Search Engine Marketing Consulting

Paid Search and Organic:
Better Together

Search engine marketing is a form of advertising in which site publishers bid on specific keywords for the opportunity to be listed above organic search results.

Organic search engine optimisation (SEO) is unpaid efforts to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), including but not limited to:

Content for SEO.
Link building.
Traffic generation through social media.
Technical SEO.

Organic search results have significantly higher click-through rates than paid results. The top organic listing on Page 1 of SERPs has a CTR of nearly 32, meaning it commands the biggest chunk of search engine traffic. Despite listing above the first organic search listing, paid listings have an average CTR of a little less than 2%.

By contrast, the conversion rate of paid search results is more than 10X that of organic results. Paid search can also help industry newcomers who want to grow their business build some much-needed brand awareness. Low CTRs aside, paid search listings are still sitting pretty at the top of Page 1.

At Brafton, our SEM consultants know how to merge the value of SEO and SEM in a complete, highly tailored, prescriptive online marketing strategy.

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Our SEM Consulting Services

Brafton’s SEM consultants take a holistic approach to paid search to ensure it serves
specific marketing goals – and they track every campaign each step of the way and pivot
as needed to improve outcomes.

By collaborating with content strategists and SEO consultants on the larger marketing
strategy, our SEM experts ensure that no ad spend is misplaced. They also assess how
other variables might influence the performance of your paid search efforts – lack of
organic online presence, relatively poor search engine ranking, subpar meta descriptions,
unengaging landing page copy and unintuitive site UX – and provide guidance on how to
keep those factors from foiling your SEM success.

Paid Search Strategy and Execution

Maximising the value of paid search requires a clear end goal. Brafton can help you assess that end goal, and identify the opportunities to use paid search to achieve them:

Supplement Your SEO Efforts

Organically improving online presence is a long game. It takes time and effort to rank for keywords, build up your backlink profile and optimise your site for maximum search visibility. Paid search can help generate traffic, however little, in the interim.

Build Brand Awareness

Strategically targeting certain keywords for paid search can help get your listing in front of your target audience. Even if the CTR isn’t great, your presence on SERPs can improve brand recognition for a low cost – because with paid search, you only pay when a user clicks on the ad, but there is still some value in them just seeing it. Case in point: Paid search can build brand awareness by 80%.

Improve Local SEO

Google offers Local Service Ads that local service companies such as electricians, plumbers and other local services can use to generate leads. Unlike traditional paid search, ad publishers pay per lead, with a lead being a phone call, message or booking made through the ad.

Create Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)

Google Ads and other platforms make it easy to target users who have already visited your site. This is one of the most powerful features of paid search, and one of the most effective ways to supplement your SEO campaigns by retargeting deeper-funnel leads.

Our SEM consultants can also manage other PPC campaigns through the Google Ad Network, content syndication channels, social media networks and other platforms. They can help you diversify and optimise your ad spend across these different networks to maximise results.

In-Depth Keyword Research

Search engine marketing is a type of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing. Each click on the paid listing comes with a fee called the cost-per-click (CPC).

Highly competitive keywords that many site publishers are attempting to rank for on both paid and organic search results can have a CPC of £37 or more.

Brafton’s consultants work within the Google Ads and Bing Ads platforms, and consult other keyword research tools to create lists of industry-specific keywords within your budget and that align with your target audience’s search intent.

lp data

If your page has a high Quality
Score, you can earn a lower CPC
rate and beat out higher bidders.
____________

Landing Page and Metadata Optimisation

Every paid ad needs a landing page destination after a user clicks. On the Google Ads platform, a “Quality Score” is given to that landing page. The Quality Score is based on the performance of that web page, including its CTR, keyword relevance and various other factors.

If your page has a high Quality Score, you can earn a lower CPC rate and beat out higher bidders.

Brafton’s SEM consultants can make recommendations for how to improve Quality Score of the landing pages you use in your paid search ads in several ways:

Keyword Optimisation

In addition to identifying optimal keywords, we can conduct additional research that will improve your page’s relevance to those keywords. Our in-house team of writers can optimise existing copy or craft new copy to help improve the Quality Score of the page.

A/B Testing

Our consultants test the efficacy of different landing pages for various keyword campaigns. This can help improve Quality Score, more precisely target the right audience and boost overall customer conversions.

UX and Design Audits

We can assess your landing page’s UX using heat mapping and other forms of analysis to ensure that it’s optimised to drive conversions. We can also build out custom calls-to-action and help you optimise forms.

Meta Description Analysis and Updates

Meta descriptions for paid search listings have a significant impact on CTR. Our consultants can craft keyword-optimised meta descriptions for each of your ads that encourage prospects to take action, and conduct A/B testing to make data-driven decisions about what descriptions perform the best.

Paid Search and Organic: Better Together