retargeting Google Ads

Remarketing has consistently proven to be an effective way of driving conversions and closing potential customers. In fact, according to ABTasty.com, retargetting ads typically have 10x higher click through rate than your average Display ads, and the visitors that come to your website via those ads are 70% more likely to convert.

What is remarketing?

Remarketing in Google Ads is made up of a variety of Search and Display ads across the Google Ads Network. The main difference is the targeting of the ads. Your ads are being seen by people who may have already visited your website, engaged with your ads or taken some other valuable action. Therefore, they are more inclined to respond favorably to your ads.

If your business is eCommerce, or if you are trying to generate leads through your site, remarketing is a useful and efficient strategy to help you convert those hard-earned visitors.

remarketing audiences google ads

Why remarketing is important?

As an increasing amount of digital marketers have turned to remarketing, Google has subsequently improved and fine tuned its offering and remarketing capabilities. These changes have meant remarketing generating a large click share. Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) and customer lists now play a huge part in paid search strategies and have proven very effective also.

These types of engaged audiences are high-value, given that their past interactions with the brand, increase the likelihood of a conversion at a later date. Audiences are not necessarily a one-size-fits-all, and some conversions may happen regardless of whether or not there is a paid search ad served to specific customers.

What do you need to do?

As with all things digital, it is crucial that you test. Results will vary by advertiser, but testing should be done in order to measure the incremental value of these audiences for your business.

This testing can be done by adding in variables such as ad copy, landing pages, bid modifiers, or even shutting ads off completely to specific audiences to gauge the traffic and conversion losses. This can, however, be a risky strategy, so we would only encourage you to do this, if you are in a comfortable position in relation to your targets, Return On Investment and any other KPIs you may have set for your business.

Also, measure audience performance against the brand’s KPIs to see if they align, or are significantly higher or lower.

Pay attention to your funnel

Don’t forget, the point at which the visitor has dropped off tells you whether they are cool, warm or hot in terms of lead rating. This means that you may want to vary your ads depending on your visitor’s actions. For example, if a customer has simply viewed a product (in this case, a red jumper) on your site, you might retarget them with a Display ad that shows the same jumper and perhaps other similar products. However, if somebody has Added To Cart and then left the site, you may retarget them with a message along the lines of “look what you’ve left behind”, or create a sense of urgency by putting a time limit on the price.

It is important to segment your remarketing audience for this reason. Personalising the customer touch points where possible will help your remarketing efforts and ultimately, will lead to a higher conversion rate.

In conclusion, remarketing audiences should play a huge part in your PPC strategy. Remember, you have done the hard part by getting them to your site in the first place, so remarketing to those visitors and closing those sales is an efficient way to drive your revenue. List creation, targeting and personalisation based on what stage of the funnel your visitor has reached, are all incredibly effective ways to improve your overall Return On Investment, so don’t delay. Start incorporating remarketing into your PPC strategy as soon as possible.

If you would like to talk to us on how to effectively set up or even improve your remarketing efforts, contact our PPC experts here at WebResults today.

improve visitor quality google ads

Google Ads, if set up correctly and aligned with your business objectives, can have a huge impact in terms of driving revenue for your business.

The key to success with Google Ads is to ensure you are getting the right kind of visitor/potential customer onto your website. To achieve this involves  research, careful planning and knowledge of Google Ads functionality and your target demographic. The foundation of a successful Google Ads is setting up the right structure in terms of Campaigns and AdGroups. The biggest mistake you can make is launching into setting up campaigns without thoroughly considering your objectives, your audience and your strategy.

The following six key points will help you improve the quality of clicks and visitors you’re getting via your Google Ads.

Identify the relevant search terms for your business and use suitable match types

Think of search terms that are most relevant to your business and industry. Consider how your potential customers are searching for your product.

Keywords and match types are key to ensuring you are bringing the right audience to your website and spending your budget efficiently. The natural impulse is to use keywords that bring in the highest number of clicks. However, with Google Ads, it’s about quality and not quantity.

Then test each keyword by asking yourself if it could be related to an unrelated business. If it could, then try and quality it more so that its only bringing in relevant clicks for your business.

