Search engine advertising (SEA): Complete guide [2024 edition]

How SEA works on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Qwant

The most popular search engines have a SEA system of their own, linked to their own advertising platform, allowing you to create ad campaigns based on the same characteristics.

Whether Google, Bing, Yahoo, or Qwant, they all offer unique opportunities to reach different audiences. All that's left is to choose the platform best suited to your business, based on your needs and budget.

Google

The undisputed web giant (93.1% market share worldwide in 2023 according to Statista), offers Google Ads. This is the most popular platform, benefiting from Google's great popularity. With Google Ads, bids and quality score determine the order of ads, offering unprecedented flexibility and performance measurement.

Bing

Bing, on the other hand, has Microsoft Advertising, which works in a similar way. While Bing doesn't have Google's reach, the search engine is second behind Google (2.9% market share in 2023 according to Statista).

Yahoo

Yahoo Advertising provides advertisers with various solutions to promote their sites, whether through its news or search results. Yahoo Advertising allows advertisers to precisely target and reach their audiences in a meaningful and engaging way.

Qwant

Qwant offers Qwant Ads, its own online advertising service. Businesses can purchase sponsored link ads that appear in search results. Like other platforms, Qwant Ads uses an auction system to determine the order of ads.

How do you succeed with your SEA campaign in 5 steps?

To be able to harmonize your results and your metrics, here are 5 key steps that will allow you to find the best recipe for success in SEA, to be adapted to your business!

1. Define your marketing goals

For your SEA campaign to be successful, the precise definition of your marketing objectives is essential. It's about understanding precisely what your business hopes to accomplish through online advertising.

2. Know how to target the right audience

You need to make sure that the right listeners hear your message. Knowing the customers in your target audience—their preferences, their behaviors, their demographics—is imperative. Successfully targeting the right audience with relevant content can mean the difference between a successful campaign and a costly failure.

3. Analyze the right keywords

The secret to an effective SEA campaign lies in a thorough understanding of the specific keywords your target audience uses when searching for products or services similar to yours online. Don't hesitate to use keyword analysis tools to help you choose the best options to include for your ads.

4. Define a consistent budget

A well-planned SEA campaign has a cost. To manage this investment effectively, defining a coherent and realistic budget is crucial. Do the math: how much are you willing to spend for each click? What return on investment do you expect?

5. Create and launch your SEA campaign

There you go. You have your needs, your audience, your keywords and your budget. Now is the time to create and launch your SEA campaign: be creative but stay true to your brand. A/B-test different versions of your ads to see which ones are most successful. Get started, and don't forget, SEA must be monitored and adapted according to your stats. It's up to you to make your campaign best suited to your business!

How do you interpret your SEA reports to determine if your advertisements are successful?

In the world of SEA and acquisition channels, knowing how to read metrics is essential if you want to optimize your Google Ads or ads on any other search engine solution. The KPIs can help you with that. So, what are these KPIs to track in SEA and how do you interpret them for your campaigns?

Click-through rate (CTR)

This is the number of clicks your ad received divided by the number of times it was shown (impressions). A high CTR can indicate that your ad is relevant to users.

Cost per click (CPC)

This is the average cost you pay for each click on your ad. A high CPC may mean that you are in a competitive market or that your ad is not relevant enough.

Conversions

These are user actions after clicking on your ad. A high conversion rate means your ad attracts the right audience and your website is effective at converting.

Return on investment (ROI)

This is the profit generated in relation to the cost of your SEA campaign. A high ROI means your campaign is profitable. The investment you make in your ads earns you more money.

For example, a high CTR might be good news, but if your conversion rate is low, it could mean your ads are attracting traffic, but the traffic isn't qualified. Likewise, a high CPC isn't necessarily bad news if your ROI is also high. This could simply mean that there are a lot of competing businesses in your industry, but your ads are profitable.

Search engine advertising (SEA) FAQ

Does SEA cost money?

The answer is yes: when we talk about SEA, we're talking about auctions. Here, the object of the auction is advertising space on SERPs. Bids are based on keywords, which means that if a user types these words into their search bar, your ad may appear at the top of the page.

