DIGITAL MARKETING
Driving Success in the Digital World.
Digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels, platforms, and technologies to promote or market products and services. Unlike traditional marketing, which uses offline media such as print, TV, or radio, digital marketing takes place through online platforms, making it more accessible, measurable, and interactive.
Introduction to SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website or online content to improve its visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). When someone searches for a topic or query, search engines like Google use algorithms to determine which websites should appear on the first page. SEO helps your content appear higher on these results, driving organic traffic to your site without the need for paid advertising.
In today’s digital world, where millions of websites are vying for attention, SEO is essential for businesses, bloggers, and content creators who want to increase their online presence and attract more visitors. By aligning your content with the search engine’s ranking factors, you can make your website more discoverable, engaging, and relevant to your target audience.
Introduction to Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Social Media Marketing (SMM) refers to the practice of using social media platforms and websites to promote a product, service, or brand. It involves creating, curating, and sharing content that engages users, drives brand awareness, and ultimately helps achieve business goals such as increased sales, lead generation, or website traffic. SMM is a crucial part of modern digital marketing strategies due to the widespread use of social media by consumers and businesses alike.
Indroduction to PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is a popular online advertising model in which advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your website, rather than earning those visits organically through SEO (Search Engine Optimization). PPC is most commonly associated with search engine advertising, but it can also appear on social media platforms and display networks.
TWO TYPE OF SEO
Definition of On-Page SEO:
On-Page SEO refers to the practice of optimizing individual pages to rank higher in search engines and earn more relevant traffic. It involves various elements that can be controlled directly within the content of the page itself, as opposed to Off-Page SEO, which involves factors outside the page like backlinks.
Title Tags:
- The title tag is one of the most important SEO elements. It appears in the browser tab and is a significant ranking factor. It should include relevant keywords and clearly describe the page’s content.
Meta Descriptions:
- While meta descriptions do not directly influence rankings, they do affect the click-through rate (CTR) in search results. A compelling meta description helps attract users to click on the link.
Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.):
- Using proper header tags (especially H1 for the main title and H2 for subheadings) helps search engines understand the structure of the content. These tags also improve readability for users.
Content SEO
Refers to the practice of optimizing the content of a website to improve its visibility and ranking on search engines. The main goal of content SEO is to create high-quality, relevant, and keyword-optimized content that not only satisfies search engine algorithms but also provides value to users. It’s an essential aspect of On-Page SEO, as the content of a page is one of the primary factors that search engines use to determine relevance for specific search queries.
Image Optimization:
Images should be properly compressed for fast loading times, and alt text should be used to describe the image, helping search engines understand what the image is about.
Internal Linking:
Internal links help search engines crawl your site efficiently and establish a hierarchy of pages. It also encourages users to explore more of your content.
External Linking:
External linking refers to the practice of creating links from your website to other websites. These are outbound links that lead to resources or content hosted on other domains. External links play a critical role in both SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the user experience of your site. While most SEO practices focus on internal linking (links within your own site), external links are just as important for a variety of reasons.
Off-Page SEO
refers to the actions taken outside of your website that impact its ability to rank in search engine results pages (SERPs). Unlike On-Page SEO, which involves optimizing elements within your website (like content, title tags, and internal links), Off-Page SEO focuses on increasing a site’s reputation and authority through external means.
Off-Page SEO involves activities that help search engines determine how relevant, authoritative, and trustworthy a website is. The goal is to build a site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines and users by leveraging factors outside of the site itself.
Backlinks (Inbound Links):
- Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your site. These are considered one of the most important ranking factors for search engines like Google.
- The quality of backlinks matters more than the quantity. Links from high-authority, relevant, and trustworthy websites are considered more valuable than links from low-quality sites.
- Backlinks can be earned through strategies like guest blogging, influencer outreach, content marketing, or link building campaigns.
social media engagement
In the context of social media, engagement refers to the interactions users have with content shared on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others. These interactions include likes, comments, shares, retweets, saves, follows, and more.
Brand mention
A brand mention is the instance when a specific brand name is referenced or discussed in any form of communication, whether it’s online or offline. This can occur in social media posts, news articles, blogs, reviews, videos, or conversations. Brand mentions can be direct, where the brand name is clearly stated, or indirect, where the brand is referred to without explicitly naming it.
Mobile-friendliness
SEO refers to optimizing a website so that it provides a seamless and efficient experience for users on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). With the rise of mobile internet usage, search engines like Google prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings. This is because search engines want to ensure that users, regardless of the device they’re using, have a positive experience when browsing the web.
refers to a website’s ability to be discovered and indexed by search engine crawlers (also known as bots or spiders). These crawlers, which are automated programs used by search engines like Google, visit websites to gather information about their pages, structure, and content. This information is then used to index the site and rank it in search engine results.
