Every good marketer knows numbers matter. So when we run across a mind-blowing stat, we have to share it! According to the SEO analytics tool, Afrefs, “90.63% of pages get no organic traffic.” That means that 90% of content on the internet never reaches its intended audience.
So, why is it there?
Well, it’s easy to think if you launch a website, others will find it just by Googling your business. But that’s only sometimes the case! You need a search engine marketing strategy based on keyword research to keep your pages relevant with backlinks, metadata, search-relevant content, and more.
What’s a Search Engine Marketing Strategy?
If you’ve never heard of keywords, these are the little powerhouses responsible for bringing organic traffic to your website through search. Done right, keywords are thoughtfully selected and embedded into every aspect of your website, from the homepage to key product pages, metadata, and images.
High-performing keywords can increase your website traffic, generate leads, or even boost conversions or sales. They’re a big deal in marketing! But keywords are one aspect of seeing your marketing strategy take off. Paid search could also be a missing piece.
Paid Ad Campaigns
If we find a high-performing keyword relevant to our website, we can optimize it with paid search. This is a chance to supercharge any traffic, specifically local traffic, for businesses seeking attention in their area through geo-targeting and ranking metrics. Paid ad campaigns can significantly boost website traffic for your business or drive users to specific events, products, or seasonal promotions. Using the keywords you’ve identified in the initial keyword research phase is an opportunity to build on your existing search engine marketing strategy. Let’s get into some of the specifics of how to construct a paid ad campaign.
Ad Copy
What you say is almost as important as how you say it. Choosing the right words to appeal to your audience makes a huge difference with paid ad campaigns. Headlines and description lines are crafted to make an impression, and keeping it short and punchy is key. Researching your audience to know what resonates with them and using testing throughout your ad campaigns will help you discover how to make the most effective ad possible!
Design
An image is worth a thousand words, and when it comes to display ads, it’s especially true. One eye-catching image showcasing the best of what you offer can drive people to your call to action, whether it’s a landing page, a sign-up link, product page, free trial, or downloadable resource. Display ads must meet certain requirements for Google, so hiring an expert can help you select, size, and edit your image for high-resolution results.
Headlines
Headlines are a prominent part of any ad. Using descriptive text and keywords in headlines will help to optimize your ad for maximum viewership. Highlight your product or service in the most descriptive, accurate terms, and watch the leads roll in. There are character count limits, so try and keep it brief!
Display URL
The display URL is the page your traffic will land on after clicking on your ad. Consider what the user searched for and pick the best page to send them to for your display URL.
Landing Page Optimization
Landing pages are a creative and exciting way to align the selling points of your product offerings or services with keywords. Through appealing UX, imagery, and creative storytelling, landing pages can drive your website traffic to a particular call-to-action like subscribing, free trials, or purchasing.
Too much information can overwhelm the customer considering a buying decision, and too little will leave them wanting more. So it’s important to consider the user experience on your landing page and keep it compelling, but also as brief as possible.
Relevant and persuasive content can help engage or inform the audience about their purchasing decision, assisting your sales goals in an informative and helpful way. Landing pages can also be rich sources of marketing data. You can learn which pages or products resonate with your customers the most by looking at click-through rates, time on site, new users, and engagement.
Following the Trends: Staying on Top of Audience Shifts
Trends change, but bell bottoms are forever. One great reason to keep up with trends (aside from fashion advice) is to notice subtle but important shifts in your audience. This is especially important with consumer products to notice what competitors are doing in the space. Tracking and analyzing trends with search engine marketing is easy!
Keyword Trends
Tools like SEMRush, Afrefs, Moz, and others can help you get a pulse on what’s happening with user search and see potential gaps or openings your business can serve in the future. Marketing always has one eye on the past and one eye on the future, anticipating what will happen when the market or economy shifts. It’s important to stay updated on these business activities to stay relevant as a brand.
AI like Google’s Bard and ChatGPT
The world of content creation is flipped on its head forever. That’s in part due to powerful research, content aggregation, and automated writing tools like ChatGPT. If you haven’t tried it, it’s quite good, and it will certainly take some things off your plate in the creative process, but it isn’t a silver bullet just yet. Instead of fearing the doomsday predictions around AI (we’ve all seen the movies), what aspects have you tried using or onboarding for your own process? Google’s Bard aims to be a “helpful collaborator to supercharge your imagination, boost productivity, and bring ideas to life.”
Hyperlocal Search
Hyperlocal search is the kind of trend that’s always in (our personal favorite). But things are always changing in the search landscape (thanks, Google), so watching trends also matters in this space. For businesses who want the jump on their competitors, it’s essential to pay attention to your Google My Business listing (accuracy, updated address, business hours, industry designation) and to key in on the importance of using terms like the ‘near me’ suffix in your keyword strategy to capture those local searchers with geographic search.
Need Help With Your Search Engine Marketing Strategy?
Remember, search engine marketing is an ongoing process that requires monitoring, optimization, and adaptation. After learning these best practices, if you’re at the start of your journey with SEM campaigns, Savy’s digital marketing experts can help you get the ball rolling! You can improve your chances of running successful SEM campaigns and achieving your marketing goals. Let’s get started.