If you are selling running shoes online, rather than just targeting ‘running shoes’, you may target exact keyword phrases terms like ‘buy running shoes online’. Or for a local business, it may be worth creating a separate campaign for “Near Me” searchers e.g. If you offer locksmith services you might benefit from using terms like; locksmiths near me’,locksmiths nearby’, ‘closest locksmiths’ and ‘local locksmiths’. 

Advertisers are not always clear on the impact of keyword match types. Google Ads allows you to designate each keyword/key phrase as broad match, broad match with modifier, phrase match, and exact match. Broad match will always bring in the highest number of clicks because it gives license to Google to interpret your keywords in many different search queries. Exact match is the opposite. It ensures that Google only shows an ad if an exact key phrase is queried.

Maximising your Google Ads campaigns relies on striking the right balance between match types, relying mostly on phrase and exact matches with a sprinkling of broad modified match terms. Be clear on the possible outcome of using each of the different match types and the impact they have in relation to displaying your ads. See examples of match types below:

Set out the structure of your campaigns

When setting up your campaigns and ad groups initially, take the time to break out your ad groups in detail. There are numerous different strategies you can use.

When you choose a strategy, understand the “why” behind it and monitor it closely, particularly during the initial “learning” stages.

One such strategy example you can use is SKAGS (Single Keyword AdGroups). With SKAGS, each search term you are targeting goes into its own ad group with different match types, e.g. modified broad match, exact match and phrase match (you wouldn’t generally use ‘broad match’ here).

SKAGS allow you to deliver relevant ads to those who are searching for your product or service, through the search terms you are targeting, resulting in lower cost per click and higher click through rates and thus improved visitor quality, all of which impact your advertising costs and results.

Constantly manage your negative keywords

Negative Keywords Visitor Quality

Each time you go into your Google Ads account, check out the search queries that generate clicks. If the clicks are not relevant, it means you are getting the wrong type of visitor to your website, and paying for the privilege of it. It’s important to:

  1. Identify why these irrelevant clicks came in. Do you need to modify your keyword match types to avoid further irrelevant clicks? Or do the additional impressions you get outweigh the negative clicks. E.g. will changing the match type of the term that allows these negatives in, block other clicks that are relevant?
  2. Add the term as a negative in all match types that are relevant. Yes, you say this is an obvious step. However, many businesses are not aware of the importance of adding the relevant match types as negatives. Match types don’t behave exactly the same as negatives, as they do as part of the search campaigns.

Each match type has a purpose, so be sure to use the match types that achieve what is relevant for your ad group or campaign, or both.

Broad Match Negatives: If you add a negative term as a broad match, it will block out where someone uses both of the terms together. However, negative broad match will not block out ads where someone searches for only one of the terms on its own. e.g. adding ‘Google Ads Agency’ as a negative will prevent searches for “Google Ads” and “Agency” used in the same search term, but it will not prevent clicks for searches where only one word is used with a different work e.g. ‘DIY Google Ads’ or ‘Property Agency’.

Phrase Match Negatives: Exclude your ad for searches that include the exact keyword phrase. If a search includes additional words, the ad won’t show as long as the keywords are included in the search in the same order. If someone searches for only one of the terms in your selected phrase, your ad will still appear. For example, if your negative is “AdWords Agency” and a user searches for DIY AdWords, your ad will still appear. This also means that if additional words are used in the search query, such as ‘AdWords Services Agency’, your ad will still appear as ‘AdWords’ and ‘Agency’ are not next to each other in the search query.

Exact Match Negatives: This adds the exact terms, without extra words. Your ad may still show for searches that include the keyword phrase with additional words. When using exact match negatives, it will only block that exact term. So adding [Google Ads Agency] as a negative does not block ‘Google Ads Agency Ireland’ or ‘Google Ads Agencies’. Close variants (any misspelling, singular or plural form, acronym, stemmings, abbreviations of the keyword) do not apply for negative keywords.

