Digital marketing refers to any form of marketing done over the Internet.
It encompasses many aspects of online marketing, such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Display remarketing. With SEO, businesses can optimise their websites to rank higher in search engines. In contrast, with Display remarketing, businesses show ads to people who have viewed their products or searched for specific terms.
Let’s explore these aspects in more detail.
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
Search engines like Google, BING, Yandex, and Baidu index different websites and add them to their list of known websites. In order to determine which websites are relevant, search engines use several methods.
For example, Google assesses website relevance based on the amount and relevance of backlinks, the age of the domain, the type of content on the site, including images, and the layout of the content on the website.
Backlinks are links that point to and from a website, and the more of them that a website has, the more relevant it is considered to be. This means that the more articles and references there are to a website, the more important it is considered to be, and the higher it is likely to appear in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) when a person searches for something relevant to this site.
It is possible to buy backlinks, but this is not recommended as search engines are becoming smarter at determining these kinds of backlinks and penalising websites for purchasing links.
The age of a domain also gives search engines credibility as it suggests that the website has been around for a while. The type and layout of the content on a website are crucial because search engines index the website based on its content to determine how relevant it is.
There are many more factors that influence SEO, but these are some of the most critical ones to consider.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Most search engines earn money by having advertisers pay to be listed higher on the search results page (SERP). These engines have also become smarter about the types and styles of Ads that they offer advertisers. SEO can directly impact Advertising costs. The better your page’s SEO, the lower your advertising costs can become, so the two aspects go hand in hand.
To name a few types of Search Engine Marketing available:
Search Advertising
This allows advertisers to market based on keywords searched. So, if someone searches for a specific product and the search term contains a keyword that you are targeting, your potential Ads may show up in the SERP. These are probably some of the most effective Ads available.
Display Advertising
These are images used to entice potential customers to visit a specific site. They are displayed on relevant websites, and although sometimes they can become annoying, they are generally very effective at reaching a large volume of potential customers and reminding them that you are out there.
Video Advertising
As you may know, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, owns YouTube. Also, Video Ads are highly effective as they give the viewer just that bit of extra emotional feeling.
Email Marketing
Email marketing technically also forms part of digital marketing. Although emails generally have a comparatively low open/view rate, they are very cheap as it costs nothing to send emails (unless you use a mailer like Mailchimp or MailGun). We’ve seen from countless clients that email marketing is still very effective and does, in fact, result in sales for normal and e-commerce websites.
Content Marketing
Marketing using content, like this blog, is also effective, but over the longer run. Moreover, it takes hard work and dedication to write quality content. It also takes time before search engines index content accordingly and start showing it to people.
In fact, if you’re reading this, then it’s proof that content marketing is still relevant and effective today still.
This summarises Digital Marketing. Each is a force in its own right and can be very effective if used with thought and purpose.
