How to Use SEM Strategy for Online Stores: Quick Guide

• SEM

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a complex strategy involving ad-to-parts: advertising in search engines, organic search results (SEO), and paid ads like PPC.

With millions of people exploring Google every day to find all kinds of products and services, the implementation of SEM is not just a need. It’s a must. Consider this: only last year, in 2023, Google held 92.61% of the global search market, which means every time someone tried to find anything related to your goods, they googled.

Thus, advertising on Google is crucial for any e-commerce store aiming to grab the attention of its target customers and increase sales. That’s why we will cover the essentials of SEM for e-commerce and how to use it for online stores.

Why Does Your Online Store Need SEM
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is necessary for any online store as it assists in attracting the right customers, enhances exposure, and increases conversions. We have gathered brief points to make it easier for you to understand the scope of work that search engine marketing covers.

1. Improve Brand Visibility and Awareness

SEM guarantees that your online store is included on page one of the search results, thereby increasing the probability of being seen by potential customers.

 

 

The paid advertisement brings brand exposure to potential customers who probably do not know the brand and lets them get familiar with it.

2. Targeted Traffic Coming to Your Online Store

With SEM, you can set keywords curatively according to your products. Thus, your advertisement gets associated with the advertisement of those users who are primarily searching for the commodity you sell.

For example, demographics, geographical location, and search intent are other options to create highly targeted audiences.

3. Makes It Immediate

If you are just starting your online store, SEM will help you drive traffic to it quickly. Unlike SEO, where ranking and traffic build over time, SEM instantly offers visibility and traffic from when your campaigns go live.

4. Increased ROI due to Measurable Performance

You can track the performance of SEM supports by measuring click-through rates (CTR), impressions, conversion rates, and even ROI on a paid advertising campaign in real-time.

All this information advances your understanding of how effectively your invested funds work for your strategies, thus optimizing your campaigns.

5. Best for Seasonal Campaigns and Promotions

SEM works excellent for limited-time promotions, discounts, or product launches, ensuring they reach during the relevant period and taking them to maximum exposure while the need arises.

You may scale up and down your budgets based on your promotional calendar.

6. Increase Conversions through Retargeting

Google AdWords-type SEM programs also have a retargeting feature, which helps show ads to users who see your website but do not convert.

This keeps your storefront of the brain, prompting users to return to purchase.

If you think that this is the complete list of benefits, you couldn’t be more wrong. It reaches far more than we have listed. However, to harvest all of them, you will need the assistance of experts to craft a great SEM for your e-commerce store and ensure your success.

Start a Google Ads Account

There is no way you can have any marketing campaign with a Google ads account. So, the first stop is getting your account on the run.

Typically, the process consists of:

• Registration in Google Ads, providing billing information.

• Defining the objectives of your campaign – i.e., traffic generation to a website, lead generation, branding improvement, etc.

• Choose a campaign type: Search Network, Display Network, etc.

• Structuring your keywords in ad groups focused on similar topics.

• Write compelling ad copy that contains your targeted keywords and includes a strong CTA (call to action).

Now, this seems pretty easy, right? However, keep in mind that this is just the beginning of the long road ahead. And to make sure that the road will bring results, you have to do it smoothly, so if you encounter any difficulties, contact Google support.

Research For Relevant Keywords

The next step you will need to take is finding the keywords you will use in your campaign.

The benefit of great keywords is the ease with which the visitors will find your online store since the Google Ads algorithm connects keywords to search queries geared towards products, services, or informational-related searches associated with your business.

 

 

That’s why you will need to bid on a keyword to have your ad appear on the SERP for those search terms.

You can choose from three types of keywords to bid on:

Exact Match: Your ad appears for search queries with your chosen keyword that best describes your product. For example, if you are selling hats, “winter hats” can help your shop appear in search results.

Phrase Match: This type triggers your ad as long as some close variations of your keyword are included in the search. For example, if your target keyword is “winter hat,” the word that can also make your store appear.

Broad Match: Your ad may show a range of related search queries to your keyword.

For example, the phrase head cover can also help your store appear if your keyword is “winter hat.”

Keyword targeting and bidding is one of the crucial aspects of search engine marketing and requires experience to find the ones that will suit your field and product. That’s why you can use e-commerce SEM service and, with the help of experts, target the ones that will help you enhance visibility.

Use Ad Auction

So, now let’s try to expand on what bidding is more. Once you have identified the keywords for your campaign, you can take part in searches auctions run in real-time by search engines, which decide which ads show and in what order.

To have success during these auctions, you have to understand that it’s not just who bids the highest. In fact, Google Ads will consider factors, such as your ad’s Quality Score, thresholds for rank, context, and settings like geographic targeting.”

Here are the three main factors Quality Score depends on:

• Expected Click-Through Rate: users will click on your ad as things are right now.
• Ad Relevance: How close or relevant your ad is to their actual intended search.
• Landing Page Experience: the value of your landing page after the click.
• The higher the Quality Score, the lower the cost-per-click, making it important for advertisers to write relevant ad copies and create optimized landing pages for high-intent keywords.

To achieve what you expect during this process, you will need a lot of expertise to understand all the ins and outs. For that, you can rely on the experience of experts in e-commerce SEM and just wait for the results.

Post the Ads

After winning the auction, your ad gets placed on SERP in the paid search results section. Beware that it usually has the indication “Ad” or “Sponsored.” The placement on this page shows how high the program appears, and it is dependent on Ad Rank and competition between advertisers.

The model applied is pay-per-click marketing since you are billed in Google Ads based on your ads’ total number of clicks. This means that you only pay when a customer interacts with your ad.

After taking all the steps for the final round, you must constantly check on it. This means you have to track the results that it brings and understand whether the resources and time that you have placed on it are working. Try to work on it if something goes wrong and enhance it as much as possible.

Final Words

Google provides the opportunity to advertise both via organic search and paid ads, and SEM is a complex strategy that consists of the two. With the assistance of search engine marketing, your e-commerce store can appear on the first pages of search queries and drive sales.

The key is carefully following the process and improving your strategy.