Organic search is when consumers type search terms into their browser and the search engines present websites (pages and pages of them) they deem relevant to your search query and other ranking factors. Unless someone types your company’s name or URL into the search bar, they’re going to get countless results related to your search. That is why your business needs paid search.

What Is Paid Search

Paid search, or search engine marketing (SEM), is part of your company’s advertising budget and yields much different results. You’ve likely heard this referred to as “pay-per-click” (PPC) ad. These search engine ads look just like the organic search results, but you’ll see “Ad” above them, and they appear at the top or sidebar of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Those paid slots are a powerful way to get your name and website in front of the people who are searching for what you offer—and generate more website traffic to your landing page or special offer to build your customer base and in turn, conversions..

Businesses of any size can use SEM to reach their target audience online, build brand awareness, capture more leads, and sell more goods or services. If you’re a small business that wants big reach, paid search marketing should be in your marketing mix.

How Paid Search Works

Paid search engine marketing uses a back-end auction system to get your ads shown based on careful keyword planning and the daily or per-click budget your business sets. This article explains how the bidding system works in clear language.

When a consumer types in a query, the search engine conducts an instantaneous comparison of all possible websites to be shown according to specific keywords, budget, and certain quality factors to assess relevance and determine which ads to show (and where) on the page. Given the billions of daily online searches (over 3.5 billion a day on Google!), imagine having your ad/website show up to consumers at various steps along the customer journey (researching, comparing/reviewing/strong intent to buy).

Why Your Business Needs Paid Search

  •  Strong targeting – Google Ads enable you to use multiple keywords directly related to what users are searching for. As a digital marketing agency, Metro Valley Advertising also uses certain targeting tools to home in on a more focused audience. The granular targeting ability of paid search will draw more of them to your website.
  •  Easy, fast execution – You can execute PPC campaigns relatively quickly once your keywords and phrases are selected. There’s nothing to design since these are not display ads, and your visibility in search is vastly increased over other tactics that take longer to deliver results. Your company will show up right away for the keywords you are targeting.
  •  Actionable analytics – SEM returns data about your campaign’s performance that measures results for each ad, keyword, or even by user. The analytics reports provide a good picture of what’s working best, with metrics that guide PPC campaign optimization. The Google Analytics on your website also provide visibility into user engagement there, to inform content.
  •  Flexible optimization – Your campaign manager should be monitoring and optimizing your campaign and making changes to strengthen your PPC ad’s performance. It is easy to update keywords, ad copy and ad extensions, and the landing page that links to the ad. Depending on the competitive value of certain keywords and the engagement any given keyword delivers, you can turn off one and focus on another, or try A/B testing to compare campaign elements.
  •  Cost effective – You only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it (rather than pay for impressions). Although you pay for each click, SEM can be a cost-effective way to grow sales when weighed against the ROI of attaining new customers or sales. There is no minimum spending requirement so you can start with a small budget (although bigger budgets typically yield better results). And remember, most users who click on your ad are interested in reading about your goods or services. As you review your metrics, you can tweak your campaign to deliver better results (and potentially, a lower cost per click)

 How To Excel At Paid Search

A critical component of your SEM campaign is working with a digital marketing agency that understands how to select the best keywords based on planning tools and competition, and can tweak your campaign based on analytics reports. If you want to learn more about how Metro Valley Advertising can help get your website in front of more consumers, contact us at (845) 547-2463 or metrovalleyadv@gmail.com