For a website to perform well in search engines, it must be easily crawled. Poor crawlability can prevent search engines from discovering your content and, as a result, harm your website’s SEO performance.
Page speed
Refers to the practice of optimizing the loading speed of your web pages to improve both user experience and search engine rankings. Page speed is a critical factor for SEO because search engines, especially Google, consider it when ranking websites. Faster-loading pages not only enhance the user experience but also contribute to better performance in search engine results.
Guest posting
In SEO is the practice of writing and publishing content on someone else’s website or blog, typically in exchange for a backlink to your own website. This is a popular strategy used to increase website traffic, improve search engine rankings, and build brand authority.
Definition.
GMB stands for Google My Business. It is a free tool offered by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including in search results and Google Maps. By creating and optimizing a GMB profile, businesses can improve their visibility in local search results, interact with customers, and provide important information about their products or services.
How to Use Google My Business:
Create a Profile: Visit the Google My Business website (https://www.google.com/business) and claim or create your business profile.
Complete Your Information: Ensure that all your business details, including contact information, website, hours, and location, are accurate and up to date.
Optimize for Local Search: Choose the right business categories and use keywords in your profile to improve your visibility in local searches.
Encourage Reviews: Request reviews from satisfied customers, and respond to them to foster engagement and improve your online reputation.
Post Regularly: Use GMB posts to keep customers informed about promotions, special events, or important updates
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing:
Low Startup Costs: Affiliates don’t need to create their own products, handle customer service, or worry about inventory. They simply promote products that others have created, which reduces initial investment.
Passive Income Potential: Once an affiliate creates content with their unique affiliate link (such as a blog post or a YouTube video), they can continue earning commissions as long as the content generates traffic and conversions.
Scalability: Affiliates can promote multiple products or work with multiple merchants at once, which can increase earning potential.
Performance-Based: Merchants only pay affiliates when a specific action is completed (like a sale or lead), making it a low-risk strategy for businesses.
Flexibility: Affiliates have the freedom to choose the products or services they want to promote and decide how they want to market them.
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where a business rewards individuals (affiliates) for driving traffic or sales to their website through the affiliate’s marketing efforts. Essentially, affiliates promote a company’s products or services and earn a commission for each sale, lead, or action generated through their marketing efforts.
Benefits of Affiliate Marketing:
Low Startup Costs: Affiliates don’t need to create their own products, handle customer service, or worry about inventory. They simply promote products that others have created, which reduces initial investment.
Passive Income Potential: Once an affiliate creates content with their unique affiliate link (such as a blog post or a YouTube video), they can continue earning commissions as long as the content generates traffic and conversions.
Scalability: Affiliates can promote multiple products or work with multiple merchants at once, which can increase earning potential.
Performance-Based: Merchants only pay affiliates when a specific action is completed (like a sale or lead), making it a low-risk strategy for businesses.
Flexibility: Affiliates have the freedom to choose the products or services they want to promote and decide how they want to market them.
Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is an online advertising platform developed by Google that allows businesses to display ads on Google’s search engine results pages, as well as on Google’s advertising network, which includes websites, apps, and videos. The platform operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, where advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad.
Key Features of Google Ads:
Search Ads: These are text ads that appear at the top or bottom of Google search results when users search for keywords relevant to the product or service being advertised.
Display Ads: These are visual banner ads shown on websites within Google’s Display Network, which includes millions of websites and apps. They are designed to help advertisers build brand awareness.
Video Ads: Google Ads allows businesses to create and display video ads on YouTube or within Google’s Display Network. These ads can be skippable or non-skippable, and they are highly effective for targeting specific audiences.
Shopping Ads: These are product-based ads that appear in Google search results or the Google Shopping tab. They typically include an image of the product, a title, price, and the name of the retailer.
App Ads: These ads promote mobile apps on various platforms, including Google Search, Google Play, YouTube, and other websites in Google’s network.
Local Ads: Local ads help businesses attract nearby customers by showing their location, phone number, and other relevant information in Google Search results or Google Maps.
Smart Campaigns: For small businesses or those new to digital advertising, Smart Campaigns offer an easy-to-use setup where Google automates many of the campaign management tasks based on the business’s goals and target audience.
Benefits of Google Ads:
Highly Targeted Ads: Google Ads allows businesses to target their ads to very specific audiences, ensuring that the right people see their ads at the right time.
Measurable Results: Advertisers can track the performance of their ads in real-time, including how many clicks, conversions, and sales were generated. This allows for constant optimization of campaigns.
