Search Engine Ads
Search engine ads, often referred to as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), are ads that appear alongside organic search results when you enter a query into a search engine such as Google. Search engine ads allow you to bid on the keywords your target audience is most likely to use when searching for the products or services you provide. In bidding on those keywords, you are buying a spot in the sponsored links section of search results.
Search engine advertising offers marketers the unique opportunity to reach consumers at critical junctures in their purchase journey. You can serve customized and highly targeted advertisements to users who are researching, comparing products, or deal shopping with a number of ad formats and targeting options.
Unique Advantages of Search Engine Ads
According to smartinsights.com 68% of all website traffic comes from search engines. Search ads allow you to reach unprecedented numbers of people in budget-friendly ways. Search engine ads can be shown as text ads (search), photo ads (display) and video ads. Like social media ads, they are often pay-per-click, in which advertisers are charged when someone clicks on their ad. The key factor of search engine ads is that you can customize your ads’ appearance, calling out a specific sale, event or service you’re looking to promote.
Leveraging Different Platforms
Our team works to identify which type of search engine ads will provide the highest return on investment for your brand. We take into account the platforms your target audiences spend the most time on, engage with the most and are best for your budget. We then combine our knowledge of industry trends, historical data and what works (and doesn’t) to develop a strategy to reach your target audience. We have seen our clients succeed using all major platforms, including:
Google Ads
Google ads can either be shown on the search network or display network. Search ads are text ads that appear in the search engine results. Display ads can appear on other websites, like your local grocery store or a major online retailer. Are you a nonprofit? Make sure to check out Google Ad Grants—free ads for nonprofit organizations.
Bing Ads
Bing, which is owned by Microsoft, shows ads on their trio of search engines, Bing, Yahoo and AOL. Bing ads are growing in popularity, garnering 34 percent of desktop search engine market share. Bing ads often show to a different audience than Google, as 63 million searches happen annually on Bing search engines.
Google Shopping
Google Shopping has really taken off in the past few years, with both major and local retailers showcasing their products and services. Google Shopping ads are PPC and don’t charge a commission. Ad campaigns are highly customizable, allow you to showcase products listed on your website and offer the option to attract users with sales promotions.
Amazon Ads
Amazon ads allow you to run product ads in both search results and on individual product pages—even on your competitors’ product pages. We recommend utilizing Amazon ads now—with the platform’s manageable number of advertisers, you can take advantage of a less-crowded advertising ecosystem. Often Amazon ad clicks are cheaper than Google, but they do have commission fees.
How to Build Off of Search Engine Ads
Search engine ads work great in conjunction with Search Engine Optimization. When your web pages are outfitted with title tags, meta descriptions and image alt tags, click throughs and engagement with ads bring visitors to pages targeted to their interests. When ads shown on search engines mirror Social Media Ads, audiences will recognize your brand and continue to be reminded of your products and services.
