Execnology
Technology for Executives

Read this article if: You want to know what Search Engine Marketing is and how it can benefit your company.

It’s no surprise to anyone that the Internet has become the cornerstone of many Americans lives, and plays an important role in their daily routine. When looking at the impact of the Internet on society we have two extremes: the Gen Y generation, born and raised on computers and the Internet, all the way to seniors, many of whom still fear technology and prefer to get their information the old fashioned way. But no matter what age group you examine, the fact is that Internet usage within that group is increasing at a feverish pace as the years go by. And most people’s daily Internet journey begins at a search engine.

We hear the names Google, Yahoo and MSN - the heavy-hitters of the search engine world - on a daily basis, and odds are many of you reading this article used one of those three sometime today, maybe even to find this web site. The usage of search engines is growing at a furious pace, and with that comes a host of new opportunities for the savvy company or marketer who knows how to capitalize. Recent studies show that 85% of all web sessions begin at a search engine. Translation: Your target audience, no matter who they are or what they do, uses search engines. If you want to reach and engage them you’ve got to target them where they live: the search engine results pages. How do you obtain a strong presence on search engine results pages? With Search Engine Marketing.

Search Engine Marketing, simply put, is a multi-tiered online marketing approach whose goal is to increase the visibility of a web site within search engine results. The main, and most common, components of SEM are Search Engine Optimization (a.ka. SEO) and Pay-Per-Click advertising (a.k.a. PPC or Paid Search). SEO involves optimizing the actual code of a web site in order to get that site to rank higher for its target keywords in the ‘organic’, also called ‘natural’, search results. PPC advertising involves placing paid textual advertisements on search engine results pages, only paying when an ad is clicked. PPC advertisements are featured in the “Sponsored Links” area of search engine results pages. Below is a screenshot that clearly defines SEO and PPC in the context of a search engine results page:

Naturally it is important to have both a paid and organic search presence. Having both not only strengthens your visibility, as well as your brand, but it increases the likelihood that someone will click on one or the other, instead of one of your competitors listings.

SEO and PPC are very different animals. With SEO, the search engine chooses how your listing appears and decides where your web sites ranks for various keywords. If you’ve done a good job on SEO, your web site should rank highly and with optimal listings. Organic search rankings require a lot of upfront effort and investment, and seeing results can take weeks or months. However, after the initial investment SEO is 100% FREE traffic, and the benefits of proper SEO can last months, even years. With PPC, you’ve got an ongoing investment (you pay for each click), but you are limited only to the size of your wallet. You choose how your listing appears, you decide how highly it ranks, and you decide how many times you want it to be shown each day, and how many clicks you want to get. PPC is immediate; you can have ads running in a little as 15 minutes and get your message out there quickly.

No matter which method you choose - SEO, PPC, or both - Search Engine Marketing empowers you to reach your target audience where they live: the search engines. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling a product, service, or looking to hire the perfect candidate, Search Engine Marketing provides an extremely cost effective way for you to not only reach, but effectively engage, your target audience.

If you liked this article, stay tuned for future Search Engine Marketing articles including: The Cost of SEM, Measuring ROI from Search Engine Marketing Efforts, and much more.