What is Search Marketing?

Search engine marketing (SEM), also referred to as just search marketing (SM), is the marriage of search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. The short term goal is to utilize digital advertising to show up in search results for targeted keywords while waiting for the SEO to kick in. The long term goal is to dominate the search results by showing up in multiple places. When your website shows up in the paid section, in the map section, and in the top of the organic section — we call that the search trifecta. At Kulture Digital, we LOVE the trifecta!

Everybody has different habits when using search engines. From the way they enter their search terms to what factors they use to decide which results to click. Because of this, the best approach is to try to dominate as much of the search engine results pages (SERPs) as possible. Here are 5 more reasons why you MUST USE search marketing.

It cannot be stated enough just how important search engine optimization is. With that being said, it’s still just one aspect of a good digital marketing strategy. Pay-per-click (PPC) is the perfect compliment to SEO because it allows your business to DOMINATE search result pages. Even if you own the top organic search result, you could still lose clicks to the businesses who are bidding for the paid placement at the top of the page. The best move is to own them both.

At Kulture Digital, we ALWAYS say that your website is the foundation of your digital presence. It’s open for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year (366 during a leap year). It’s the perfect employee who never takes a vacation and never calls in sick. Search marketing shines a bright light on your website and allows it to do exactly what is was designed to do: CONVERT.

Search marketing has the unique ability to effectively run a sprint and a marathon SIMULTANEOUSLY. When you combine a long-term SEO strategy with a fast-acting PPC campaign, the results are explosive. Initially, you get the immediate gratification of showing up in paid results. Once the SEO starts working, you add on the organic clicks. Finally, as you maintain the search marketing plan, you reap the benefits of both.

As we stated earlier, here at Kulture Digital we LOVE the search trifecta. Nothing screams authority more than OWNING the search engine results page. It’s also a great way to ensure that your website will continue to do well as new technologies emerge. When voice search becomes mainstream, for instance, showing up at the top of search results will be even more important than it is today.