Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a broad scope that involves a lot of facets that marketers have to take into account. Increasing a website’s visibility in search engine results pages, especially through paid advertising, can be a bit tricky. That is why mistakes are inevitable, even for seasoned marketers.
The following are some of the usual SEM mistakes some marketers make and have to avoid:
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Entering phone numbers in ad text
When establishing your ads, don’t enter any phone number in the ad text. This can get your ad disapproved. Instead of doing this, you can just make use of the call extension feature. This handy feature shows a clickable call button with your ad which compels people to call your business whenever they need to.
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Using broad and unrelated keywords
Choosing keywords that are too broad doesn’t work well. Although broad keywords do have a high search volume, the quality of the traffic is not guaranteed. Specific keywords (long-tail ones) don’t have a huge volume of searchers but the conversion is better ensured because people who key in specific keywords are usually those who already have a transactional intent. Using more specific keywords is a good way to filter your traffic and gain more relevant ones.
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Questionable Inbound Links
Each time another site links to any of your web page, it sends a signal to the search engine that you are a credible player in your industry. However, if the website linking to you is a poor-quality one and is suspected to practice black hat SEO tricks, your website may also be at stake. You must link to high-authority sites, and you must also make sure that the websites linking to you are clean and credible in the eyes of both the users and the search engines. You should conduct a regular link audit to your website. If you want to keep track of your inbound links, you can use tools like Open Site Explorer, Link Research Tools, Majestic SEO, Moz, and Ahrefs.
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Insufficient Tracking Metrics
Your time, effort, and money in proceeding with your SEM campaign might all go down the drain if you do not constantly gauge your results. Use the right tracking metrics and tools to assess the quality of your campaign. You need to measure your results well and adjust your strategy from time to time to ensure that the right results are just around the corner.
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Part-time Efforts
You can’t get the full reap if your efforts are just partial. Search engine marketing and internet marketing in general require dedication, expertise, and consistency. If you are personally spearheading your SEM campaign, you can’t just do this part-time and expect the kind of big results you have in mind. However, if you have enough resources to hire the most seasoned digital marketers, that won’t be a problem. Just make sure that you still take the time to monitor the progress of your SEM campaign to ensure your ROI and eventual profits.
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Failing to Think Like a Consumer
Even if you buy the most expensive term for your PPC marketing, you still can’t get good results if your chosen term is not exactly the keyword your target market generally searches for. Think like your own customer to avoid wasting cash on inaccurate investments.
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Having unrealistic expectations
Keep your expectations in check. For example, if you’re spending $100 monthly, think about the number of clients you need to get to obtain ROI and revenue. If your product is sold at $50 each and your campaign brings in 20 new customers, then your campaign is apparently a success given the high return.
If you haven’t started any internet marketing attempt yet or are still on the initial phase of the game, study the marketing field first before spending time, money, and effort. You’ll get the maximum rewards if you take your SEM strategy seriously. You may want to read our latest articles or learn about us.
