How SEM (Search Engine Marketing) Works?

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The main purpose of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is to drive traffic to your website in order to turn those visitors into paying customers. With SEM, it’s very important to make your website placed at the top of the search engine result page. As very few internet users really go past the first few pages of search results.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) — How Does It Work?

To enable the search engines to work effectively they need to use some complicated algorithms. This ensures the most relevant and appropriate results are provided by the search queries based on the location and other available information. This paid search advertising operates in such a way that the paid sponsored ads either appear at the top or second on the search result page. 

This gives more attention and popularity to the paid advertised websites over other websites as compared with the unpaid or organic SEM. This is just how SEM works.

When you are running an SEM campaign you have to:

  • Choose a list of particular keywords related to the product, service, and website
  • Select a geographical position where you want the ads to be advertised
  • Make a related text-based ad that will appear on the results page of the search engine
  • Make a bid on the amount you are willing to pay for every click on the Ads

2 Types of Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can be divided into vital categories:

  • Organic Search Engine Marketing (Unpaid)
  • Inorganic Search Engine Marketing (Paid)

Organic Search Engine Marketing (Unpaid)

Organic SEM as you would imagine is a natural way to boost your ranking in search engines and thus drive traffic to your website. 

The most common type of organic SEM is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It involves doing some work into what keywords or phrases prospective customers are searching for when looking for products or services online. SEO also includes some digital marketing strategies such as web content writing, social media, customer reviews, and such.

Inorganic Search Engine Marketing (Paid)

At the start, it is very difficult to get a decent ranking when using organic SEM. Especially when you have a lot of smart competitors in the field. This is where you have to consider and invest in paid SEM. 

Pay Per Click (PPC) is the most common type of paid SEM. PPC Ads are the ones you see with the word “ad” written discreetly next to the link at the top of your Google search. 

This is basically how Search Engine Marketing works. It is not easy to know and do all of this stuff on your own. If you are thinking of running your own SEM campaign, we at MECACA Global Network are more than happy to help you. Contact MECACA Global Network today!

Official MECACA Blog