instagram, made by an official business account. The content is not only catered for people but also for SEO purposes. This helps drive traffic to the website not only from social media but also from organic listing in search engines.

Having your social media optimized for SEO would also help with your brand awareness and trustworthiness, especially among potential customers.

Advantage of Social Search Engine : 

• Increased visibility – Optimizing your social media content for social search engines like those on Facebook or Instagram can help your brand reach a wider audience and improve its discoverability.
• Better engagement – Social media platforms are designed for interaction in mind. Optimizing your social search allows you to engage directly with your audience, building a stronger relationship with your customer base.
• Higher trust – User generated content on social media plays a huge role in building trust. Reviews, recommendations, and interactions can boost your brand’s credibility and trust.

Disadvantage of Social Search Engine :

• Long term effort – Maintaining a strong presence in social media requires constant effort and time. You will need to be dedicated in engaging with the audience in order to build a strong followers base.
• Highly Competitive – The market in facebook is getting more competitive than before, you will have to spend more money and have the right marketing strategy to stand ahead.

5. Other Emerging SEM Strategies:

With the emergence of new technologies, the method and areas of implementing SEM would also need to constantly evolve. Here’s a glimpse into some currently growing areas:

• Voice Search Optimization: With the inventions of voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, optimizing your website for queries coming from voice searches are becoming increasingly important. Focus on natural language phrases people might use in spoken searches.
• Image Search Optimization: Optimizing your website’s images with relevant keywords and alt tags to improve their ranking in image search results helps to cater to people searching specifically for the image. 

Advantage of focusing on emerging SEM : 

• Better prepared for the incoming trend – Investing your effort and energy into emerging SEM strategies allow you to gain a competitive edge. As these strategies become more popular, you will have a better understanding which gives you an advantage over others
• Larger user pool – Emerging SEM strategies allow you to harness a larger pool of audience due to lower competitors. This would also allow you to build a stronger customer base when the SEM strategies matured.

Disadvantage of focusing on emerging SEM :

• No proven method – Emerging SEM lacks an established best practices or strategy for benchmark. This might make it harder to measure the success and optimization effort effectively, leading to a higher experimentation phase and potentially wasted resources.
• Might be the wrong choice of focus – Digital landscapes change rapidly, and not all emerging SEM strategies will be adopted by the masses. There’s a possibility that the emerging strategies you’ve been working on fail to gain traction, leaving you with wanted resources and effort.

Summary of the Top 5 Benefits of SEM

1. Faster Results than SEO alone

SEM is able to yield faster results for your site in terms of traffic and visibility compared to SEO. This feat is achieved by using PPC, or Google Ads. PPC campaigns allow your website to be seen by your audience as soon as the campaign is launched. 

2. Effect Last Longer than PPC

While PPC allows instantaneous results, it also means that when your campaign has ended, so does your website’s visibility to the user. By implementing SEO into the strategy, the exposure achieved by the PPC campaign will be redirected into the SEO efforts.

3. Improve Brand Trust

Being both on the organic and paid listing helps to improve the trust users have towards your brand. Study shows that users are more likely to click on the PPC ads if they see your website being listed on the organic listing as well. This is because seeing the website being listed on organic search acts as a sign that the website is trustable. 

4. Great for Limited Time Sales or Focused Traffic

SEM is a great way to boost exposure during limited time sales. Having both listing on PPC and organic listing increases the probability of them clicking on either, and having an organic listing improves the probability of them clicking on your PPC advertisement. 

5. Targeted Audience

Using multiple elements of SEM allows you to better target your audience for specific service and specific stage of buying intent. PPC is beneficial in providing a direct exposure to a certain page, which is great for promotion or sales. SEO is able to provide exposure for article and specific website content, helping your business gain its spot as a credible and trusted source of info.

Conclusion

SEM offers a diverse tool for businesses to increase their online presence. To recap, here are the SEM method we had covered in this article:

• SEO : Improve organic ranking through website optimization. Ideal for long term brand awareness and organic traffic growth (e.g., new electronics online store without existing customer base) at a low cost. SEO also helps build trust and credibility online.
• PPC Ads : Allows you to target ads for specific keywords on search engines, which can give quick traffic to your website with detailed data for further optimization. It’s ideal for short term boosts like during a limited time online sales.
• Local Search Marketing : Improve business presence for localized customers. Perfect method for business with physical stores or location based services like plumbers or aircond installers.
• Social Search Engine Optimization : Using social media for content promotion, brand awareness, and potential SEO benefits. This method is ideal for established businesses with strong social media followings.
• Other Emerging SEM : Consider voice and image search optimization for the future. As AI assistants like Siri and Alexa grows, users will increasingly search using voice and image. Optimizing these aspect will help future-proof your business. You might also want to take a look at our article regarding the latest AI features in Google Search.

Remember, the best SEM strategy doesn’t necessarily stick to only one of these approaches. By tailoring your SEM strategy and method to your specific business goals and target audience, you will be able to attract more visitors to your website, increase leads conversion, and achieve lasting success online. Take the first step today and explore the world of SEO & SEM at BrandSwift!