Search engine marketing involves all the tools that are available to increase the quality and quantity of traffic through your website.
There are many tools and services available to businesses in the field of search engine marketing, and the terminology can sometimes be overwhelming, especially to first time users. But there is a very simple analogy that will help you make sense of search engine marketing.
Imagine a search engine such as Google as a large shopping centre. For every key word that is entered into the search engine, an infinite shopping isle opens up. As variations of this keyword (keyword phrases) are entered, new isles open up. It is a very big mall.
Each Isle is dedicated to a specific product, or service. Every single shop in that isle is essentially offering the same products. Each shop has their sign outside on the wall, and each has a glass front showing you what’s inside.
It is Google itself (“Google shopping centre management”) that determines where each shop in that isle appears. The shops that are most relevant (according to “Google shopping centre management”) to the subject of the isle, will be placed at the front of the isle, or in the first couple of shops as you enter the corridor.
The shops that are less relevant will be positioned right at the end of the isle. Naturally, it is what each shop carries, the quality of the stock, the amount of stock, how recently it was replenished, and how many other people are going into the shop that will inform “Google shopping centre management” in its decision where to place each shop in each particular isle.
Consider for a moment that YOU are the shopper in this mall. What is important to you as a shopper? I imagine you don’t want to spend too much time or energy looking for what you want. You know there are a number of shops where you could find what you’re looking for, but if the first shop in that isle has what you’re looking for at a price you consider reasonable, you will more than likely buy what you have to and go home. You don’t want to have to walk too far.
With this in mind, for your shopping convenience, “Google shopping centre management” have introduced teleporting facilities at their shopping centre. This means that there are alternative direct links via teleporting to shops that offer what you are looking for, who have not been placed in the first few shops in that isle.
Think of it as a flyer handed to you by a shopping centre employee as you enter an isle. The flyer may catch your interest, answer your questions, offer you what you are looking for. By accepting the flyer you are “teleported” directly to the shop, regardless of where the shop is located in the mall. The concept of teleporting is exactly what search engine marketing is about.
Search engine marketing covers two different disciplines.
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
The first is optimisation, which involves optimising your website so that is well ranked by the search engine (or well placed by Google shopping centre management) . This means that Google places your business at the beginning of the isle when determining where each shop should appear.
This happens organically over time and is considered one of the most important long term marketing investments you can make. By investing in good structure and good content on your website, as well ensuring that your website is well designed, easy to navigate (by users and search engines), and that your HTML coding is up to date and correct, you will optimise your position in the isle in the Google mall.
PPC – Pay per click
The second discipline in search engine marketing is the pay per click campaign. PPC is also referred to as a Google Adwords campaign. The best way to explain pay per click campaigns is to go back to the shopping centre employees handing out flyers at the start of the particular isle. PPC campaigns amount to handing out flyers to people who are interested in that particular isle, and offering them a direct route to your shop (via teleporting service), even though your shop is not in the first few in that isle.
Pay per click campaigns appear in the top results of a search in a coloured block. They are an excellent way to launch a new website, or launch a new product, because not only do they guarantee exposure for your site every time a certain set of keywords are searched for, but you are able to accurately calculate your return on investment. This fantastic tool is measurable, reporting on how many people clicked through, how many impressions were received, and how many conversions were achieved.
If you remember the analogy of search engines being like large shopping malls, and keyword phrases and words resulting in shopping isles, you will find the subject of search engine marketing a much easier one to navigate.