Search Engine Marketing is a form of online advertising that enables avertisers to target searchers by showing an appropriate ad which matches to the user’s search (also referred to as “search queries”). On nearly all search engines, these sponsored ads can be found at the top and on the right hand side of the search results page.

How search engine marketing works: Advertisers pay whenever one of their ads has been clicked on by a user searching for the targeted term. Search engines allow multiple advertisers to bid on the same search term, displaying ads typically in descending order of ad revenue value to the search engine. In a simplistic way, the higher your bid and the better your ad, the more likely the search engine is to place your ad above other competing advertisers with lower bids or ads of lower quality.

The key components for this form of online advertising which influence the success of the campaign are:

THE KEYWORD:
which search term you’d like to target with your ad

THE BID:
how much you’re willing to pay for each click

THE AD:
consisting of the Title, Description, display URL

THE LANDING PAGE:
what page on your site the user after they click on your ad

Of the two active marketing strategies we recommend, search marketing is by far the more easily controllable, immediate and scalable, making it ideal for advertisers of any size. Moonlight Marketing can assist with campaign set up, training and monthly management of search marketing campaigns.

Need some assistance in setting up your search marketing campaigns? Contact us!

 See also:
Search Engine Optimization | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Process