It’s a scenario fresh out of any search engine marketing (SEM) manager’s worst nightmare — you perform a Google search for keywords within your company’s niche, and your brand isn’t in the top five search engine results. Now is the time to go to your boss and explain the true value of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Digital marketing experts understand that the key to directing people to your company’s website is appearing prominently before the eyes of as many users as possible. Your site is where they can make a purchase, sign up for your mailing list, and engage in one of many other potential methods of converting into a customer. That is why it’s important to be ranked high on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs).
The Journey to the Top of the SERPs
The drive to get noticed by as many web users as possible (and the right ones) is fundamental to SEM. Whether you’re an SEM manager for a large corporation or a digital marketer trusted with helping a company improve its click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates, there are techniques that can help you get there. Not sure which ones we’re referring to? Here are two of them:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – This method hinges upon boosting your web traffic by becoming more visible on Google’s SERPs. SEO helps garner more clicks and traffic for your website; the higher you rank in the SERPs, the more credible a source you become.
- Pay-Per-Click (PPC) – A type of advertising model used to drive traffic to websites. Unlike SEO, PPC requires a payment each time a user follows the ad to your page.
Of course, as a professional digital marketer, you should hold a much deeper understanding of these two major types of SEM. However, before heading straight for the strategy drawing board, your first step is to convince your boss that SEM is the best next step toward success for your business.
Overcoming the Biggest SEM Hurdle — Your Boss
If you know your SEM, you know the potential return on investment it can bring to a business. The problem is, both Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click advertising can often be a tough sell to CEOs and upper-level management. For the most part, the challenges of convincing your boss that SEM is a worthwhile endeavor can be narrowed down to the fact that it can be difficult to understand, especially when it doesn’t show immediate returns.
By walking into a meeting and presenting information that your colleagues are unfamiliar with, you’re bound to lose their attention and potentially a large portion of your SEM budget as well. Instead, start with the basics before expounding on the value of these strategies.
Back Your Explanations with Solid SEM Data
Of course, it isn’t enough to explain SEM’s advantages; most business professionals will demand evidence to back your claims. Fortunately for you, the process of SEM has the potential to provide mountains of data, most of which can be used to showcase the efficacy of your efforts. Relevant data and statistics are ideal ways to convince your boss that SEM is well worth the time and investment.
However, if you’re still in the beginning stages of convincing your boss to allocate a budget to SEM efforts, you may not have much of your own data to share. In this case, you’ll likely need to turn to the experts — other seasoned professionals with industry-wide data that support your company’s need for SEM.
Our Top 2023 SEM Statistics
When it’s time to make your case with your boss for an adequate SEM budget, you need to have a list of statistics at your disposal. For that reason, we’ve put together the most relevant and impressive data out there, complete with the major selling point of each. Let’s get started!
2023 SEM Statistics
- SEM pays off in the end. As of the 2019 fiscal year, businesses stand to profit an average of $3 in actual revenue for every $1.60 of Google Ad’s spend. – powertraffick.com
- Local SEM provides some serious web traffic, leading to online or brick-and-mortar sales. It is known that 49% of companies garner over 1,000 views off their Google My Business listing each month while a full third of businesses receive over 1,000 views on Google Maps. – brightlocal.com
- Your business needs to be visible on the world’s most popular search engine — 81% of the population performs product research online before purchasing. – breezyhillmarketing.com
- It’s not enough to operate a website; your page must appear prominently. Over three-quarters of internet users don’t bother to scroll past the first page of search engine results and the associated paid ads. – hubspot.com
- Google prioritizes businesses that engage in SEM best practices. According to Google’s search quality senior analyst, the company’s two most important signals to rank websites for search include high-quality content and link-building efforts. – hubspot.com
- Search engine marketing builds trust in your brand from the largest possible group of potential customers. Just over 88% of respondents say they would trust online reviews and ratings of your company even more than a personal recommendation from a friend or family member. – junto.digital
2023 SEO Statistics
- The vast majority of people are finding your business via the search bar. In fact, 93% of all online business experiences start with a search engine. – junto.digital
- Google often holds the last word in SEO trends. Paying attention to its specs is vital since nearly 89% of all online searches occur on a Google property, including Google Search, Maps, Images, or News. – moz.com
- Search Engine Optimization is likely the single most valuable source of web traffic and eventual conversions for your company. SEO produces 300% of the amount of traffic for your site than social media does. – smamarketing.net
- Leads produced by people organically searching for your products or services have a much better close rate than other marketing efforts. Data shows that 14.6% of leads from organic SEO strategies convert into customers compared to only 1.7% print ads and direct mail. – newscred.com
- In addition to driving eCommerce, SEO is the best way to boost your sales. This is because 78% of online searches for “product or service near me” result in purchases from your business, and 18% of those happen within 24 hours of the initial search. – junto.digital
- You need to do more than drive traffic to your page; technical SEO is just as important. Bounce rates, or the number of people who leave your website, increase by as much as 50% for each extra second your page takes to load with conversion rates dropping by 12%. – conversionsciences.com
2023 PPC Marketing Stats
- PPC ads receive many clicks and are often indiscernible from SERP results. A full 45% of people cannot distinguish between a SERP paid ad and an actual organic search result. – seobook.com
- Most people say paid ads help them find the products they were looking for in the first place — 75% prefer to have PPC ads at the top of a SERP to help provide the answers they were searching for. – clutch.co
- PPC ads help boost your brand’s credibility; in return, trustworthy brands receive more clicks. Surveys reveal that at least 26% of people click on paid ads for dependable brands they are already familiar with. – clutch.co
2023 SEM Trends
- It’s well past time for mobile optimization; if your website isn’t optimized for mobile SEO, you’re being penalized by Google and likely your potential customers as well. Trends have shown that 87% of smartphone owners utilize web searches each day. – business2commnunity.com
- Video continues to rise in importance. If you’re looking to drive traffic to your site, consider the fact that a video is 52 times more likely to appear on the first Google SERP than a regular text-based page. – business2commnunity.com
- Voice search is marketing’s next frontier, with more and more consumers performing voice searches. In fact, the number of voice searches has skyrocketed by 3,400% in the last ten years, making it more important than ever to make your website easy to find by voice. – business2commnunity.com
- Content is king when it comes to driving quality leads to your business’s website. Companies with a blog produce 67% more direct leads, 97% more linkbacks, and 434% more indexed pages, all of which are valuable ways of getting more users to view your products and services. – smamarketing.net
- High-quality content is still by far the most critical factor for driving users to your webpage. Improved content can increase traffic to your blog and generate potential conversions by as much as 2,000%. – smamarketing.net
Get Started with SEM Experts
The nature of the digital marketing landscape means there are countless reasons for your company to invest in all aspects of SEM. Zero Gravity Marketing understands the importance of search engine marketing and why every great campaign should incorporate it. Don’t wait to build out your company’s SEM plan; contact the industry professionals at ZGM today.