Maximise use of Bid Adjustments to customise to your audiences

Google Ads bid adjustments use manually set percentage changes, in order to increase or decrease the weight of your maximum cost per click bid amounts. The result is more control over when, where and to whom your ads are shown to. and better targeting of segments based on their likelihood of converting. With Bid Adjustment, you get greater flexibility, within the same campaign. Previously, in order to achieve this, you would have to set up individual ad groups for each segment. For example, if you know that people who live in Dublin are more likely to convert than those living in Cork, you can set negative bid adjustments for the Cork in relevant campaigns. This means that Cork will get impressions/clicks at a certain (lower in this case) bid level, thus prioritising impressions/clicks for Dublin and improving your overall visitor quality.

Use All Ad Extensions Available

google ads extensions

Ad extensions are a very powerful way of delivering a personalised ad to each user. These customised ads often deliver higher click-through rates, improve quality score and simply make your ad more prominent on search results. Use every Ad Extension available and relevant to your campaign.

It’s important to customise at ad group level, where it makes sense to do so. Rather than setting up a few top level extensions, make them specific to your ad groups and you will find they will perform far better. From text message extensions, which allow Google searchers to send you a text, to structured snippets to app downloads, there are now a great range of options to use to promote the important aspects of your business to highly targeted potential customers, and offer them a range of ways to get in touch with you, depending on what suits them (and you) best. 

Utilise Your Remarketing

Remarketing is a PPC strategy that targets people who have already visited your website and/or bought from your website. By it’s very nature, it is guaranteed to bring good quality visitors to your website through Google Ads.

In Google Ads, there are four types of remarketing. Standard Remarketing shows your static image ads to people who’ve previously visited your website via the display network. Dynamic Remarketing shows dynamic image ads for specific products and services that a visitor has previously looked at. For example, if you’re looking at a stainless steel crockpot on Amazon, Jeff Bezos can use dynamic remarketing to create an ad using the exact same model on a display ad on your favourite blog. To use dynamic remarketing you must also have a Google Merchant Centre account. Remarketing lists for Search Ads (RLSA) re-targets people who’ve visited your site and the subsequently search for a relevant term. You might target people who have already visited your website, for search terms that are more generic or broad, as you know they are relevant targets.

An outline of your typical re-marketing campaign.

Video Remarketing re-targets people who have watched your YouTube videos. You can also use YouTube ads to remarket to people who visited your site.

While businesses managing their own campaigns are familiar with the areas discussed, often Ads management isn’t an ongoing priority, resulting in campaigns not being structured to meet business objectives and poor quality visitors, thus leading to a poor Return On Investment. Functionality is often applied without understanding how best to use it for the campaigns in question.

As Google Ads becomes more automated, agencies will show their true value by ensuring business objectives are being addressed through campaign set up, structure and ongoing management and through strong communication with businesses on their markets and business objectives. If you are currently managing your own campaigns and would like a Google Ads audie to see how you are doing, please get in touch with us at WebResults.

Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme

What is the Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme?

The Enterprise Ireland Online Retail Scheme is a grant to businesses that meet the specified criteria to help them develop or enhance their online trading capabilities.

The grant covers 80% of the costs of the proposed activity. So for example, if your proposed activities are quoted as costing €12,500, Enterprise Ireland will cover €10,000 (which is the minimum cost and grant allowed. The maximum grant is €40,000).

So what does this mean for your business?

It means that, from as little as €2,500 investment, your business can enter into the world of eCommerce and online marketing. Activities carried out by WebResults that would be covered by the grant include:

Research:

This includes analysing your current and potential online presence and opportunities. We will explore your market and learn about your brand, target audience, products or services and more. We will also present you with options in terms of the tools, applications and platforms you can use to drive your business forward. This will help you make informed decision in regards to how you want to proceed.

Strategy development:

  • Development of a written digital strategy and a roadmap for implementation including resource and business process considerations
  • Identifying how the company’s value proposition should be demonstrated online, what aspects should be emphasised and how best to present this
  • Ensuring that your business’ online presence is being fully utilised / optimised to fulfil its overall potential, supporting the overall business strategy
  • Consideration of omni-channel offering (including marketplaces and social media)

Implementation:

  • Optimising the company’s online presence to ensure domestic and international visibility (e.g. web enhancement and localisation, associated business process enhancements, search engine optimisation etc.)
  • Enhancing related “back end” systems (e.g. product presentation, supply chain management, systems integration to improve consumer experience etc.)

