SEM- Search Engine Marketing is an online marketing strategy in which organizations buy targeted ad space at the top of search engine result pages to display the advertisements of their products and services.

SEM is a set of tools and techniques that facilitates the optimization of website visibility through various search engines. The results are usually displayed at the top of the page and in the right column. 

How is SEM different from SEO

SEO which is known as “Search Engine Optimization” is the practice of structuring content in such a way so that it ranks high in organic search results which are the unpaid content listings on a results page. Some of the key features of SEO are listed below:

• It relies on the limited knowledge of the secret ranking factors which is also known as signals that search engines like Google use.
• Depending on the evolving algorithms, SEO methods are constantly changing to keep up with the pace.
• The results driven by SEO rank directly below paid searches.

The SEOs that are successful relies on creating useful, authoritative and trusted content. SEO practitioners take the following steps to rank their pages:

• Increasing the number of external webpages linking to a page, also known as backlinks.
• Identifying and adding relevant keywords to content;
• Expanding trust signals based on website security, cumulative site traffic and user engagement; and
• Ensuring the website provides a good user experience (UX).

SEM focuses mainly on using paid advertising to increase traffic through services such as Google ads or Bing ads. The key aspects of SEM are as follows:

• It is based on keyword analysis. Marketing departments identify meaningful keyword terms that might draw users to a webpage. Just like SEO practitioners, search engine marketers use keyword planner tools to identify keyword phrases that the audiences are searching for. Later based on that, they buy an ad space on the results pages from the search engine provider for the search terms they want to target.
• SEM paid search results rank at the top of the SERP.
• SEM benefits webpages by making them easy to scan by web crawlers and include trust signals such as linking to other websites.

Advantages of SEM

Following are the reasons why SEM marketing strategies are important for any business:

• Digital Marketing- Purchasing things online is very popular among customers these days. It has become the most reliable way of shopping in this advancing era. SEM campaigns attempt to expand the reach of their potential customers by identifying and using keywords that would attract people who are most likely to be interested in the desired product or service. SEM campaigns usually target with the most profitable keywords that are not so common.
• High Conversion Rates- SEM Marketing helps position an organization’s product right in the front of customers directly when they are ready to make a purchase. For example, by purchasing an ad for a product keyword -- "food processor," for example -- customers looking to buy a food processor online will see a company's product ad first. An organization’s customer conversion rates automatically get increased as soon as the visitor clicks on the ad to make a purchase.
• Speed- SEM is responsible to display products and services right in front of customers immediately by placing them at the very top of SERPs. The speed of SEM strategy is much faster as compared to SEO strategy in shaping the content.
• PPC model- The PPC- Pay per click model is a cost-effective strategy that enables organizations to pay only when their ad gets clicked. Organizations can also control the expenditure amount on such campaigns by setting a maximum cost per click (CPC) and daily budget.
• Increased Organic Rankings and Trust Signals- An increase in traffic to a page through paid ads ultimately increases the overall traffic to a page and enhances trust signals ranked by Google. In case a product performs well through an SEM campaign, it organically ranks higher on SERPs, and SEM is no longer needed.
• Segmentation- In order to target specific kinds of users, SEM campaigns can even control on geographical locations, languages and online behaviours ensuring they only reach those users who might be interested in their product or services.
• Deep Insight- In case of real-time detailed reports on the state and evolution of any SEM campaigns tools like Google Analytics is the most famous one to be used. This gives useful insights into how SEM campaign ads are performing, which helps organizations analyze how they could improve their campaign.

Limitations of SEM

SEM also has some drawbacks too. Some of these are listed below:

• Cost- SEM can become expensive over time, as organizations have to pay every time their ad is clicked on even though with an effective PPC model. There are no click- and ranking-related costs in the case of SEO.
• Competition- Buying ads and ensuring the top spot at the top of SERPs can become challenging and expensive depending on the targeted audience of the campaign. There’s a hike in CPC and related costs due to an increase in competition for companies to stand at the top spot.
• Customer trust and ad blockers- There are many customers who don't like to enjoy or trust ads and block them with ad blockers. Ads can be seen as disruptive and less trustworthy inbound marketing techniques, which generate organic search results.

SEM Keyword Research Strategies

Any SEM strategy becomes successful if and only if it’s able to identify and purchase ad space on the most effective keywords and long-tail keyword phrases related to a product or service. The intent of the keyword is very much important from the searcher’s point of view. It gives a behavioral idea of the user to identify what action he/she is likely to take on searching that specific keyword. SEM strategies focus on identifying and using relevant keywords that are most likely to drive a user in order to make a purchase.

Several tools help marketers identify the most important keywords which are as under:

• Clear scope.
• Google Ads Keyword Planner.
• Google Trends.
• Keyword Tool.

Ensuring that one is writing content the way one would be explaining it to someone over the phone helps captivate the user’s attention in a more focused way. It’s important to look beyond rankings and rather ensuring that a website is usable for everyone. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can be a powerful way to reach out to new customers and drive revenue to the company or organization through paid advertisements on good content.