- Search Engine Marketing can refer to many tactics:
- On page search marketing (Search Engine Optimization) refers to ensuring the structure of the code on your site and the vocabulary of the text (keywords) you use will help tell search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing what your site is all about and what services you offer. That will help those search engines refer your site to folks who are searching for what you do.
- Search Engine Marketing (or pay per click ads) on Google, Yahoo or Bing refer to campaigns you run that will place your ad on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) of people who have searched for a keyword you have bid on. If you are a winery that offers wine tasting, you can bid on the keyword “wine tasting” and be placed on the SERP page of someone searching for “wine tasting”. Obviously, if that winery is in California, it probably doesn’t make sense to show up in SERP results for someone in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Good thing you can also define the geographical area you want to bid on for your ads to appear.
- Local Search goes one step further on Google which allows for folks who are searching in their area to find local companies. You can improve your results in local search by using a product like YEXT that will ensure your business is listed on over 55 search engines like Google, Yelp and Yahoo along with special product and services listings on the sites that include that additional information.