Budget Control: With Google Ads, advertisers can set a daily or monthly budget, and the platform will ensure that the advertising spend doesn’t exceed the limit. You can also adjust your budget based on the performance of your ads.
Immediate Results: Unlike SEO, which can take time to show results, Google Ads can drive traffic and sales immediately once your campaign is live.
Scalable: Google Ads campaigns can be scaled to meet your business’s needs. Whether you want to run a small, local campaign or a large, global advertising strategy, Google Ads offers flexibility.
Brand Awareness: Even if users don’t click on your ad, your business still gets exposure. Google Ads helps increase visibility, which can lead to higher brand awareness over time.
Facebook Ads are a powerful advertising platform that allows businesses to target specific audiences through paid advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network (Facebook’s network of third-party websites and apps).
Steps to Create a Facebook Ad:
- Go to Facebook Ads Manager: It’s the hub where you create, manage, and analyze your ads.
- Create a Campaign: Choose your campaign objective (e.g., traffic, conversions).
- Define Your Audience: Select your audience based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
- Set Your Budget: Choose a daily or lifetime budget and decide your bid strategy.
- Create Your Ad: Upload your creative, write your copy, and set the call-to-action.
- Track & Optimize: Once the campaign is live, monitor its performance and adjust to improve results.
Why Use Facebook Ads?
- argeting Precision: FacebookT‘s data gives advertisers the ability to target audiences very specifically.
- Budget Flexibility: You can start with a small budget and scale up as you see results.
- Cross-Platform Reach: Ads can run across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and even third-party websites.
- Analytics: Facebook provides detailed analytics, so you can measure performance and optimize campaigns.
Key Elements of Facebook Ads:
Ad Types:
- Image Ads: Single image with a caption and a link.
- Video Ads: Short or long videos that engage viewers.
- Carousel Ads: Multiple images or videos users can swipe through.
- Slideshow Ads: Lightweight video ads made from a series of images.
- Collection Ads: A set of images or videos grouped together in a fullscreen experience.
- Instant Experience Ads: A full-screen mobile experience for users to engage with your brand.
- Lead Ads: Collect contact information from potential customers directly within Facebook.
- Dynamic Ads: Automatically show the right products to people who have expressed interest in your website or app.
Targeting Options:
- Demographics: Age, gender, language, relationship status, etc.
- Location: Country, state, city, or even a specific radius.
- Interests: Based on user activities, pages followed, and preferences.
- Behavior: User actions, like purchasing behavior, device usage, or travel habits.
- Custom Audiences: Upload your own customer list to target specific people.
- Lookalike Audiences: Reach new people who are similar to your existing customers.
Budgeting & Bidding:
- You can set daily or lifetime budgets.
- Facebook offers several bid strategies (e.g., lowest cost, cost cap) to optimize your ad delivery.
Ad Placement:
- Automatic Placement: Facebook will automatically place your ads across its platforms where they are most likely to perform well.
- Manual Placement: You can choose specific platforms (e.g., Instagram, Messenger, News Feed, Stories) where your ads will appear.
Ad Objectives: Facebook Ads allow you to choose from different campaign objectives depending on your goal:
- Brand Awareness: Increase awareness of your brand.
- Traffic: Drive more people to your website.
- Engagement: Get more likes, comments, shares, or event responses.
- App Installs: Encourage people to install your mobile app.
- Conversions: Drive actions like sales or lead generation on your website or app.
- Video Views: Promote videos to increase views.
- Lead Generation: Collect information from potential customers directly within Facebook.
- Messages: Encourage people to start conversations with your business on Messenger.
Instagram Ads are a powerful form of advertising on the popular photo-sharing platform, offering businesses the opportunity to reach highly engaged users through a variety of ad formats. Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, the ad platform integrates seamlessly with Facebook’s Ads Manager, allowing you to create and manage campaigns across both platforms.
Key Features of Instagram Ads:
Ad Types: Instagram offers several ad formats, each designed to help brands achieve specific marketing objectives. These include:
- Photo Ads: Single images with a caption and a call to action (CTA) button. Great for showcasing products or services.
- Video Ads: Videos up to 60 seconds long that can capture more attention and provide deeper engagement.
- Carousel Ads: Multiple images or videos in one ad that users can swipe through. Useful for showcasing multiple products or telling a story.
- Story Ads: Full-screen ads that appear between users’ stories. These are great for creating a more immersive and temporary experience.
- Reels Ads: Short, vertical video ads that appear in the Instagram Reels feed, ideal for reaching a younger, trend-focused audience.
