Search engines are often the first place where people go to look for products and services on the internet. You need to ensure that your business shows up on search engines when somebody is searching for the kind of products and services you offer. The chances are that if you are not present, your competitor will be, and your potential customers will be lost to them.

There are two places your business can be found through search engines: natural search results and search ads (sponsored links). You want your website to appear high in the rankings for both, as most users do not look beyond the first page of results.

All businesses should make sure their website is optimised for search engines to get them as high up the natural search results as possible. Google is the number one search engine in the UK, with over 26m users and 75% of all searches are done on Google. Find out what Google suggests to improve your website’s listing on natural search at www.google.com/webmasters/ [1].

Getting higher in the natural search results is great because you do not pay if a user clicks through to your website. But you have little control over where your site shows up in the rankings. It can be difficult to achieve a high ranking, especially if your website is new or there are a lot of competitors. With search advertising, you have complete control of when your ad shows and where users are taken to when they click on it. You also have complete control of what the ad says and which keywords trigger it.

Natural search and search ads work together very well: if users see your website appear in both the natural search results and in the ads, they are more likely to click through.

When a user searches for something on Google, sponsored links appear in a column on the right hand side of the search results page and sometimes on the top of the page in a yellow box. These sponsored links are ads served by Google’s search advertising programme, called AdWords.

With Google AdWords you can create, put live and edit your ads in real time. As soon as you put your ad live, it will appear when someone makes the relevant search. You can try different ads and see which does best for a keyword or set of keywords.

There is no minimum spend with Google AdWords, so you can use it whatever your budget. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad, rather than paying just to place it. This means that you only get charged for people who have actively shown an interest in your ad by clicking on it. You choose the keywords that trigger your ad.

Google rewards advertisers who make their ads relevant to the user’s search. It does so by placing more relevant ads higher than less relevant ones. The better your ad, the higher up it will be placed on the page even if your competitors spend more.

Google has other products to help you with your advertising, such as Google Analytics which can provide you with in-depth analysis of your ad campaign and where users go on your website.

How to make your search advertising successful

• Many people do not go beyond the first page of the search results so you want your ad to show up on the first page of results. It is vital that you learn how to make sure potential customers firstly see your advert, and secondly choose to click on it.

• Choose the right keywords for your product or service. You know your business best, so start with brainstorming terms that relate to your business. Then expand the list

• Create ad copy that is concise, compelling and reflects your product. You want to maximise your click-through rates to increase your ‘quality score’, while avoiding unnecessary clicks which cost you money

• Test multiple ads to see which is the most effective

• Link your ad to the relevant page on your website, which will often not be the homepage. Ensuring the content of the landing page is relevant to your ad is vital if you’re going to turn clicks into custom

• Use other features like geographic targeting, which allows you to focus your ads on a smaller area

While this may look complicated at first, it is worth understanding the principles and managing your own campaign. This will put you in full control of your advertising spend and save you expensive management fees.

To learn more about getting started with search advertising on Google, go to www.zootrain.com [2]