SEM Positioning: Definition, Characteristics, and Advantages
October 2021
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) positioning is a paid positioning method that is used to reach the top results of search engines faster. It involves all strategies that have to do with positioning in search engines, including SEO.
SEM positioning is paid positioning within search engines. Its main mission is to attract new visitors and generate quality traffic to your website. Given Google’s prominence, we will refer to SEM positioning in this search engine.
Before delving into the advantages and characteristics of SEM positioning, it's necessary to understand why you need to position your brand well online.
In the digital world, you get more visits to your website if you appear on the first page of Google. Keywords have a fundamental role in search engine positioning and companies have to compete for certain keywords to position themselves towards the top.
How can you achieve these kinds of positions? There are two options:
In short, SEM positioning is an advertising model in which search engines advertise your website, but you only pay if someone clicks on your sponsored link. You may have heard of this referred to as pay per click (PPC).
The most relevant platform where you can create and manage your SEM strategy on Google is Google Ads. With this tool, you can create campaigns that will allow you to position your brand in the top results.
When searching on Google, you can differentiate the paid results by the word "ad" that appears below the title. Search engines (in this case Google) put your sponsored link in the top positions when you buy keywords. But, before doing this, you must analyze the keywords that people use or that you want people to use to find you online. This can be done with the help of tools such as Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, or Ubersuggest.
By purchasing these keywords, you enter into a bidding system in which each company decides what it will pay for each user that clicks on its link (PPC). Google will decide which links to sponsor based on two factors.
The relevance to the user. Although brands pay to appear in the top positions, Google always takes users into account. Google adjusts content based on user's Google searches and they will choose the content they consider most relevant to them. If you are relevant, Google will help you get more traffic and therefore more customers.
The four main characteristics of SEM positioning are the following:
The main tool the facilitates SEM campaigns in Google is Google Ads. To help finalize your segmentation process, you can adapt your ads according to the users you want to attract. Consider characteristics such as age, gender, profession, and even hobbies.
This works especially well in the short term. Unlike SEO, SEM is instantaneous. Once you have purchased your keywords, you just have to wait for Google to place you in the top positions, which will make your website more accessible and visible.
Thanks to Google Ads, you will always receive information about the results of your ads and keywords. Additionally, you will have detailed information about what users do. For example, the number of clicks your ads receive, the number of impressions, their position, the cost of the campaign, etc. You can even link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account to get a more complete picture of the data.
With SEM positioning you have absolute control when it comes to stopping and starting campaigns. You decide the amount of money that you want to invest and you only pay when there is some interaction with the users. Usually this happens when they click on your text ads or when they see a video ad that we have created. You fix the budget without any commitment and you can stop the campaigns when you see fit.
By investing in online advertising, you generate traffic to your website. Then it will depend on you to convert that traffic into customers.
Not only can large companies access this type of advertising, but it is also available to small and medium-sized companies.
