Search Engine Marketing
Bottom line, when someone searches for your business online, the highly ranked, relevant results will always outperform those lower ranking results. With a Search Engine Marketing strategy an advertiser to share their story with a potential client at exactly the time that the client has a need--when they sit down at their computer to search. Increasingly, buyers are informing their decisions from the Internet. If you can attract (not distract) their attention with relevant information, you increase the chances of engagement and sales.
When you perform a Google search results are divided into two key areas: Paid Results and Natural or Organic Results. Paid Results are Pay Per Click Advertisments ("PPC") where an advertiser bids on a keyword, and the advertiser yields a higher search rank when they score higher than the competition through a combination of bid dollar amount and quality score (of the linked page).
Rank Matters
The illustration below (provided by Eyetools) demonstrates the number of clicks on a Google search results page. The darker red area indicates more clicks. Obviously, the closer to the top left of the Google results (the higher the resulting position), the more clicks that search result receives.
Search Engine Marketing vs. Search Engine Optimization
You may have heard the terms used interchangeably, but they are not synonymous. Search Engine Optimization ("SEO") is a long term approach to increase the natural or organic ranking of a website in search results. The only way to accurately market a website is to have a good Search Engine Marketing plan that includes proven SEO strategies.
Factors that contribute to increased Search Engine Optimization:
- Validated web pages (XHTML, CSS)
- Solid site structure (with interlinking)
- Relevant linking strategy
- Inclusion in relevant directories