How can WebResults help you?

We have been involved in the world of digital marketing for over 20 years. In that time, we have learned what methods, tools and channels work and more importantly, what does not. Put our expertise to work for your business. If you want to survive and thrive during this COVID-19 crisis, talk to us today about your application. Call us or fill out our callback form and we will reach out to you.

Bord Bia Marketing Support Package

Bord Bia has announced it has released a Marketing Support Package to 250 client companies to the value of over €2million.

This Marketing Support Package has been awarded in an effort to support Irish companies experiencing difficulties in the wake of COVID-19. Eligible businesses included food, drink and horticulture (edible and amenity) producers, who are client companies of Bord Bia, with a turnover greater than €100,000 and less than €25m in 2019.

“Our goal is to ensure that the Irish food and drinks industry has ready access to every support Bord Bia can provide in order to navigate the change brought about by this crisis,” said Tara McCarthy, CEO of Bord Bia, at the openin of the grant application process.

The Marketing Support Package will cover 70% of approved expenditure for these companies, up to a specified limit and up until December 2020. The awarded companies went through an application process and have already been notified. The Marketing Support Package covers activities such as:

  • Website design
  • Development of E-Sales/Marketing and On-Line activities
  • Purchase of published reports and market information
  • Marketing consultancy costs
  • Design and origination of POS material
  • Design of packaging, labels and brochures
  • Quality Consultancy
  • Quality Training and Audit Costs
  • Nutritional analysis
  • Market research visit
  • Participation at trade fairs and exhibitions and related costs
  • In store tastings

If your business has been awarded a grant and you are looking at the best ways to maximise your Marketing Support Package, talk to our Digital Marketing experts here at WebResults. Call us for a no-obligation chat, or fill out our contact form and we will call at a time convenient to you.

Don’t let the grant go to waste and make your money work for you.

Full Press Release available at bordbia.ie.

Google Ad Extensions

Google has pledged to support its SME advertising community worldwide by distributing $340m of Google Ads credits in the coming weeks.

The credits will be given to those who set up their Google Ads account on or before the 1st of January 2019. The search giant said:

“Small and medium-sized businesses are the backbone of our communities. They represent about 90 percent of all businesses and more than half of employment worldwide, according to the World Bank. COVID-19 has posed a particular challenge to these businesses, who may be facing closures and declining revenue even as they find ways to support and protect their employees. Through ad credits, we hope to alleviate some of the cost to stay in touch with their customers.”  Read more here.

Ad accounts who are eligible for Google Ads credits will receive a notification within their dashboard, and the credits will remain valid for the rest of 2020.

If you have an Google Ad account that has been sitting there gathering dust, or you feel you could be getting more out of your current ads, or you want to maximise your free Google Ads credits, contact WebResults today. A no-obligation chat with us costs nothing, and we will review your existing account for free too.

Simply call us or contact us via our contact form and we will be happy to help.

Working From Home Drive Sales

Working remotely as a result of Covid-19? Use focused digital marketing activities to drive sales and combat slumping revenue.

You may find yourself working remotely and feel restricted in terms of how to combat slumping revenue and sales and whether your job or livelihood will remain intact. 

One huge positive is the fact we are living in a world where we can work, communicate and sell online.

Consider the following ways to boost your businesses profile, sales and conversions (such as contact form completions, brochure requests, call back requests) through digital activities.

Working From Home Drive Sales

Build Your Brand Awareness

Before focusing on driving your sales, establish your business as a trusted seller/service provider in its space.

This does not just mean investing in paid ads on Google and social media. It requires you to ensure that your website is adhering to SEO best practices. It means you need to create relevant compelling content and distribute it frequently, whether that’s videos, blog posts, images, podcasts or whatever formats your customers like to consume media. It means spending time daily “social listening” to understand your potential customers’ issues, motivations & behaviours and jumping in on that conversation in an authentic way.

Having the best website in the world with the best UX is rendered null and void if nobody knows who you are. There are a range of digital tools & activities to help build brand awareness online. Invest the time and you will reap the rewards.

