SEO and Search Advertising

Search engine marketing (SEM) is divided into two categories. The first and most cost-effective is search engine optimization (SEO), also known as organic search or free search. The second is search advertising, which is simply paid advertising. Common search advertising methods include pay-per-click advertising, ad remarketing, and affiliate marketing. Both free and paid SEM activities are designed to drive relevant traffic to your site.

• Organic (free) search: relevance between search snippets — the text that appears directly under your site’s URLs on a search result page. This text should be written to entice searchers to click your URL.
• Search (paid) advertising: relevance between the search ad copy and the web or landing page the searcher lands on when they click your ad. An ad to landing page relevance is a big factor in how often your ad displays. A highly relevant ad to landing page copy is one way to decrease ad costs.

Keyword Research

Keyword research should guide the development of every SEO and search advertising marketing campaign. Keyword research is used to uncover the keywords and phrases that should be used to optimize each page on your website and to understand how your site ranks against the competition for these words.

Keyword relevancy is an important search engine ranking factor. Ranking factors determine when and where search engines show your company’s search blurb or ads on a search result page.