By Faisal Ahmed Khan,1st Sem-MBA,

HKBK-CE.

Definition:

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through optimization and advertising. SEM may use search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages, or use pay per click (PPC) listings.

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History of SEM:

The term "Search Engine Marketing" was proposed by Danny Sullivan in 2001 to cover the spectrum of activities involved in performing SEO, managing paid listings at the search engines and developing online marketing strategies for businesses, organizations, and individuals.

As the number of sites on the Web increased in the mid-to-late 1990s, search engines started appearing to help people find information quickly. Search engines developed business models to finance their services, such as pay per click programs offered by Open Text in 1996 and then Goto.com in 1998.

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Google also began to offer advertisements on search results pages in 2000 through the Google AdWords program. By 2007, pay-per-click programs proved to be primary moneymakers for search engines.

Search engine optimization consultants expanded their offerings to help businesses learn about and use the advertising opportunities offered by search engines, and new agencies focusing primarily upon marketing and advertising through search engines emerged.

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Market:

In 2012, North American advertisers spent US$19.51 billion on search engine marketing. The largest search engine marketing (SEM) vendors were Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Baidu. As of 2006, SEM was growing much faster than traditional advertising and even other channels of online marketing. Managing search campaigns is either done directly with the SEM vendor or through an SEM tool provider. It may also be self-serve or through an advertising agency.

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Methods:

The following are the categories of methods used to optimize websites through search engine marketing:

PPC( Pay Per Click): In this, the marketers pay only when their ads are clicked upon by users after which they land up on the respective client website. On the other hand, there are ads that appear either on top or just nearby the natural search results. These are called sponsored links in Google. The marketers bid for different keywords in this method. These are the terms, which a searcher is believed to type in a search engine’s query box to search for the desired service or product. When a surfer types in any particular term in the query box, which matches the marketer’s keywords, the respective ads show up as sponsored links.

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Organic or Natural Search: This is done by Keyword research and analysis: Ensuring the site can be indexed in the search engines, finding the most relevant and popular keywords for the site and its products, and using those keywords on the site in a way that will generate and convert traffic. As online searching is often the first step for potential consumers/customers, the search perception impact shapes the brand impression for each individual.

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Paid Inclusion: In paid inclusions, the marketers will pay a certain amount to the search engines as charges to include its site in the search index/result pages. Also known as sponsored listings, paid inclusion products are provided by most search engine companies either in the main results area, or as a separately identified advertising area.

The fee structure is both a filter against superfluous submissions and a revenue generator. Typically, the fee covers an annual subscription for one webpage, which will automatically be catalogued on a regular basis. However, some companies are experimenting with non-subscription based fee structures where purchased listings are displayed permanently.

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Each search engine is different. Some sites allow only paid inclusion, although these have had little success. More frequently, many search engines, like Yahoo! use mix paid inclusion (per-page and per-click fee).

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Advantages Vs Disadvantages of SEM:

Drives targeted traffic to the company’s site 24/7

Cost effective

Easy to implement

Measurable

Requires constant monitoring

Time consuming

Expensive (PPC)

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Varies from company to company.

Importance:

Search engines were not important to some industries in the past, but over the past years the use of search engines for accessing information has become vital to increase business opportunities worldwide. And SEM is now the most cost effective marketing strategy which is also easily available for businesses.

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Any Questions?

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Thank You

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