SEM the moving target

The art and science of search engine marketing (SEM) is an ever-evolving practice. Few companies have kept pace with this continually moving target and only recently are we seeing a true awareness of the fact. As a result, dealers are now scrambling to get back on track with their search marketing, but few companies are in position to respond.

Dealers with an assertive PPC strategy are investing about $2k-$3k a month per topic or bundle of related keywords. With two or three campaigns, these numbers add up quickly, costing dealers $10k or more in PPC alone. While the traffic driven to their site as a result of these PPC campaigns is significant, there are shortcomings.

One problem with PPC advertising is that it does not build residual value which is important in today’s game. Residual value is search visibility that remains whether or not a campaign is in effect. For example, once your daily or monthly allowance on a particular PPC campaign is used up, your ads stop appearing in the SERPs because there is no residual benefit with PPC.

However, with organic search you have the opposite problem. Your pages can continue appearing in the SERPs for months after you stop juicing a topic. In fact, if you wanted the listings to stop appearing, you would have to go out of your way to force them off.

The residual benefit of today’s Automotive SEO is important to understand. It is what differentiates between your long-term and short-term advertising dollars. Residual benefit also maximizes your ROI.