With SEA, you have control over these ads. You decide how much you're willing to pay for a click on your ad in particular: that's cost-per-click. Most SEA ads work on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, which means you only pay when a user clicks on your ad. The amount you bid can determine your ad's position relative to those of your competitors at the top of the page results.

How do you bid when advertising on search engines?

The keyword-bidding process for advertising on search engines involves advertisers competing for ad placements related to specific search terms. Advertisers choose keywords relevant to their business and set a maximum bid, which is the most they're willing to pay per click on their ad.

This keyword-bidding process typically happens in real-time through automated auctions that occur when a user enters a search query. The search engine will use the bid amount along with other factors, such as ad quality and relevance, to determine the ad's placement. Higher keyword bids and better-quality ads generally result in more prominent ad placements, potentially leading to increased visibility and more clicks from potential customers.

What is the difference between search engine optimization and search engine advertising?

These two forms of marketing are often perceived as rivals. However, the two levers are complementary and have distinct objectives.

With search engine optimization (SEO), the aim is anchored in the long term. In SEO, pages rank organically in the search results after meticulous work on the basis of the website and its content in relation to targeted keywords. A site will then rank once the search engine robots are convinced of the quality of the site and page and the relevance of the content to the target query. This enables you to get your brand to rank over the long term and generate unlimited traffic, without any advertising investment.

Paid search, also known as SEA, is capable of producing fast, but short-term results. In exchange for a certain amount of money, search engines highlight your site for specific keywords, determined in advance by you, the advertiser.

Your site's ranking on the search results page depends on how much you're willing to pay for each click on your ad. A SEA strategy is quick to set up, but has a limited lifespan, depending on the budget you allocate to your campaign.

What is SEM?

SEM stands for "search engine marketing" and is an umbrella term that includes both SEO and SEA. It involves strategies and tactics to increase the visibility of a website in search engines, both through paid and unpaid means.

SEM aims to enhance both the organic and paid search results to maximize the visibility and traffic to a site from search engines. It's a comprehensive approach that combines the techniques of SEO and SEA. For example, a company might use Google Ads for immediate traffic while also improving its website's SEO to build organic search traffic over time.

SEO or SEA: What do you choose for your marketing strategy?

Choosing between SEO and SEA means choosing between investment in time/expertise and financial investment.

SEO is in-depth work. It requires time and patience. Choosing SEO means opting for a long-term strategy, where regular work and constant optimization of keywords, content and site structure are central. It's also about brand positioning: by being visible on a large number of queries related to its niche, the brand references itself as an expert in its field in the eyes of Internet users. There are no advertising costs here, but an investment in time and skills is required.

SEA, on the other hand, is the fast track to the top of search engine pages. SEA propels you directly to the top of search results through paid advertising. SEA ads offer instant visibility, but at a price: the purchase of advertising space. SEA requires a budget, precise campaign management, accurate target analysis and well-thought-out wording to encourage users to click. It's truly a significant marketing and advertising acquisition lever!

What budget should you set aside for your SEO strategy?

Above all, the budget devoted to SEO strategy is absorbed by the skills of the expert who will accompany you in this work. Whether in house or through a dedicated agency, SEO expertise is the key to deciphering the complex language of search engines. So, depending on the size of your site, you may wish to hire a dedicated SEO person or an agency. In addition, to provide content, you need to call on copywriters who can provide you with the texts you need to implement your SEO strategy.

Another item of expenditure concerns tools for monitoring and optimizing your SEO. The market is full of solutions such as Semrush, Seolyzer, etc., which can analyze your SEO performance and help you improve your rankings in the search results. These tools may be part of your budget, but they're a major ally when it comes to SEO performance.

You can also consider collaborating with influential blogs or sites. This also represents an investment, whether in terms of influencer contracts, paid partnerships or product submissions, but the aim of these partnerships is to obtain links pointing to your site, which reinforces your credibility in the eyes of the search engines, as well as qualified traffic between their communities and your site.

Conclusion

SEA is a profitable marketing lever, provided you know how to use it consistently with your goals, brand identity, and current offers. The risk, however, is spending considerable sums on a strategy that ultimately fails to convert, forgetting that certain actions would be more effective in SEO... So, to make your paid search a success, test, test, and test! In the digital world, there's no such thing as a tailor-made instruction manual: it's up to you to find your own magic formula.