Email Marketing

Email has consistently proven itself to be the highest returning channel of digital marketing. A 2019 study by the DMA found that for every $1 spent on email marketing (eg. lead generation, email automation platform subscription etc.), there was an average return of $42.

On top of the massive potential for return, email marketing allows you to exert the most control. You are responsible for generating the high quality leads (in a GDPR-compliant way). This means you can build relationships with those leads. You communicate directly with your customers and can inform them of sales, discounts or some behind-the-scenes stories. You are not at the mercy of algorithms and you will always own that email list.

If you connect your email marketing automation platform (eg. Mailchimp) with your CRM and/or eCommerce platform, this means you can segment your list and send customers highly relevant content/discounts based on their purchase behaviour. This is vital to keeping your email list engaged and will lead to a lower Cost Per Acquisition too.

Email Marketing Drive Sales

Search Ads

Search ads capture your customers at a different stage in the buying process. The first of which is the “awareness” stage, the importance of which we have already discussed.

Next up is the “consideration” stage, and this is where search ads really shine. If a customer has taken to Google to search for a specific product or service, this means they have moved on to the consideration stage. Search ads will allow you to firstly appear at or near the top of the search results page. Secondly, search ads allow you to drive highly relevant traffic to highly relevant landing pages. Finally, if your website is fast, your landing pages relevant and your UX in good order, this will dramatically increase your chances of a website visitor converting there and then.

As search ads are usually charged on a Cost Per Click model, with clear adcopy, you will only pay for traffic that is interested in your product or service.

Google Shopping

If your business sells physical products online, Google Shopping will drive intent based shoppers.

Google Shopping ads now drive 76.4% of retail search ad spend, generating 85.3% of all clicks on Adwords or Google Shopping campaign ads. Long story short, you need Google Shopping if you’re an eCommerce business.

The integration of Google Shopping and your website/eComm platform is often what puts businesses off venturing into this territory, but many of these platforms provide out-of-the-box integrations. You can also hire an agency or developer to take care of this for you and to ensure that your data feed is optimised. However you decide to approach it, Google Shopping is well worth implementing.

Try a range of channels

When it comes to online shopping, it typically takes 3-5 “touchpoints” for a visitor to convert. Therefore, it is important to identify who your customers are, where they spend their time online and direct your time, money and efforts there.

Analytics and insights are crucial to be able to gauge where you are getting the most return, so you should be digging into these at least twice a week. Look at what pages have the lowest bounce rate/highest time on page, and where your traffic is coming from. Check the demographic info and also the interest category and in-market reports, all of which are available on Google Analytics and most analytics packages. Knowledge is your competitive advantage, so gather as much of it as you can and use it to build a profile of your customers.

Remember, technology can and will help you prevail in this time of uncertainty, particularly when it comes to marketing and sales. Capitalise on the resources available, and you will continue to prosper. 

If you need a helping hand along the way, contact Webresults and let us help you bring your business to the next level. Call us or fill in our contact form today.

A PPC agency is there to take all the weight of Pay Per Click ads off your shoulders, and this is not just exclusively setting up a Google Ads campaign for you. It should include all of the ad strategies, design, SEO and the constant analysis of how your ads are performing.  Agencies will do this by taking care of the following tasks on your behalf:

 

  • Keyword Research

Understanding how people are searching for products or services is essential when it comes to PPC. An agency will keep up to date on these ever-changing trends to make sure potential customers will see your ads when they search for a product or service you provide. 

 

 

 

  • Landing Page Design 

 

A landing page is the first page a potential customer sees when they click an ad. These pages are the most important part of a website as they are the deciding factor on whether the consumer stays (and potentially converts) or leaves the site as quickly as they’ve arrived. Designing these pages is an art which PPC agencies should have mastered. A strong landing page will increase your sales and therefore your ROI.

 

  • Targeting Channels

 

Deciding where you want to advertise can be extremely important depending on your product or service, whether this is Google Ads, Display Ads or Social Media. A PPC agency will be able to decide what channel is the best fit for you. 

 

  • Competition Analysis

A PPC agency should always be looking at what your competitors are doing, whether this is the type of ads they are running, the keywords that is giving them the best results or where they are advertising. Keeping on top of the competition is essential in discovering any potential gaps and how to optimise them to increase your ROI.

