Search engine advertising

SEA (search engine advertising) places paid ads in search engines; an auction based on bid and ad quality determines the position. Advantages: immediate visibility, controllable budget, precise measurability. Most important formats: text ads and shopping ads.

In 2000, Google introduced paid ads in the search results with AdWords (now Google Ads), founding search engine advertising. Until then, online advertising consisted mainly of banners and email marketing; video advertising and social networks played no role yet. Google was looking for a way to finance its search engine – and found it in ads that appear alongside the organic results for matching search queries. That was the birth of search engine advertising, which is still Google's most important source of revenue today.

What is search engine advertising?

Search engine advertising (SEA) is, along with search engine optimisation (SEO), part of search engine marketing. It makes it possible to place paid ads on search engine results pages. Which ad appears for a search query and in which position is decided by an auction.

Advantages of SEA

Unlike search engine optimisation, whose effect often only kicks in after months, SEA provides visibility immediately. Ads can be targeted specifically at search terms behind which there is a concrete purchase intent. This way, you reach people at exactly the moment they are looking for a product or service. Campaigns can be improved continuously with analysis tools and regular evaluations.

SEA costs money – but the budget can be controlled precisely. Daily budgets and bidding strategies let you decide how much you spend. Delivery can also be restricted regionally, for example to certain cities or a radius around a shop, and controlled by time.

What ad formats are there?

Search engine advertising can be used to place various ad formats, above all text ads and shopping ads:

Text ads appear above or below the organic search results and are labelled “Sponsored”. They consist of headlines, a description and the displayed URL; additional information such as sitelinks, prices or phone numbers (assets) extends them.

Shopping ads show products with image, price and shop name directly in the search results and in the Shopping tab. They are based on a product data feed in Google Merchant Center. For online shops, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns are often the most important formats today.

Search engine advertising – no longer a mystery

Search engine advertising is now a fixed part of marketing for most companies and shops. Together with search engine optimisation (SEO), it forms search engine marketing (SEM). While SEO builds organic visibility over the long term, SEA offers precise control and performance monitoring: you decide yourself which search queries ads appear for, write the texts and direct users to the right landing page. Billing is usually per click (pay per click, PPC) – the advertiser only pays when someone clicks the ad; the price per click is called cost per click (CPC). Automated bidding strategies can also optimise for goals such as cost per conversion (cost per acquisition, CPA) or return on ad spend (ROAS).

How does search engine advertising work?

To place search engine ads, you need an account with an advertising platform such as Google Ads. An account consists of campaigns, which in turn contain ad groups with keywords and ads. Budget, bidding strategy, target region and language are set for each campaign; each ad leads to a landing page where the user lands after clicking.

With every search query, an auction takes place in the background in which all advertisers whose keywords match the search take part. Which ad appears and in which position depends on the bid and ad quality – i.e. the expected click-through rate, the relevance of the ad to the search query and the user experience on the landing page.

For good performance, all elements must fit together: ad text, keyword and landing page should promise the same thing. Clean conversion tracking is just as important, because automated bidding strategies only learn from the data they receive.

Controlling and search engine advertising? Yes, it works!

The budget can be controlled on a daily basis, so you always stay in control of spending. At the same time, the platforms provide numerous metrics: impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), average cost per click, conversions, cost per conversion and revenue. Anyone who evaluates these figures regularly and adjusts the campaigns can increase the success of search engine advertising step by step.

In addition to Google Search, ads can also appear on partner sites in the search network, for example in the search functions of portals. This option can be deactivated if desired.

What advertising platforms are there for SEA ads?

In addition to Google Ads, there are other platforms for search engine advertising:

Microsoft Advertising: for ads on Bing and partners such as Yahoo, Ecosia and DuckDuckGo
Yandex Direct: for advertising on Yandex, Russia's largest search engine
Baidu Tuiguang: for the Baidu search engine, the largest in China

Using SEA correctly

Search engine advertising is indispensable in online marketing. Especially for products and services that people search for specifically, it quickly brings qualified visitors. Well-coordinated keywords, ads and landing pages, reliable conversion data and ongoing optimisation are crucial for commercial success – then every euro spent can be traced precisely.