Understanding SEM: definition and strategy

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What is SEM? Search Engine Marketing.

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In today's world of digital marketing, it is essential to understand what the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for a successful online visibility strategy.

This article will explain the fundamental principles of SEM, as well as 10 important points to bear in mind to improve your website's presence on the Internet. website on search engines such as Google.

What is SEM?

SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, is a set of techniques and practices designed to optimise the visibility of a website on search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo. These techniques include natural referencing (or SEO), paid advertising campaigns (SEA) as well as certain content and social media strategies.

10 essential points to know about SEM

1. 1. Understanding the difference between SEO and SEA

Le natural search engine optimisation (SEO) consists of optimising the content and structure of a website to improve its position in organic search results. It's a complex process that requires skills in copywriting, keyword analysis, tagging, and so on. HTML and link building. SEO is generally considered to be a long-term strategy with lasting benefits for your website.

Conversely, the SEA (Search Engine Advertising)Search Engine Advertising (SEA) is a strategy that consists of buying ads on search engines in order to position yourself on certain keywords. Compared with SEO, SEA generally has an immediate but temporary effect on a website's visibility.

1. 2. Choosing the right keywords

In an SEM campaign, it is essential to target keywords that are relevant and appropriate to your sector of activity. Use keyword search available online and take the time to study your competitors to find the best terms to use in your content and ads.

1. 3. Use appropriate HTML markup

The HTML mark-up used on your website plays a crucial role in natural referencing. It enables search engines to understand the structure and content of your website. Use title tags (h1, h2, h3...), meta descriptions and alt attributes correctly to improve your SEO.

1. 4. Creating quality content

To succeed in natural referencing and attract visitors, it is imperative to create quality content on your website. The content must be unique, informative and of interest to your visitors. audience. What's more, it needs to be updated regularly to keep your visitors interested and to encourage search engines to index your website.

1. 5. Optimising the structure of your website

To make it easier for search engines to index your website, it is important to have a clear and organised structure. Use a simple and effective navigation menu, and design a site map (sitemap), which will make it easier for search engines to browse your content.

1. 6. Improve the loading speed of your site

La loading speed of your website is a crucial factor in theuser experience and natural referencing. Search engines penalise websites that are too slow to load, as this can lead to a poor user experience. Optimise images, use compression techniques and optimise your code to improve loading speed.

1. 7. Making your website mobile-friendly

These days, the majority of Internet users access the web from their mobile devices. It is therefore essential that your website is adapted to this type of browsing. Adopt a design responsive design and ensure that all the elements of your site function correctly on screens of all sizes.

1. 8. Implementing a netlinking strategy

Inbound and outbound links are also important for SEO, as they enable search engines to understand the relevance and authority of a website. Work on your strategy for creating internal links (links between pages on your site) and external links (links to quality sites).

1. 9. Analyse and adjust your efforts

With any marketing effort, it's crucial to measure the results to determine the effectiveness of your actions. Analyse your website traffic, the conversions and the results of your advertising campaigns to find out what's working and what needs to be changed or improved.

1. 10. Call in a SEM professional if necessary

Given the complexity of Search Engine Marketing and the many techniques that need to be implemented, it can be worthwhile calling on an SEM professional to help you. These experts have the experience and skills needed to optimise your website and set up effective SEA campaigns.