 

  • Campaign Optimisation

 

Constant monitoring of your campaign structure and optimising based in your top performing keywords is a must. Think of it this way, if 15% of your keywords are bringing in 90% of your business then you would want to focus most of your budget on them to maximise your ROi

 

The overall main goal of a PPC agency is to get your ads to where your customers will see them, which should then increase your sales and therefore overall profits. 

If you are interested in talking to WebResults about your Google Ads or Social Media Ads call or email us today for a free account review and find out what we can do for you.  

 

As you are probably aware, Google love to keep us on our toes! It is important to keep on top of these changes in order to make sure you are getting maximum from Google. Here are 4 trends that we believe will become more prominent in 2020.

 

  1. Much more Automation in Google Ads

Having computers do the work for you sounds great, doesn’t it? While this may be true to some degree, PPC advertisers need to be careful about how far they go with this. This will be the year that we need to meet AI head on and use it to drive ourselves forward. If not, your business could fall behind and end up playing catch-up.

 

Google Ads has been encouraging advertisers to let them take the reigns on their campaigns. This is helpful to a certain degree. What you have to remember is that Google want as many clicks as possible, because at the end of the day, it’s how they make their money. So, what we advise is to not give them complete control. Create your own Google Ads custom rules to optimise bids, budgets, marketing lists, etc. and that way, you can use automation to ensure you get the best value for money.

 

  1. Optimisation score now includes Display campaigns

Starting in December of last year, Google Ads have expanded their optimisation score to include Display campaigns, as well as Search and Shopping campaigns. It works in the exact same way as previously with scores ranging from 0% to 100%. An optimisation score of 100% means your campaign is running to its full potential.

This change ties into the increased volume automation in Google Ads and, as said before, it can be incredibly helpful for advertisers but only when used correctly. Don’t get sucked into thinking everything Google recommends is for your benefit. Remember, Google wants to make money too.

  1. Improved Audience Targeting/Segmentation

Audience targeting or segmenting refers to the ability to choose who exactly sees your ads depending on their location, age, sex, buying habits, clicking habits and a whole range of other factors. With the help of ever-improving AI, Google Ads is making this a lot more efficient and therefore, they have made it a lot easier for PPC advertisers to target exactly who they want.

In 2020, Google Ads will continue to grow their machine learning which will help us create highly personalised ad campaigns and improve your target market strategies.

 

  1. Rising CPCs (Cost-Per-Click)

One negative trend that we expect to see for 2020 is an increase in CPC.  Google has 5.6 billion searches per day, and this number is only growing. Thus, using Google Ads as your main marketing tool is essential. SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) are becoming more competitive and organic searches becoming harder to find. This means that big corporations will simply increase their spending on keywords and therefore, drive up the average CPC for everyone else.

 

Google’s forever changing trends can be a bit daunting to get your head around. If you find yourself stuck, confused or overwhelemd, maybe it’s time to think about outsourcing to an agency. If you choose the right one, we guarantee you will see an increase in productivity and ultimately an increase in ROI.

If you are interested in talking to WebResults about your Google Ads account, call or email us today for a free account review and find out what we can do for you.

 

 

Managing your Google Ads takes time and dedication. As you grow, this workload is only going to get bigger and bigger. So, maybe it’s time to outsource it to a dedicated Google Ads company such as WebResults. Here are some things to keep an eye on if you want to maximise your ROI. 

 

  • Time

 

 

 

As I just said managing your Google Ads takes up a lot of time and effort. As your business grows you may be finding yourself dedicating too much time to your Google Ads management. Advertising online is essential but running a business involves so much more than just that. Outsourcing the maintenance and management of your PPC management could free up essential time you could be dedicating to getting new clients and therefore growing your business.

 

 

  • Cost

 

 

While you may think the resolution to your problem is just hiring a new in-house marketing manager, it might not be the right fit. Sit back and evaluate it. You hire one new marketing manager, pay them a salary, benefits etc. You may have to train them in on your systems and they may have to get up-to-date with Google Ads. If you outsource this to an agency, they will have multiple people working on your account, they already know their systems and they are already Google Ads experts. This is something you will have to take some time to calculate but more often than not it can work out costing the same amount and again it will free up your precious time.

