Understanding Search Engine Marketing and Paid Search Advertising

Although most people have heard the acronym "SEO," not everybody understands how search engine optimization relates to the overall concept of search engine marketing. Optimizing your web site to get higher rankings in the search engines is considered to be part of the overall concept of SEM. However, in most cases the term "search engine marketing" or "SEM" is used to refer to the practice of purchasing search listings. Paid search engines can be a great way of getting a lot of traffic to your site, and can be a good use of your advertising dollars. However, the practice of paid search advertising has been the source of more than a bit of controversy over the years.

Advantages of Paid Search Advertising

Paying for search advertising can be a good way of increasing traffic to your site, especially if you focus your advertising efforts on search terms that are very relevant to your site. In many cases, people who are searching on the Internet are actively looking for products and services, so you are dealing with people who are ready to buy. Studies have shown that most people do not go more than a page or two into the search results, so it's important to rank high on the page for searches that are relevant to your products and services. By paying for search advertising, you will be assured of prominent placement, which can definitely increase the number of people who click on your link and access your site. Studies have also shown that search links can produce outstanding conversion rates, outperforming e-mail marketing campaigns and banner ads.

Utilizing Paid Search Advertising

For most businesses, paid search advertising has become part of the price of doing business on the Internet. The demand for this kind of marketing continues to grow, largely based on the effective returns businesses receive with this kind of advertising. In many cases, SEM may account for up to half of a company's online advertising budget. Additionally, paid search is currently the primary driver for revenue for most of the popular search engines. Although there have been a number of different models for this kind of advertising over the years, it is currently based primarily on a pay-per-click model with auction-based pricing. The various search engines use different criteria to determine which ads are displayed on which pages, and in what order. In most cases, the ads that are most likely to generate the most revenue are the ones that appear first.

Controversies to Consider

Over the years, there have been heated controversies in regards to how search engines present advertising and paid listings on their sites. Some people feel that these paid links tend to dilute the relevancy of search terms, since these paid links will always appear before any other site links in the search results. There has also been quite a bit of controversy over trademark and branding issues. Some companies have rules in place that prohibit other individuals from bidding on their brand names or even branded terms. You should always make sure to understand all the various legal issues before you purchase paid links.

Wolf21 Inc is a Toronto SEO company specializing in search engine optimization and pay per click advertising.