How To Use Keywords For Effective SEM (Search Engine Marketing) In 2023?

As the competition in the global market increases, the marketers and advertisers also have to constantly think of ways that help them to stand out from the crowd to do well.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your website does well on search engine results pages (or SERP).

There are several elements and aspects, which are combined to create a successful SEM campaign. One of the most crucial elements is the keywords. Experts of a leading Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai explains that keywords play a significant part in SEM, and to understand why they are important and how these SEM keywords work, make sure to read them till the end.

 

Key Takeaways

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is one of the most effective ways to ensure that your website does well on search engine results pages (or SERP).
• Keywords are crucial in optimizing your website to ensure it appears at the top of SERP.
• Several types of keywords are used in SEM campaigns, including broad match, phrase match, exact match, and negative keywords.
• Using specific and precise keywords in SEM campaigns can help attract traffic looking for the specific answers a website provides.
• SEM keywords are different from SEO keywords, as SEM campaigns are paid ad campaigns, and SEM keywords are more focused and specific than SEO.

What are Keywords?

 

When we talk about keywords used in search engines, they are a word or group of words or a ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­phrase typed in the search engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, and others that show results relevant to the search.

These keywords, or key phrases, as they are also known, are used by bloggers, brand websites, and other website owners to optimize their website to make sure that their web pages are positioned at the top of the search engine results page or commonly known as SERP.

A keyword is of different types and can be a single word, or a group of them, searched for in search engines. Knowing and making proper use of the keywords in your web page is one of the most important elements of optimizing the web page.

 

Why are keywords so crucial for your website?

A keyword is a way to bring your web page to the top of the search results as they are a means to communicate with the search engines and show them the relevancy of your web page to the search.

When the spiders or the search bots find the keywords in your web content that the user has searched in the search engine, they might “think” that the content in your web page is related to the user search and will show the web page in the first page or if you are lucky enough maybe at the top of the search results too.

As per any leading Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai, there is a lot of research that goes into choosing the right keyword. When done correctly and with care, keywords can be a great tool to bring targeted traffic to your web page.

 

Difference between SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) keywords

There is are many people who think that the keywords for both SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are the same. While these keywords might be similar, they are certainly not the same.

While technically, there is no cost for implementing SEO strategies, the keywords usually used are not very specific or not intently focused. It does not mean that the keywords are not relevant, but keywords are related to the search and not precise.

On the other hand, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a paid ad campaign that costs the website owner money. As PPC or pay per click is not for free, website owners do not use keywords that are vague or not precise.

Because they aim to attract traffic looking for answers they provide, they use specific keywords that go straight to the point. That means they are intently focused.

Now that you know the general differences between the keywords used in SEO and SEM, let us move on to how the keywords can make your Search Engine Marketing strategies much more effective.

 

Types of keywords used in SEM (Search Engine Marketing)?

 

 

1. Broad Match Keywords

These keywords commonly involve different variants of the same terms included in the keyword. That means the ads for your website are visible to the users for their searches. These are related to your keyword, even if the search words do not exactly match the keywords.

This variation may consist of phrases having a similar meaning, singular or plural forms, misspellings, stemming, or synonyms of the targeted word. For example, your keyword “low carb diet” may appear on searches like “carb-free diet” or “low carb recipes.”

As this type of keyword is by default applied to your campaign (unlike phrase match, exact match, and negative keywords), you do not have to spend a lot of time filtering out the keywords for your web page.

 

2. Phrase Match Keywords

A phrase match keyword is one kind of keyword that ads appearing on the search results page will have a similar meaning to when typed on the search engine.

The keywords that users type in the search engine will be much more specific and to the point.

An advantage of a phrase match keyword is that it is more flexible than exact match keywords and more distinct than the standard broad match keywords. It means that not only will your ads be shown to the consumers that are the primary target, but also those searches with the same meaning or are very closely related to your ads.

For example, if your phrase match keyword is “gaming laptops,” then your ads will appear on searches such as “laptops for gaming” or “top laptops for gaming.”

 

3. Exact Match Keywords

Exact match keywords are the kind of keywords that very closely match with the ads. In other words, your ads will appear only when the keyword searched by the user has the exact keyword or the same meaning.

With a keyword that matches exactly, you can decide on precisely which kind of consumers you want on your web page. It will help your ads appear in front of the right audience and drive targeted traffic to your website.

For instance, if your exact match keyword is “laptops for students,” then the searches that your ads might appear in might be “student laptops” or “laptop for a student,” but it will not appear for searches like “laptops for gaming” or “gaming laptops.”

