Search Engine Marketing is the digital art of reaching customers where and when they are searching over the internet. Imagine a customer searching for “the best laptop for digital work” on Google. SEM surfaces your ad in the top search results increasing the chances of people clicking and buying the product. You pay this service per click (PPC) – meaning you pay when searchers click on your ad.

SEM combined with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a great strategy to increase return on investment. You can get leads and conversions fast using SEM as you build your audience with SEO over time. Both SEM and SEO use keywords – the words people type into Google and other search engines to find information, products, and services. Sometimes you can test keywords using paid ads first to see which ones work before investing resources in search engine optimization for those phrases. If a business is local, target local customers by adding location-based keywords to appear in search locally.

SEM is not just for Google. Depending on the industry you’re in, you can leverage LinkedIn Ads, Facebook Ads, Amazon Sponsored ads, Instagram, and TikTok among others. Your success will depend on balancing bids to keep the Advertising Costs of Sales (ACOS) as low as possible with the best return. Aiming for an ACOS between 15% and 25% is a great place to target.