...an introduction to SEM

1. Introduction to digital marketing
2
SEM … search engine marketing

2. SEM
SEM …search engine marketing… has two key components…
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is about organic search results
Pay Per Click (PPC) or Paid Search is about paid for or ‘sponsored’ results
… this also works in the same way as Display ads

3. UK Digital ad spend in 2018…
PWC/IAB, 2019

6. we can relate this to the RACE model…
SmartInsights, 2017

7. So let’s think about SEO and Reach…
Title
the first thing we need… a unique title in the HTML head
the title should accurately describe the page content
each page should have a unique title
<title> I Love Leeds Beckett – it’s the best! </title>
there are many activities we as marketers can engage in to improve
SEO and maximise our organic SERP listing…
according to Google it should be brief and informative…
don’t stuff it with keywords

8. next… make use of the description meta tag
this gives users and the Search Engine a summary of what the page is about
words in the description appear in bold if they are searched for… highlighting relevance
Google would use these if it cannot find a suitable ‘snippet’ of text on your page to
summarise the content
the description should be interesting and informative
each page should have its own description

10. improve your URLs
Keywords, simplicity and descriptive categories work well
The content of the URL is indexed and displayed
make your site easy to navigate
Identify the home or root page and build a simple structure linking form this…
Develop an XML sitemap file that can be submitted directly to google
Plan how it can be navigated… develop a site map and make this available
…have a good, useful 404 page!

12. optimise content…
offer compelling and useful content…
think of all those inbound or back links!
offer content that no one else does… be unique!
Make sure it’s easy to ready, organised, on topic, up to date…
…and for your users not for the search engine

13. ‘uniquely valuable’ content… not just promotion
Fantastic ‘UX’
Keyword targeted… in title, URL, logical content containing keyword
Built to be shared on social media
Crawler/Bot accessible… static page, unique content, URL in sitemap
What to optimise…
Ready for all devices
Structured Data, Schema mark-up, authorship… ‘rich snippets’

15. backlinks
content
https, anchor-text, headings
mobile-first

16. Optimise content for search…
think about the different levels of knowledge and understandin
in relation to your site and content…
What words might be used in relation to searching…
Try and anticipate the likely different responses to your
offering and the different search terms

17. write better anchor text for links
format your links so they’re easy to find
use the alt-text option to optimise images
Create an image directory, simplify and standardise file
names and types and create a sitemap…
…just for images
optimise, optimise, optimise…
Use heading tags for key text and content…

18. ensure the bot, robot or spider… whatever you fancy calling it… can
access and index your mobile site… Mobile First
make sure that the content delivered reflects the platform used to access
optimise for mobile
responsive design

21. increase backlinks to increase ‘value’ of your site… ‘page rank’
publicise content via blogs an social platforms, provide an RSS feed
Don’t forget the value of promoting offline as well!
Make sure you add the site to google places
Never spam link requests or new content… don’t buy backlinks
Backlinks…

22. …or PPC, is a paid search platform
…companies bid for advertising placement in
the sponsored sections of the SERP
…highly relevant to what has been clicked on
a fee is paid for each click… hence the name!!
keywords are researched and identified to intelligently target
potential customers
Search Ads
These adverts should link back to specially created landing pages…
…the research into keyword and search is ongoing…

26. …another way of generating traffic – moving from the
reachstage to the actstage
…you only have a small number of words to work with…
…so being relevant, easy to understand and appealing is key
Google Ads, BingAds and similar provide us with tools in
order to conduct research…
Paid Search

27. How AdRank is calculated…
Average CTR for search ads is 1.91%...

28. Display…
Need a very clear CTA
…if static then a strong hero image is needed
Keep it short and get to the point
…consistent branding and company logo
Match landing pages to advert content
Include some sense of urgency, time limit, sales promotion…
Average CTR for display ads is 0.35%...

29. remarketing…
primarily used for conversion but…
…great for brand awareness (recall)
higher ROI than normal display ads
specific targeting

30. Use tools like Google Ads or BingAds…

32. bibliography
http://marketingland.com/wp-content/ml-
loads/2012/01/concurrent_live_tests-1.png 2017
http://www.zippycart.com/infographics/how-sales-messaging-affects-
conversion-rates.html 2017
http://www.wordstream.com/articles/google-statistics, 2017
http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.g
oogle.co.uk/en/uk/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-
guide.pdf 2017
www.smartinsights.com 2018
Moz, 2018
Kissmetrics, 2018
Google, 2018
C. Li and J. Bernoff, 2011. Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by
social technologies. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.