Out of all the keyword matching options, exact match keywords offer you the most control over the type of audience and consumers you want on your web page.

 

4. Negative Keywords

Negative keywords are the kind of keywords that allow you to keep out the searches where you do not want your ads to show up. This way, you can concentrate on the eligible keywords for your ads.

When we correctly implement negative keywords, it can help grow your return on investment (or ROI). For example, if you are a business that sells bed sheets and cushion covers, you might want to add phrases like “phone covers” or “assignment sheets” to your negative keywords to negate them from your campaigns.

It is important to remember that using too many negative keywords in your ad campaigns can further decrease traffic on your web page.

 

How to use keywords for effective SEM (Search Engine Marketing)?

1. Research your keywords well

 

 

If you are serious about bringing the maximum targeted traffic to your webpage and growing your business on a digital platform, researching your keyword is the first and the most important thing to do.

While determining your keywords explore various options and choose the one that suits your web page. One of the crucial things you need to keep in mind is that, while determining your keywords, you must think like customers. You need to understand how they think during searching for something and what they type in the search engines.

Remember that the users will search for the same thing in various ways on different devices. So conduct thorough research before implementing keywords in your website.

 

2. Prepare a proper budget for your keyword.

As PPC is a paid Search Engine Marketing (SEM) service, you have to prepare a budget that will aid you in planning the bidding for keywords. Different keywords have different prices, and these are according to their competition.

 

One thing to keep in mind is the higher you bid, the better chances you have of being placed at the top. The more keywords you bid on, the more you have to pay. Refrain from bidding on keywords that are not necessary as it will only increase the cost.

Researching the keywords well and studying consumer behaviour will be of great help in determining the budget.

 

3. Create your seed list

A seed list is the list of keywords created to add all the keywords that you think have the potential to be added to your content. The list ensures that no keyword is left out and there are no wasted opportunities.

Creating a seed list will help you brainstorm all the ideas for a keyword as it is the foundation for deciding the keywords suitable for your web page.

A seed list can be made by including keywords involving the products or services provided by your business or the terms and phrases used by the target audience. The keywords you use should be precise but not too specific as it will lead to less search volume.

For example, “travel bags for men” sounds precise and good enough. However, “travel bags for men at low cost” is too specific and might not be searched very often.

 

4. Know and understand your audience

I have said this before, and I will repeat it once more, understanding your target audience’s thought process is incredibly crucial for keyword planning.

Keywords are what your audience will type in the search engines to get answers, and if you want to be the one they click on to get their answers, the keywords you use have to be the same or relevant to their search.

That will happen only when you do further research on them. You can also use several tools which will help with keyword planning.

Many keyword planning tools are available to help you with this. Some of the tools are SEMrush, Ahrefs, and the most commonly known tool is Google Keyword Planner, which does not cost anything for the services provided.

 

5. Know the competition and search volume of the keyword

Having a keyword with low competition is ideal for marketers, but having low search volumes will bring you little to no visitors, which will be a problem.

In the same way, if the competition is high for a keyword, it will be hard when you need to place your ads.

 

 

The situation is best when the competition is low, but the search volume is high. Though it may sound impossible or unrealistic when you explore, you can get close to finding it.

 

6. Use keywords that satisfy user intent

To have a successful Search Engine Marketing (SEM) ad campaign, you have to make sure that the keywords you choose and bid on are relevant to the kind of searches your targeted audience make.

You can try-out, or use a few keywords that fit perfectly for your content and the website. This part entirely depends on how big or small your budget is.

When you have a tight budget, you can begin by focusing on keywords that bring in potential buyers. If you have a budget that is flexible enough, you can bid for keywords and aim for the searches that customers do before they buy a product or service related to your website.

 

7. Do not use too many keywords.

Many Search Engine Marketing beginners make mistakes such as bidding for too many keywords in hopes that the traffic on their website will see a significant spike, but they couldn’t be more wrong.

While it is good to bid on keywords that might present you in front of potential customers, experts of any top Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai suggests that overusing keywords is the wrong move.

Remember, quality is always better than quantity. Choosing too many keywords might bring you a lot of traffic but not the targeted ones.

Bidding on so many keywords will also eat up your budget as every click costs money according to the competition for a keyword. So if you choose keywords that will not benefit your sales, you will only waste your hard-earned money.

 

Best Practices for Successful SEM

Conclusion:

SEM strategies can do wonders for boosting your business. All it needs is proper research, accurate knowledge of the market and consumer, adequate planning and implementation of the campaign.

Now that you have read about how to use keywords for effective Search Engine Marketing, take a look at our other blogs on boosting your Google Rankings and Backlink Creation Methods.