Key Metrics in SEM Campaign

SEM metrics

The importance of SEM metrics is obvious to most digital marketers. Search marketing is an essential part of any digital marketing campaign, and the best way to optimize it is by analysing data from a given campaign.

There are a number of SEM metrics a digital marketer can pore over. However, too much data is also not the right kind of problem to have. Bad analysis can sometimes be even worse than no analysis. In this article, we will go through some key SEM metrics which hold the key to a successful search marketing campaign.

Ad impressions

Amongst the key SEM metrics to consider is ad impressions. Not only is it a measure of the overall reach, but it also indicates the accuracy of the keywords chosen for the research.

Each of the SEM metrics digital marketers go over have to allude to some internal aspect of a digital marketing campaign. If the number of ad impressions is high, this can mean a number of things. Maybe the ad copy is excellent, or the keyword chosen is a hit amongst the target audience. It could even mean a combination of all factors.

The converse will be true of ad impressions are low. Thus using a given SEM metric, digital marketers have to identify which part of a digital marketing campaign is not working.

Revenue per Visitor (RPV)

Conversions are the primary goal of most search marketing campaigns. Given the obvious tilt towards conversions, revenue per visitor (RPV) is a great metric for digital marketers to incorporate in their SEM strategy.

Financial goals are often the most difficult to crack, and thus have to be monitored closely. RPV is a definitive SEM metric which has a direct connection to the financial impact of a search marketing campaign on sales and revenue.

RPV can depend on a number of things. From the quality and loading speed of the landing page to the quality of content on the website, a high or low RPV can be so for a variety of reasons. It is up to digital marketers to single out the reasons affecting RPV.

Click through rate

Click through rate refers to the percentage of people clicking on a link amongst a group of audience who view a given ad.

A click through rate determines the number of visitors a website gets from a given SEM campaign. Rated highly as one of the layered SEM metrics, the value of click through rate can point to a number of factors.

A high click through rate can mean good keyword research, attractive ad copy, and title, or even a combination of all these factors. A low click through rate suggests something going wrong in the previously mentioned factors. Depending on the situation, digital marketers have to draw accurate conclusions from click through rate data to point out which areas require improvement.

Competitor performance

One often ignored SEM metric is the performance of competitors. An easy way for digital marketers to find areas of improvement for a SEM campaign is to analyse the performance of competitors.

Analysing competitor performance can throw open a world of possibilities. From getting new ideas regarding keywords to finding new and better ways to framing the ad copy, competitor data can provide insights, unlike no other SEM metric.

In Conclusion

A search marketing campaign can be optimized by the use of powerful SEM metrics which point to certain key elements of a digital marketing campaign. Given the need to improve consistently, SEM metrics have to be analysed within a stable framework. Incorrect analysis can also be very harmful to a search marketing push, hence establishing the importance of correct SEM metrics analysis. 

Author

Gaurav Heera is a Digital Marketing Coach and Affiliate Marketing Specialist. Founder of Delhi Courses providing Digital Marketing Course in Delhi & an Internet-Based Company on the premise of helping people change their lives.