SEM- Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing, abbreviated as SEM, is the advertising strategy of taking a user from a search engine query to an advertisement and then to relevant content or products. SEM ads are typified by the ones you see at the top and right sidebar of Google’s search returns. According to Google, a 2% click thru rate is average for these ads, which interesting enough is also the average on direct mail campaigns in the print world.

How is the SEM click thru rate calculated?

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing

Click-thru Calculation

Divide the number of clicks by the number of impressions, then multiply the result by 100 — (Clicks/Impressions) x 100. This will give you the percentage of clicks vs. impressions Another way of putting it is that you are taking a look at how many times an ad is served, and comparing it to how many times it’s clicked.

Average Click-thru Rate

If an advertiser’s ads are being clicked less than the 2% average, then the ad may be badly constructed or the end user may consider it irrevelant, or worse, annoying. If the user is searching for high end golf clubs and they keep seeing an ad for a miniature golf game, they won’t be ad-blind to the miniature golf ads, instead they will actually grow annoyed by the mismatched ads. Using A/B testing and some basic analytics, can help advertisers create more relevant ads.