UK search engine marketing: what’s it all about?
We’re a digital marketing agency, with a focus on search engine marketing. But what does this really mean? In this blog post, we aim to cover the search engine marketing basics. If you’re new to this topic area, then we’ll take you through the key elements. If you have a little more experience, then we hope that this will act as a means of shoring up your knowledge.
You may be familiar with the term search engine optimisation (SEO), which refers to a range of actions that are intended to boost the visibility of websites within the organic listings of the search engine results pages. Essentially, all of the main search engines have created algorithms that enable them to decide which websites are most relevant to particular searches. So, if you go to your favourite search engine and carry out a search for plumbers in Cardiff (to take one particular example), then a computer program is used to decide which websites are most relevant to that specific search.
The most relevant result is shown at the top of the page, with the next most relevant result being shown in 2nd position and so on. The job of the SEO specialist is essentially to create the conditions that enable a particular website to perform well, when tested against the algorithm. When done correctly, this boosts positioning, leading to more website visitors and ultimately to more leads.
But that’s not the only way to get a site listed within the search engine results pages. It’s also possible to pay for positioning. In most cases, you bid for positioning and then pay for each click that you receive to your site. This is what is known as Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and the best-known platform here in the UK for advertising in this way is Google AdWords, which allows advertisers to place ads within Google’s results pages. This is the most popular platform due to Google’s dominant position within the UK search market.
A changing definition
In the early days of digital marketing, the term “search engine marketing” referred to both of those core means of attracting attention within the search engine results pages: SEO and PPC. But the use of the term has changed over the years and it’s now more usual for professionals to simply see “search engine marketing” as being interchangeable with PPC advertising. In the case of Search South, we carry out a wide variety of digital marketing approaches, but we have particular specialisms in search engine marketing.
Demonstrating expertise
How can you be sure that we are experts in the field of search engine marketing? As well as undertaking our daily work for clients, we’ve also taken the time to ensure that we have appropriate certification in place. Our Google AdWords certification, for example, provides evidence that we have a detailed understanding of that particular platform. It means that we are well positioned to launch, manage and optimise AdWords campaigns.
In the next blog post within this series, we’ll take a closer look at how search engine marketing can benefit your business.
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