is a form of online advertising that tries to promote the visibility of websites through paid ads on the search engine results pages (SERP). In other words, it’s about the process of earning web traffic through paid ads in search engine results. One of the most popular platforms is Google Ads, which is the one we are going to discuss in this section.

Basic indicators

These are some of the main indicators used in paid advertising campaigns in search engines. It is essential to know them to be able to work with Google AdWords or Bing Ads among others.

• Impressions – The number of times an ad has been shown on a search engine results page (SERP).
• SERP : Search Engine Results Page = Search Results Page
• Clicks : number of accesses to a web address through an advertisement.
• PPC / CPC : Pay-Per-Click or Cost Per Click. Cost of each click that a user makes on a.
• CPM : Cost per Thousand. Cost for every thousand impressions of an advertisement, usually of the display type.
• CTR : Click Trough Rate = Click Ratio. Ratio between the number of clicks that have been made on the times that an ad has been shown.
• Position : Refers to the position of the ad in the position list on the search engine results page (SERP).
• Conversions : number of times a predefined goal is achieved in a campaign. Forever

Why use SEM?

Search engine marketing or SEM is very useful for several reasons. These are some of the main ones:

1. To capture quality traffic based on the most important keywords for our business
2. To segment our goals :
   • sales,
   • capture of potential clients (leads),
   • create brand etc.
3. To position ourselves prominently in searches
4. To complement our SEO strategy
   • With keyword performance information.
   • In searches with great competition.
   • With offers and promotions.

Advantages of investing in SEM

1. Performance Control : Only paid when an interested user clicks.
2. Investment control : Defining the budget, the investment is controlled.
3. Possibility of targeting : Allows you to reach the target at the right time with a specific ad.
4. Quick Results : Unlike organic searches, PPC allows you to appear in results quickly.
5. Information provided : Allows you to obtain information on the performance of KWs

How to run a successful Google Adwords campaign?

These are the recommended steps to create a search engine advertising campaign using Google Adwords. Each of them is important to be successful; the preliminary stage of investigation and tests, until the execution of the campaign and subsequent analysis to introduce improvements.

1. Research 
   • Analysis of keywords by type ( Keyword Research ):
     • • Brand or branding terms
     • Generic terms
     • Specific terms: analyze long tail or long tail
   • Competitor analysis: copying the best ideas
   • Analysis of the buying process of our potential clients: before designing an SEM campaign it is necessary to know the relationship process with our company that our potential clients follow. Google provides a good tool to know how different web traffic generation channels influence the online purchasing process of different industries of various sizes in different countries.
     1. Consideration of purchase
     2. Information search
     3. Evaluation of alternatives
     4. Purchase
     5. Consumer experience
     6. Post-purchase evaluation
   • And know the actors in the purchasing process:
     1. Initiator : person who suggests the idea of ​​acquiring a specific product or service.
     2. Influencer : person whose opinion or advice has weight in the final decision.
     3. Decision maker : person who will end some part of the purchase decision: if you buy, what you buy, how you buy or where you buy.
     4. Buyer : person who makes the purchase
     5. User : person who consumes or uses the product or service.
2. Test keywords
   • Start with 5 or 10 very specific keywords (phrase match or exact match to ensure relevance)
   • Delete keywords that do not get clicks or conversions and expand those that give good results.
3. Segment Create individual campaigns with your budget, keywords and landing page
   • By keywords
   • By type of network: only google or also its partners
   • By geographical area: country, region …
   • By duration: working days, holidays, time slots, …
   • By language: Spanish, Catalan, English, ..
   • By device: laptops, mobiles, tablets, …
4. Create relevant, unique and proven ads
   The three elements that influence the Quality Score are: Keywords, ads and landing pages
5. Create well-optimized landing pages or landing pages . On the Formstack page there is a good decalogue of recommendations for creating the perfect landing page .
6. Conversion tracking  analyze sales, downloads, subscriptions, etc. conversions
7. Data analysis  Through Google Adwords we will obtain information that cannot be obtained in any other way.

