What is Search Engine Marketing? - The differences between Search Engine Optimization SEO and Pai...

When you want to 'search' for something, you research it on the internet, say if you are looking for the nearest fine dining restaurant and to read some reviews on your best options. These days, we would just whip out our mobile phones and search for it on Google. Gone were the days of scanning Sunday papers for recommendations in the Food sections, and cutting it out for the time to come, or having to ask around the room who would know, and who to call to ask for recommendations.

And with the high internet penetration of the global population these days on smartphones and tablets, we can search almost anywhere we are these days, especially with the success in widespread internet coverage. And people are searching all day, everyday, about 2 trillion searches per year according to research by Search Engine Land, a big digital marketplace for sure. And they are there in Google search marketplace for all sorts of things that they are looking for. But the question is, when they search, will they find you?

Search Engine Marketing is the discipline of promoting your search results in search engines, by means of:

1. Unpaid initiatives - utilising SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

2. Paid ad initiatives - buying traffic through paid listings PPC (Pay per Click)

A lot of money and effort can be spent on both sides of the Search Engine Marketing initiatives to help you improve your position on relevant search results page, whether it due to organic factors that you appear on top, or whether it is because you paid for it. Business is business, but each tactic has their own pros and cons to take into consideration.

For startup entrepreneurs, PPC is an easy option for even independent business people or those not very computer savvy can subscribe for. And it can also be expensive to get SEO experts to work on improving your search results. But if you know how to do some SEO yourself, it will be well worth it.

What shows up on the Google Search Results Page

So you suddenly feel you need a facial, and search for 'facial near me' on Google. Take a look at the three primary types of searches that appear on the first page.

1. Paid Search Ads

• for facial spas that have paid for PPC

2. Local Listings

• These have been aggregated according to geographical proximity to you

3. Organic Listings

• These are the searches that Google has pulled up naturally, and where those competitors have likely applied SEO onto their websites.

So now you have an idea what goes where. But stay tuned in future articles to find out how to get it there.

Read on about general Internet trends from 2013 to 2018 to form a better understanding of where the marketplace is, and where it is heading to. All so that you can formulate your Digital Marketing Strategy.