It’s a fact: consumers use search engines to research on and offline purchases.

Approximately 87% of online Canadians use search and 13% of North American Internet users report frequently clicking on sponsored listings.

Search engine marketing is hands down the most successful method of online advertising. For one simple reason: you are advertising your product or service to people who are actively looking for your product or service. Display ads, online sponsorship, or email campaigns simply do not have the same targeted consumer synergy.

What are sponsored listings?

Sponsored listings are keyword driven cost per click ads that run down the right hand side of search engine results. You can also find them at the very top of the search page. These listing have been paid for by organizations seeking click throughs. Ads are displayed based on the keywords entered into the search engine and the position of the ad is determined by the “bid” made for the ad. Organizations determine how much they want to spend per day on ads and their sponsored listing is displayed until the click throughs spend the daily budget. Then the ads stop until the next day.

We know from experience using search engine marketing for our clients that, even with a small budget, website traffic increases of 25% or more can be obtained as a direct result of sponsored listings.

Why sponsored listings work

I often hear clients say that they never click on sponsored listings because they think of them as spam. I say one person’s spam is another person’s treasure.

Sponsored listings work because you are providing a relevant link to a relevant site directly to the people searching for it. I want to buy a widget and look, ABC company is advertising widgets for sale! What organizations need to realize is that often the search results in the sponsored listings are more relevant to the user than the organic search results.

For example, let’s say I’m looking to buy a how to book on Photoshop. I type “photoshop book” into Google. The organic results are very specific – they list titles of books about Photoshop. In the sponsored listings, however, I see a link to the “Computer Books” section of Chapters/Indigo. I suddenly consider that I’d like to see a listing of all the books on the topic from a reputable source and I don’t want to click through the Google results one by one. I decide to check out the Chapters page. See how it got me?

SEM for SEO – 2 birds, really effective stone.

But wait, there’s more. Running a sponsored listings campaign can improve your organic results (SEO). What’s that, you say?

That’s right. Google tracks everything. If, for example, the majority of users looking for “photoshop book” click on the Chapters ad instead of anything in the page 1 organic listings, Google will start ranking the computer book page for Chapters higher in the organic listings, maybe eventually even on page 1. Why? Remember that Google’s mission is to provide the best search results. Period. And if users are telling Google that the Chapters page is more useful to them than the other results, Google will pay attention.

Google also tracks how long users stay on the clicked through sites, so it’s not enough to send users to your site – it needs to be engaging when they get there or Google won’t increase your ranking!

Avoid the Fire and Forget

The biggest mistake people make with their search engine marketing is they set their keywords, write their ad and let it run as is for months.

The key to successful search campaigns is optimization. Write multiple ads for one campaign and check back to see which one is outperforming the rest. Once identified, test variations of it to figure out what messaging specifically is making it successful. See if similar messaging works for your other campaigns.

Tie your ads to an action and make sure to send them to a page that offers that action, like Start Search Today!

SEM is a marketing priority

Search engine marketing is so effective, it’s the one piece of advertising we insist on for our clients. We simply don’t allow them to make the investment into a new website without the commitment to drive sales through it using a search campaign.

It’s just that good.