 

 

  • Falling Behind

 

 

In reality most SMEs are outsourcing their digital marketing management. Keeping on top of all the constantly changing trends and strategies is what will keep you ahead of the competition. Specialised agencies will always be on top of these ever-changing trends and therefore should keep you competitive. At the end of the day, they are experts.

 

So, whether you’re finding yourself using up too much precious time, spending too much or falling behind your competitors, you really need to take a step back and think “should I just get an agency?”  If you choose the right one,we guarantee you will see an increase in productivity and ultimately an increase in ROI.

If you are interested in talking to us about your Google Ads account, call or email us today for a free account review and find out what we can do for you.

SEO SEM Searches

We are often asked by clients, “If I am already paying for ads, why should I bother with SEO?”. It’s a fair question, as is the reverse; If you are ranking very strongly in organic search results, is it really worth paying for Ads?

However, investing in both SEO and PPC advertising (also known as SEM) simultaneously can dramatically increase your business’ revenue, traffic and conversions.

First of all, it is important to highlight the differences between organic search (SEO) and paid search (SEM/PPC).

Google Ads and SEO services

SEO/Organic Search:

Search Engine Optimisation is all about the long-term health of your digital presence and strategy. If you follow SEO best practices, your site is more likely to appear in organic (unpaid) searches.

SEO is the foundation of good SEM (Search Engine Marketing) and when you have them harmonising perfectly, you will drive high-quality traffic and leads as well as improve your site’s conversion rates. SEO incorporates everything from using keywords throughout your site to the User Experience and performance of your site on mobile.

Once you have an SEO-friendly site and sponsored ads that are using the right keywords, you have a better chance of showing up at the top of paid searches. But you need to have your SEO in place in order for Google to see you as a credible website.

SEM/Paid Search:

One of the biggest strengths of SEM is that it can deliver success and growth quickly. If your website/business is reasonably new, you can prioritise your paid search efforts first, as it can take a while for SEO rankings to become established. However, do not ignore your SEO during this process. Think of SEM as a platform to launch your search efforts, and SEO as a way of maintaining a strong and healthy digital presence.

It is important to note that having PPC ads running does not do anything for your site’s SEO. However, by improving your SEO, you can make your PPC costs more efficient.

How Do SEO And SEM Work Together?

In very simple terms, if your organic rankings are strong and your paid efforts are optimised, you will dominate Google’s SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

For example, if your business sells hammers as its main product, prioritise hammers (and associated terms such as “claw hammers”, “mallets” etc.) in your keyword strategy, both in an organic and paid context. What that means is, make sure your site pages are built with your priority keywords in mind. This includes everything from your page content to your alt, image and meta tags, captions, URLs, etc. This will improve your organic search results.

But what’s the point in appearing twice on a search engine page?

Paid search ads help you recover any missed opportunities. A study by Google found that when search ads for a keyword were paused, approximately 89% of traffic generated by these ads were not replaced by the organic rankings. That means that, even if your site is ticking all of the SEO boxes in terms of keywords, it’s very possible that you will be missing valuable traffic and thus, potential customers.

By relying on PPC, you’re recovering clicks and interest from searchers that you might have otherwise missed. Even if you aren’t ranking #1 naturally, PPC can help you draw in traffic from those looking for your products or services, often at a small cost.

Remember, by the time a person is conducting a search on a product, they have more than likely reached the “intent” stage and are asking to be converted. That is why search marketing is so important and so valuable.

Conclusion

While SEM can help deliver fast results, SEO is imperative to building and maintaining a successful digital marketing strategy for your business.

By following SEO best practices, you will not only enhance your chances of ranking organically in search engine results (thus driving free clicks to your site), but it will also lend your site credibility in the eyes of Google (which is the primary search engine used by approximately 81% of the entire web population). This means you will see higher levels of valuable traffic on your site and thus, bring your business to the next level.

Are you interested in Google Ads, SEM or SEO services? Contact us today at info@webresults.ie and talk to our team.