Published on : 08 October 20214 min reading time

Have you heard about SEA (Search Engine Advertising), but don’t know how to precisely define the outlines of this marketing strategy? Also called paid referencing, SEA aims to give visibility to your website through the creation of ads (“ad”) whose links lead to your site. Each campaign has a keyword linked to your activity. Visit https://instaon.io for more about digital marketing strategy.

This article gives you a complete definition of SEA, explains the difference with SEO and SEM, and advises you on how to implement an SEA strategy that will pay off, so that sponsored results in search engines, including Google, turn into commercial results.

WHAT IS SEARCH ENGINE ADVERTISING (SEA)?

SEA, or Search Engine Advertising, literally means advertising on search engines. This marketing channel refers to an advertising network on search engines that aims to make a website appear in the first results on a given search.

SEA: HOW DOES IT WORK?

The most used search engine in France is Google. In 2018, 94% of French Internet users use Google to do searches, followed by Bing 3%, Yahoo 1.5%, and other search engines <1%.

This is why SEA strategies and campaigns are essentially based on the use of the American giant’s advertising management tool: Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords).

WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF THE ASP?

The first objective of the SEA is the visibility of the ads and your brand. Thanks to precise targeting to reach the heart of your audience, you appear at the right time, in a defined geographical area and on all types of selected devices (computer, tablet, smartphone).

Then, the ATS allows you to maximize the conversion rate. How? How? Internet users see your ad at the top of the page, click on it, are redirected to the landing page of your site, and can leave their contact details or even buy your product or service.

In short, you generate quality leads through targeting, choosing relevant keywords that are precise enough to match your business. You don’t just attract traffic to your site: this traffic is qualified and guarantees growth for your company.

SEA, SEO, SEM: WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

SEO: DEFINITION

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is search engine optimization. More precisely, it is the optimization of pages of your website, both from a technical point of view and from a content point of view. The objective is to position you in the first natural or organic results in a search engine.

It is a complementary SEO strategy to the SEA to bring visibility and notoriety to your website.

What to pay attention to in order to have an effective SEO content?

Quality content: quite long, which provides the answer expected by the Internet user, optimized from the point of view of the semantics used;

A Google-friendly technical framework: the tree structure of your site, the language in which it is coded, Meta tags (titles, description, etc.), URLs, etc…;

Quality links: netlinking, buying links from powerful sites to “push” your site, etc.

SEM: DEFINITION

SEM, Search Engine Marketing, includes SEO and SEA. It refers to all actions that aim to increase the visibility of your website, whether it is targeted advertising (SEA) or organic actions (SEO).

SEM = SEO + SEA

SMO: DEFINITION

In addition to SEO and SEA, a new acronym must now be taken into account in your digital marketing strategy: SMO, Social Media Optimization, or optimization on social networks.

Here again, the objective is to increase your online visibility, but by focusing your actions on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, etc.). Creating and maintaining a qualified community on the various social networks is also a growth lever for your website and, ultimately, for your company.