What is SEM? Is it inbound?

What Is SEM?

SEM, also known as Search Engine Marketing, involves paid advertisements to ensure that your company's products and services appear on the search engine result pages (SERPs). If a user types into a specific phrase, SEM permits your company to be listed in the results for the search query. 

Can it be Inbound? 
You can make an SEM campaign that's inbound when it targets the right buyer persona with the right messaging and bring value to them.

Especially to increase the traffic to a new blog/piece of content, before you've managed to build up SEO and organic traffic. 

"50% OFF BUY OUR SERVICE NOW" > Not Inbound 

"Download This Guide to Solve X problem common for marketers like you" > Inbound 

SEM Fundamentals: Terminology, Platforms, and Tactics

We will now look at SEM basics like terminology and the platforms and strategies associated with paid search engine marketing.

SEM Platforms

The SEM Platform is a search engine through which brands can display search-related advertisements, shown whenever users type in a search. The most popular SEM platform is Google. Google Ads is among the popular SEM platform. Millions of Google searches are conducted every day, and it could aid you in getting in front of the largest audience on the internet.

• Google 
• Yahoo
• Bing 

Types of SEM Keywords

SEM keywords are terms and phrases you use when marketing your search engine campaigns. When people search for these terms, they will see your advertisements. For instance, if your campaign focuses on the phrase "virtual assistant," your advertising might show up when someone searches for the words. Therefore, it is essential to decide the keywords you wish to concentrate on or beware of when starting the SEM program. Four kinds of keywords that you can incorporate into your SEM campaigns.

• Exact Match Keywords

Target keywords that are closely related to the targeted word. This can include misspellings, plural or singular forms, stemming, abbreviations of phrases, reordered ones, paraphrases, and similar words with the same intention of searching for the precise match keyword. For instance, if you are targeting keywords that match precisely the term "virtual assistant", the campaign could also be targeted at the virtual assistant, virtual assistant virtual assistants.

• Broad Match keywords

Seek different variations of a word. These include similar phrases in plural or singular spellings, stemming, misspellings, or synonyms of the term you want to target. For instance, when using the broad match term online assistant, a campaign might be able to focus on virtual assistants as well as online assistants and virtual teams.

• Phrase Match Keywords

Target the exact phrase and any terms with words before or following the target keyword. For instance, if you target the phrase match keywords the virtual assistant, the campaign could also focus on the best virtual assistant. Search for a virtual assistant and employ the virtual assistant.

• Negative Keywords

Exclude keywords that you do not wish to be targeting. Negative keywords are variants from the broad match and phrase match or exact match terms that are not suitable to include within your advertising campaign. These keywords could be semantically connected to your keywords, but they are not relevant to the intent of the targeted term, the campaign or your ad copy. Some examples of negative keywords for the term "virtual assistant" could include virtual assistant salary or Training. If the advertisement was trying to attract companies looking to employ a virtual assistant, the purpose behind those phrases wouldn't be pertinent. Therefore, they shouldn't be removed from the campaign.

SEM Targeting

Keywords that are targeted tell a search platform when to display your advertisements. Targeting for SEM takes it another step. By targeting, you can set additional criteria for when your ad will display and who you should display it to.

• Targeting by location makes ads only be displayed to people within a specific geographical area or ZIP code.
• Ad scheduling lets ads only be displayed at specific times or on particular week dates.
• Demographic targeting makes ads displayed to those who meet specific demographic categories based on their age and gender.
• Targeting devices allow ads only to be shown to users of specific devices, such as desktops, mobile phones or tablets.