One of the must-have marketing strategies for businesses in this age is search engine marketing. Without it, a business can easily be overshadowed by its competition.

Search engines like Google play an important role in our lives today. When someone needs to solve a problem, their usual first course of action is to search the internet for a solution. If not, a business that offers the solution they need.

As a result, it’s quite important that online businesses pay close attention to search engine marketing.

If your prospects see your business when they search the internet for a product or service you provide, they’re more likely to make an inquiry. Especially if you appear at the top of the results page.

This is how search engine marketing helps a business get more quality leads and make more sales.

Keep reading to discover how you can leverage search engine marketing for your online business. But first, let’s have a deeper look at what search engine marketing means.

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

This is simply the practice of putting your ads on the search result pages of search platforms. What makes search engine marketing (SEM) quite different from Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is that SEM is a paid service.

SEO allows you to earn a free spot in the results listing of search engines by having the most relevant content for certain keywords. But with SEM, you compete with other businesses to bid on certain keywords. This gives your ads an opportunity to appear in the result pages when people look up those keywords using a search engine.

SEM ads are usually known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads. They can be either text-based or image-based, giving you flexibility in attracting prospects.

The great thing about SEM is that your ads will show up to people who are actively in need of your service. This makes them easier to convert into customers, bringing more money into your pocket.

Apart from that, the world is becoming more digital. Over a hundred million people use search engines every day to find solutions to their problems. And some of those people are your prospective customers.

Needless to say, SEM is at the core of profit-building for many businesses these days.

The Market Share of Search Engines in Australia

Whenever SEM is mentioned, most people automatically think about Google. That’s because Google is the biggest and most used search engine all over the world.

But the truth is that Google is not the only search engine that people use.

In Australia for example, Google takes up 93% of the search engine market share. Bing takes up approximately 5%, while the remaining market share goes to Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and others.

Google has less dominance in the U.S. compared to Australia, capturing 87% of the market share. Meanwhile, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo all have a market share of 7%, 3% and 2% respectively.

This means that Google doesn’t have the same level of dominance in every nation.

As an online business owner, you have to take this information seriously – especially if your brand targets people overseas. Failing to do so could result in your SEM efforts having less than the desired impact.

Additionally, it means you have to advertise on other search engines if you desire to reach 99% of the search engine users in your country of interest. Advertising on Google alone would mean you’ll only be advertising to 93% of search engine users in Australia, even less in some nations. This would make you miss out on other prospects.

Combining Google Ads and Microsoft Ads

Since Google doesn’t get 100% of search engine traffic in most nations, it pays to advertise on other available search engine platforms. These platforms include Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and so on.

But there’s a problem:

Setting up an ad campaign on Google alone can already be a difficult and tedious process. And replicating the same efforts on other platforms could leave you and your employees drained and exhausted. After all, those platforms work differently, so you still need to learn how they could benefit your operation.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go through the stress of advertising on each individual platform. With Microsoft Advertising, your brand can get exposure in Bing, Yahoo, and other platforms in Microsoft’s ad network.

Let’s take DuckDuckGo, a syndicated partner of Microsoft Advertising, as an example.

To show up on Microsoft’s ad networks, change your Microsoft Advertising setting to target its syndicated search partners like DuckDuckGo. Then, follow the same process for other platforms in Microsoft’s ad network.

When you leverage both Google and Microsoft advertising for your SEM, you can reach more than 99% of the search traffic in your target country.

But before you try to make it work, it’s important to know the differences between both platforms.

The PPC rates differ based on the keywords you’re focusing on in each platform. But generally, Google’s PPC rates are more expensive than Microsoft’s rates.

Apart from that, Microsoft offers expanded text, dynamic, responsive search and product ads when it comes to text-based ads. Google offers all these, too, as well as call-only ads that give prospects the chance to call your business directly.

Furthermore, Microsoft’s display ads reach audiences in its network, which includes Edge, MSN, Outlook, Windows and Xbox. Meanwhile, Google’s display ads are shown on more than two million websites and apps. It is estimated that Google reaches about 90% of online consumers. That’s why it’s the go-to search engine ad network for most businesses.

You should also know that SEM is not a stagnant industry. And to make your SEM effective, you have to be on top of your game. Monitor and adjust your bids to optimise the results you get from them.

Boost Your Business Growth With SEM

It’s undeniable that SEM is a core aspect of the marketing strategy of successful online businesses today. After all, it involves getting your ads in front of your target audience so you can get more quality leads and, eventually, more sales.

As such, it pays to leverage SEM on both Google and Microsoft ad networks.

This ensures that you get access to all the ad traffic in your desired country. Just make sure to check on your bids periodically and optimise them for the best outcomes.

However, this could be a tiring, tedious, and time-consuming process. That’s why you should consider working with agencies like GMS Media Group, which are experts in both Google and Microsoft Advertising.

Get in touch with us if you want to capture more quality leads via search engine marketing. Go ahead and schedule your free consult with one of our GMS experts.