Using Paid Search to Complement SEO

Online Marketing can encompass a range of techniques including search engine marketing (‘SEM’), social media, and paid search. While paid search can be the more expensive option in the long term, it can be a useful complementary tool in the shorter term, perhaps when you are waiting for your rankings to improve through SEO strategies. Here is a quick overview of using paid search to complement your SEO strategy. 

Benefits of Using Paid Search

Generate Traffic Immediately

Paid search can be used to generate traffic immediately. As SEO strategies can take weeks or months to produce results, allocating a budget for paid search in the short run can ensure that you start getting traffic to your website straight away.

Highly Targeted Traffic

Paid search, such as pay-per-click or search engine marketing advertisements, can produce highly targeted traffic. Like SEO, it can enable you to direct traffic from specific geographical regions or target traffic on the basis of specific keywords or phrases.

Cost-Control Benefits

Paid search might be more expensive in the long run, but you can usually control how much you pay. You might be able to set a daily budget and use other cost-control tools depending on the program you choose.

Measure Performance

As with SEO, paid search can offer you the option of being able to measure performance. You can usually find out the number of clicks for specific keywords, volumes for specific regions, how long visitors stay, and whether they are converted into customers. 

Different Paid Search Options

There are different paid search options available. An online marketing specialist will be able to assist you with the right combination of options for your particular marketing needs.

The most common paid-search option is through search engines. These advertisements come up next to search engine results and their cost is usually calculated on the basis of clicks rather than impressions. One of the most popular examples of this type of online advertising is Google Adwords.

Some social media platforms, such as Facebook, also offer paid-search advertising. These types of advertisements can differ slightly from search-engine marketing as they usually target search queries through interests, location, age, and other factors rather than keywords. As such they might create less specific results.

Reviewing and Adjusting Advertisements

Undertaking paid-search advertising can be a highly technical process. It’s ideal to spend some time checking the interface of your paid search program and making sure you are familiar with the different metrics.

Making the most of paid search requires good keyword research and ongoing review and adjustment of your advertisements. Many programs allow you to run different ads at the same time.

You can adjust the keywords targeted and change the wording of your ad to see which one generates the best conversion rate. You can also use graphical advertisement in paid search advertising, which enables you to also test different advert designs.

Many businesses use landing pages to target specific customers. For example, you could create a series of landing pages that address a different product or customer profile and see which one generates the best result.

Getting Professional Help

Paid search can feel technical and overwhelming if you’re new to the process of taking out online advertisements. It’s useful to remember that you can seek help from paid search professionals or online marketing specialists.

They can assist you with adjusting your daily keyword bids so you are not paying more than you have to, and save you time by taking you through the basics of paid advertising.