Search

Search Engine Marketing: Let’s Clear Up The Confusion & Misunderstandings About It (Part 1)

Casey Pilgrim
Aug 7, 2015
5 min read

I’ve been involved with Search Engine Marketing for more than a decade now, dating back to when I first starting talking to businesses about the importance of being found when people are searching online for the products and services businesses offer. Over the years, I have had conversations with some who have never delved into paid search, some who were currently doing it either well or not so well, and some who gave paid search a go but eventually terminated their campaigns. For those who shut their campaigns off with the intent to never run again, the reasons given for doing so were typically all very similar and summed up this way: “It didn’t work.” But, based on what I’ve seen over the past decade, just because you have run search campaigns doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve truly experienced what paid search has to offer.

There are many misnomers out there as it pertains to SEM, whether it be why an advertiser has resisted trying SEM or reasons presented by those who did try but failed. So I thought it was worth bringing up some things that I’ve heard over the years, as well as the points I have attempted to make (sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully) in order to encourage businesses to rethink their positions regarding the value and need for paid search advertising. There are many, so I will cover this topic in a series of posts, so that you don’t confuse my posts with War & Peace.

“I have an SEO strategy; I don’t need SEM.”

There is a lot of confusion out there regarding SEO and SEM, and there are some who will tell you that with a good SEO strategy, there is no need for SEM. My experience, however, has been that there are very few situations I have come across where SEO is all that an SMB (small or medium business) needs to dominate SERPs (search engine results pages). The reality is that SEO is generally limited in scope, as it pertains to the number of keywords that one can legitimately receive a Page 1 ranking, whereas SEM is not bound by keyword limitations. If you owned a women’s clothing boutique, for example, your SEO strategy might cover broader keywords like “women’s clothing”, “women’s apparel”, or “women’s boutique”, but keywords that get into the specific brands that the boutique may carry, the various neighboring geographies that are within a reasonable distance of the business, and endless number of different ways that people search for products that the boutique offers can lead to a mile-long list of keywords that an SEO strategy would not likely make sense to address. SEM can provide coverage for keywords that fall outside of those that are included in an SEO strategy. As such, SEO and SEM should typically both be components of an overall strategy to have a strong presence in search engines, as opposed to one versus the other.

“My paid ads weren’t showing up, so I cancelled.”

Most often, when someone makes this statement, it all started with expectations not being properly set before the campaign went live. For SEM providers (vendors), they should feel a responsibility to set these expectations up front, as I have learned that is a frequent deal-killer. If an advertiser pays to show up in searches, they typically expect to actually show up in searches. So when they do not, there is often a perception that the vendor is not delivering on the promise. Here are some of the more common reasons that ads don’t show up at the frequency expected by the advertiser:

The geography and/or scope of keywords being covered by the campaign was too large for the budget provided. The budget needed to support an SEM campaign where 100% impression share (showing up for every search) occurs is something that should be known by all parties before setting up an SEM campaign. With this information available, a conversation can take place that puts some perspective to the budget being implemented. For example, let’s say that a business desired to show up for relevant searches within 50 miles of the business’ location. And let’s suppose that in order to show up for all the searches taking place within that 50-mile radius, the recommended budget is $3000 per month. If the SEM campaign was set up with only a $750 per month budget, then the expectation should be set that the paid ads will only show up for approximately 25% of those available searches unless it is decided that the radius or keyword list is to be reduced, which would result in a lowered recommended budget. If the campaign were adjusted to a 10-mile radius, for example, this may lead to the recommended budget being reduced to $1,000 per month. Now, a $750 per month budget would result in showing up for 75% of searches within the newly defined radius. Unfortunately, rarely does this level of education come from an SEM provider, and as such, campaigns get dropped due to perceived failure to deliver.
The keywords you expected to show up for were not included in the campaign. Customization of campaigns is another important aspect of a campaign. Having this conversation and communicating expectations are key to a campaign that ultimately lives up to its potential. In many instances, the particulars regarding specific keywords are not discussed, and this typically leads to frustration on the customer’s part when they do not appear. It is the provider’s responsibility to have some idea of which broader keywords make sense for the campaign being executed, but it is through a dialog with the customer that some more specific keywords can be determined and included in the campaign. For example, the provider should know that “women’s jeans” is a broader keyword to be included, but through conversation with the customer, it may be determined that “Lucky Jeans” is a specific brand they carry and desire to have a paid presence. Without a thorough understanding of the business by the vendor, these keywords are left to the wayside and lead to no presence when those keywords are searched.
You’re not bidding enough to get your ad to appear. Another thing that prevents an ad from appearing is not bidding enough to get it placed. While a good quality score can help improve ones position in the search engines, the maximum cost-per-click one is willing to pay is still an essential factor in getting the ad to appear. Managing CPCs (cost-per-click) can be tricky when doing it manually…or to say it another way…without the aid of sophisticated software to help manage a bid strategy in real time. One can run the risk of not only bidding so low that the ad never appears, but also overbidding, resulting in paying more than was necessary to get a proper placement. Position matters. Priority one should be to show up. And once that is taken care of, one should make sure the bid strategy is one that makes sense for your business and what you are looking to accomplish online.

There are other causes of ads not showing up, but those previously listed are the most common.

In future posts, I will address the following reasons people stop SEM campaigns or don’t do them at all: