Search Engine Optimization is a strategy no business that has an online presence can do without. People are more likely to visit a site that appears higher in their search results as compared to the ones listed on second, third, or any other page that gets significantly less traffic. The first page of search engine results doesn’t essentially have to be unachievable by small businesses. With the right strategy of Search Engine Advertising, they can beat the competition and get an even better ranking.
One of the best ways small businesses can compete with larger brands is by generating more organic traffic. You can do this by getting yourself acquainted through SEO Digital Agencies which offer organic and paid SEO services.
What is Search Engine Advertising?
Search engine advertising (SEA) is a branch of E-commerce digital marketing. Advertisements in the form of text or images are posted on search engines such as Google (Google Ads) or Bing (Bing Ads). These ads then appear prominently in the SERPs. Search engine advertising allows you to display your paid advertisements on eminent search engines, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This form of advertising places your paid ads directly on the search engine result pages and related websites.
SEO services majorly focus on keywords, which also refers to PPC. Keyword advertising is essential as the users who search those specific keywords are shown those targeted ads on the top, which means that the business has to pay a fee every time a user clicks on that specific ad.
What are Search Engine Ads?
When someone searches for any products or services, the search engine’s results page that appears contains a list of organic and paid results. In Google Search results, paid ads are typically displayed as the top few results, and some are also displayed at the bottom of the page. Presently, Google marks paid search results with a small green “Ad” symbol next to them, to notify you that they are not organic.
Whereas, on Bing and Yahoo, search engine ads are displayed above, below, or next to the organic search results.
Search ads have a list of key elements that make them relevant to searches made by internet users. These include
- Headline
The headline is the first thing that appears in front of a viewer when they see a particular advertisement. It is supposed to be catchy, eye-grabbing, and should have engaging keywords that illustrate what the products or services are all about.
- Display URL
Search ads also allow advertisers to include a display URL in their ads. When the user clicks on this display URL, they are brought to the destination URL, i.e., the link to the landing page of the main website.
- Description Text
The description text allows the users to get all the information about the products or services that can be found on the page. This text should be persuasive enough to intrigue the consumers to click through the website and take a look at it.
- Ad Extensions
It is noticed that some ads appear much larger than the other results on the search page. This is because those include ad extensions, which implies that it is a way to get additional information into a search advertisement without affecting standard advert copy limits. Ad extensions increase the visibility of the ad and it has more chances of the users clicking on the specified ad.
Some commonly used ad extensions by advertisers today are- location extensions, call, site link, review, message extensions, and many more.
How exactly does Search Engine Advertising work?
To get started with Search Engine Advertising, the advertiser is supposed to define the keywords that are relevant to their business. Choosing the right keyword will also help to reach its target audience.
The selection of the right keywords for your ad campaign will help you to make your paid ad visible to more potential customers.
Some great tips while creating a keyword list for your ad campaign are
- Consider yourself in place of the customer while writing the list. Write down the words that are most relatable to your business, and also jot down the words that you think your potential clients might use to address your business.
- Choose specific keywords while targeting a particular category of audience. Select more of those keywords that are more in terms of the whole theme of your ad campaign. Applying more specific keywords helps you to be more visible with customers who search for that particular product or service.
- Group similar keywords into ad groups. To show more relevant ads to potential customers, group your keywords and ads into ad groups based on your products, services, and other categories. If multiple words match with a particular search, Google chooses the keyword-based on how it is ranked.
Once the keyword research is done, then the advertisers have to place a bid for that particular keyword. The max CPC (cost per click) bid refers to the maximum amount that an advertiser is willing to pay when someone clicks on the ad.
Based on the bid and the keyword phrase that is being used, the search engine where the ad is being displayed will begin the process of assigning a quality score to the ad, which will determine its rank and position on the search engine results page. The quality score demonstrates how well your ad addresses the issues and search expectations of your target audience and the search engines utilize it to give searchers the most valuable outcomes conceivable.
The calculated quality score considers several factors including-:
• Click-through rate
• Landing page
• Historical performance
• Ad relevancy
• Keyword relevancy
• Etc.
Quality Score x Highest CPC bid= Top Ranked Ads
Advantages of SEO Advertising
- Cost-effective
SEO Advertising is particularly advantageous for small businesses as it is a fast and effective way to grow your business. Search engine advertising is a cost-effective way to improve businesses and brands, as appearing high up in the SERPs makes brands and products more visible.
- Pay-per-click
SEA helps you to reach your target audience as it involves Pay-per-click services which are highly targeted. To make sure that your business is profitable, this service allows you to pay for only those ads that generate conversions, hence giving you more control over your campaign.
- Helps generate conversions and create long-lasting relationships
SEA also helps to maintain long-lasting relationships with clientele. It makes it easy for customers to find your business online, get all the required information about your brand that is required by them, make an instant connection, and stay engaged with your brand.
- Highly measurable
SEA allows in-depth analysis and detailed success tracking for the ongoing campaigns. Websites like Google and Bing give you a detailed report about the performance of your campaign. You have full access to your ongoing strategies and you can devise further plans based on how your current campaigns are performing.
The two major trends that are the future of Search Engine Advertising
Targeted Advertising
It has been predicted that a detailed keyword list is necessary, but won’t be enough in the near future. Ad will be a more personalized experience based on information like location, the device used, etc. This will ensure that your campaigns are highly profitable.
Voice Search
With the increasing popularity of voice search, advertisers need to acknowledge the significance and include certain key aspects of voice search and make certain changes in their advertising strategies to make way for this upcoming trend.
Although search engine advertising is not considered to be a part of SEO, Search Engine Advertising do have an impact on the ranking of a website. SEA is therefore an indirect SEO measure.
Thus, we can say that SEO Advertising is a quick and reliable method of digital marketing where search engines use complex algorithms to deliver the exact results people need and generate leads resulting in a higher number of conversions. This helps small businesses to compete not just with other small businesses, but huge corporations as well.
