When you search for anything on Google and some websites appear first and not others, it happens because the companies of those websites are implementing a SEM strategy.

SEM strategies are paid digital marketing strategies to promote a website, that is, to automatically appear among the first options of search engines and thus increase visits. It also serves to display ads on search engines that redirect to the website.

SEM is based on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, which means that advertisers pay only when someone clicks on their ad. Campaigns are powered by machine learning, which runs a "bidding" system. Advertisers choose the keywords for which they want their website to appear when searched for and bid on them to be first.

It is common to talk about SEM and SEO strategies together, as both seek to increase the visibility and positioning of websites. They are complementary strategies. To differentiate between them, it is important to know that SEM is paid, more direct, more segmented and achieves short-term effects. SEO does not require the payment of advertising, is based more on the content and quality of the website itself (for example, its user experience), but its effects are seen more in the long term. It is important to combine both of them. 

SEM strategies make it possible to attract the public that has shown a previous interest in the website or even in the physical shop, because it enables a strong segmentation, both by the keywords chosen to appear on the website and by the segmentation of displaying ads only to certain profiles (by language, geolocation...). This is an advantage in internet advertising, as it makes it more effective in achieving the desired objective (increase sales, brand awareness, subscription to newsletter offers to obtain potential customers, etc.). Moreover, the results are visible in the short term, the budget invested is easily controllable, and the impact can be measured thanks to the ease of monitoring these campaigns.

To achieve the best results from SEM strategies, a series of good practices can be followed, such as setting the objectives sought with the strategy, defining the target audience or buyer person, selecting the key words with the use of specific tools and even selecting the negative words for which you do not want to be associated. It is essential to measure the results in order to further improve the strategy. In addition, you can show two ad options to measure which one works best.  In short, it is a continuous strategy where you will have to keep up to date with the latest trends.

The main tools are Google Ads and Bing Ads. The first is the one with the largest market share and the most popular, while the second is more residual but is a good complement to cover the entire target audience of the business. Google Ads has Artificial Intelligence to choose the best advertising formats for SMEs, and also includes the option of positioning a business on Google Maps to boost local marketing and visits to the physical business.

In short, SEM strategies are essential for SMEs that want to achieve greater visibility and attract potential customers interested in their business model.