Campaign settings in Google Adwords

To configure a Google Adwords campaign it is necessary to have previously defined the following elements:

1. objectives
2. Duration
3. Budget
4. Products or services to advertise
5. Geographical scope
6. Languages
7. Networks
8. Devices
9. Keywords
10. Advertisements

Once defined, we add a campaign and from the Google Adwords configuration section we complete the following information:

1. Kind
   • Search with display selection (not recommended)
   • Only for the Search Network:
     • standard or
     • all features: standard + ad serving methods and all ad extensions
   • Only for the Display Network
   • shopping
   • Video
2. Networks
   • Search
   • + partners (not recommended)
3. Devices
4. Locations
   • Location options (advanced) (recommended to exclude Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla)
5. Languages
6. Bidding strategy and budget
   • Bid strategies
     1. Prioritize clicks
        • Handbook
        • Automatic (not recommended)
        • Enable enhanced CPC
     2. Prioritize conversions (activated when we have defined objectives and a certain history)
        • Prioritize clicks
          • bids clicks manual
          • automatic click bid
     3. Select a flexible bidding strategy
   • Budget: € / day
   • Form of publication: Standard or Expedited
7. Ad extensions
   • Location
   • Site links
   • Call
   • Application
   • Reviews
   • Legends
8. Advanced configuration
   • Schedule: start and end date
   • Ad serving: Rotation and frequency limitation
     • Optimize for more clicks
     • Optimize for more conversions
     • Toggle evenly
     • Toggle indefinitely
   • Experiment
   • IP exclusions
   • Dynamic Ads
   • Campaign URL options

Essential tools for SEM

• Google Keyword planner is the tool that will give us search volumes, level of competition and recommended bids:  https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
• Google Adwords Editor  Allows you to edit and manage large campaigns. It connects directly to the Adwords account. Free download from:  https://www.google.com/intl/en/adwordseditor/
• SEMrush is a useful tool to know SEO and SEM information from our competitors:  https://www.semrush.com
• Ubersuggest suggests words related to our keywords:  https://ubersuggest.org
• Google Analytics is the basic and essential web analytics tool:  https://www.google.es/intl/es/analytics/
• Webmaster tools provides data, tools and diagnostics for your website:  https://www.google.es/webmasters/
• Google Trends is the most popular search and trend tool:   https://www.google.es/trends/

The Adwords editor
The Google Adwords editor allows you to edit and manage campaigns more easily offline. After linking a Google AdWords account with the editor, we can access the different sections of the account such as: keywords, campaigns, ads, etc. Synchronization is easy and saves a lot of time when we have to manage large campaigns or volumes of data. You can  download the latest version of the Google Adwords editor for free at this link.

Google AdWords Help Resources

• Adwords Help : https://support.google.com/adwords/#topic=3119071
• Adwords Editor Help : https://support.google.com/adwords/editor/answer/6080641?hl=en&rd=1
• AdWords Basics Courses https://support.google.com/adwords/topic/4580508
• AdWords Basics https://support.google.com/adwords/topic/3119115?hl=en&ref_topic=3119071
• Google Adwords blog in Spanish  https://adwords.blogspot.com.es/
• AdWords community in G + : https://www.adwords-community.com/
• Google Adwords on You Tube : https://www.youtube.com/user/learnwithgoogle
• Google Adwords on Twitter : https://twitter.com/AdWords
• YouTube for advertisers:  https://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/

Google AdWords vocabulary

• Adwords
• Bell
• Click
• Google account
• Ad group
• Prints
• Quality level
• Destination page
• Keywords
• Daily budget
• Maximum CPC bid
• Maximum CPM bid
• Relevance
• Destination url
• Visible URL

You can check the complete list with all the terms in this link.
What is Google AdSense?
Google AdSense is a Google advertising network that allows website owners to earn income by placing ads on their sites. These ads can appear in various formats: text ads, graphic ads, or interactive advertising. The management and publication of these ads is done by Google through a real-time auction system. Google AdSense displays relevant ads to the visitors of each website based on various factors such as the content of the website visited, the geographical location, etc. Thanks to this, advertisers can reach the audience they want and visitors can see relevant ads.

Google Adsense Help

• AdSense Help :  https://support.google.com/adsense
• Examples of text ads :  https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/185665
• Ad placement policies :  https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/1346295