We are kick-starting a series of blog post to bring you from 0 to 100% Google Ads expert. Complete this series, and you can attempt to get certified by Google for their Ads Product. You can find the previous post of this series: Google Ads Campaign Types

Understanding Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It encompasses strategies aimed at increasing a website's visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). 2 main ways: organic search optimization (SEO) and paid advertising, which is SEM.

How Search Engines Work

Search engines like Google utilize complex algorithms to crawl, index, and rank web pages based on their relevance and authority. The primary purpose of a search engine is to show user useful content. With that in mind, creating authentic, non-ai, new content is the best way to get their attention. Thus, in SEO, we look at the keywords you want Google search to take note and letting Google know that you have the best content for that topic. We will talk a bit more on SEO in the further parts.

The Role of Paid Advertising

If you are new, Google don't know if you are a good website at all. With 0 authority, it is hard to get Google attention. With Google Ads, you can create compelling ads that appear prominently on SERPs, driving qualified traffic to your website. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, making it a cost-effective advertising solution. Over time, your SEM will help to build your SEO and hopefully SEO traffic will exceed your SEM traffic.

Benefits of Google Ads

Google Ads offers a list of benefits!

• Increased Visibility: Your ads appear at the top of SERPs, ensuring maximum exposure to your target audience.
• Targeted Reach: Tons of levers to play with! You can precisely target your ads based on keywords, demographics, location, and other criteria, reaching the right people at the right time. Users who are seeing your ads likely are searching for the exact topic you want your website to be known for. Thus, making it a high performance marketing channel.
• Measurable Results: Google Ads provides detailed analytics, allowing you to track clicks, impressions, conversions, and other key metrics, enabling you to optimize your campaigns for better performance. Pair it with Google Analytics to make it even better!
• Cost-Effective: You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, ensuring you get the most out of your advertising budget.
• Brand Awareness: Even if people don't click on your ads, they still see your brand, increasing brand awareness and recognition.

Conclusion

In the upcoming posts, we'll dive deeper into creating effective ad campaigns, keyword research, ad copywriting, bidding strategies, and much more.

Next post, we will look into creating an ads account.