What is SEM?


Many people are still asking in the current market, what is SEM? And is it something I should be utilising? SEM simply stands for Search Engine Marketing – that is, the process of gaining more traffic on your website using paid strategies to appear on search engine results pages.
SEM Platforms and placements


Where you get placed
Your max CPC (cost per click) bid is how much you are willing to pay each time a person clicks on your ad. A lower CPC means you are getting a better return on your investment, but in the ad auction a higher CPC could place you in a more prominent position on the page and gain you more attention.
Your quality score is a little more complicated, but consists of factors like click-through rate, relevance of keywords and historical performance of past ads. Your ad rank obviously determines how high up the page you are, and therefore makes it more likely that you will get clicks. You can raise up your quality score by making your ad as relevant as possible, using the right keywords both within your ad, and on your landing site, to greater show your ad is aligned with the users search intent. A higher quality score means you can spend less on your max CPC bid in a way to reduce your expenditure, and maximise your web traffic.
SEM Keywords


Broad Match Keywords
This targets any word or phrase which is related, including synonyms, misspelling, and anything similar.
Phrase Match Keywords
This targets an exact few words, but includes extra words added before or after, such as the best ceiling fan, or find me a ceiling fan.


Exact Match Keywords
This targets the same intent of the user, accepting misspellings, shortened versions and reordered words to gain results that match the exact search, like ceiling fans or cieling fan.
Negative Keywords


SEM Targeting
Once you have used your keywords to target which searches will produce your ad, you can take it a step further with SEM targeting. This allows you to further specify and narrow down the parameters to ensure your ad is being seen by the right people, at the right time.
Targeting by device clearly decides if your ad should only be shown on a mobile phone or other devices.
Targeting by a schedule allows your ad to be shown at specific times of day or days of the week, to better ensure its suitability and raise your clicks.
Finally, targeting by demographic can be of use in showing your ad to your target age and gender groups.
When used in conjunction all of these techniques can ensure that your ad appears where it should, when it should, and to whom it should, forming a working SEM campaign.