- Explore Ads: Ads that appear in the Explore section of Instagram, which users visit to discover new content and accounts.
- Collection Ads: Allows users to view and shop multiple products in one ad unit, creating an immersive shopping experience.
- Shoppable Ads: These ads allow users to purchase products directly from the ad, linking to product pages within Instagram’s e-commerce features.
Targeting Options: Instagram’s targeting capabilities are robust, leveraging Facebook’s vast data on user behaviors and interests. You can target based on:
- Demographics: Age, gender, location, language, relationship status, etc.
- Interests: Instagram users’ hobbies, lifestyle, and activity based on the content they interact with.
- Behaviors: Actions users have taken on Instagram or Facebook, such as purchasing behavior, device usage, or travel habits.
- Custom Audiences: Upload your customer list (like email addresses or phone numbers) to target existing customers.
- Lookalike Audiences: Target new people who resemble your existing customers or website visitors.
- Retargeting: Re-engage people who have interacted with your brand before, such as website visitors or those who have watched your Instagram videos.
Budgeting & Bidding:
- Budget: You can set a daily budget or lifetime budget based on how much you want to spend over a set period.
- Bidding Options: Instagram offers automatic and manual bidding. Automatic bidding lets Facebook’s algorithm determine the best cost per result, while manual bidding lets you set a specific cost you’re willing to pay.
- Optimization: You can optimize for objectives like website clicks, conversions, or impressions depending on your goal.
Ad Placement: Instagram Ads can be shown on different sections of the platform, including:
- Feed: Ads appear in users’ main Instagram feed between posts.
- Stories: Full-screen ads that appear between users’ stories, designed for a more immersive experience.
- Explore: Ads placed in the Explore tab, allowing brands to reach users who are discovering new content.
- Reels: Video ads that appear in the Reels feed, perfect for reaching a younger, trend-savvy audience.
- Shopping: Ads that showcase products in a shoppable format, allowing users to purchase directly through Instagram.
Ad Objectives: Instagram allows you to choose from several ad objectives, based on your campaign goals:
- Brand Awareness: To increase awareness of your brand among a wide audience.
- Reach: To show your ad to as many people as possible.
- Traffic: Drive users to your website, app, or a landing page.
- Engagement: Increase likes, comments, shares, or interactions with your posts.
- App Installs: Encourage people to download your app.
- Video Views: Promote your videos to get more views.
- Lead Generation: Collect leads (e.g., email addresses) directly from Instagram.
- Conversions: Drive sales or other conversion actions on your website or app.
- Catalog Sales: Use a product catalog to show relevant products to potential customers.
- Store Traffic: Encourage people to visit your physical store locations.
Ad Creative: High-quality creative is crucial for Instagram ads, as the platform is highly visual. Here are some tips for creating effective ads:
- Image and Video Quality: Use clear, visually engaging content. High-resolution images or videos will stand out in users’ feeds.
- Storytelling: Whether using images, videos, or carousels, tell a compelling story that connects with your audience.
- CTA (Call-to-Action): A strong CTA is essential, whether you want users to “Shop Now,” “Learn More,” or “Sign Up.”
- Branding: Ensure your ad reflects your brand identity, with consistent colors, logos, and style.
Tracking & Analytics: Instagram Ads allow you to track and measure the performance of your campaigns through Instagram Insights and Facebook Ads Manager. These tools provide data on:
- Impressions and Reach: How many people saw your ad and how often.
- Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and saves.
- Conversions: How many people took the desired action (e.g., purchases, sign-ups).
- Cost Metrics: Cost per click (CPC), cost per conversion (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), etc.
- Audience Insights: Demographic and behavioral data about the people interacting with your ad.
Why Use Instagram Ads?
- Visual Platform: Instagram is a highly visual and creative space, making it ideal for showcasing products and services through images and videos.
- Engaged Audience: Instagram users are highly engaged, with a large number of active daily users. Ads often feel more natural and less intrusive on the platform.
- Integration with Facebook: Instagram ads are managed through Facebook Ads Manager, so you can create and track ads across both platforms with the same tools.
- E-commerce Features: Instagram offers many features, like shoppable posts and Instagram Shops, which allow users to purchase products directly within the app.
Steps to Create Instagram Ads:
- Create a Facebook Ads Manager Account: If you don’t already have one, create an account to run Instagram ads.
- Select Your Campaign Objective: Choose from brand awareness, traffic, engagement, conversions, etc.
- Define Your Audience: Choose demographics, interests, and behaviors to target the right people.
- Set Your Budget: Choose a daily or lifetime budget and set your bidding strategy.
- Design Your Ad: Upload high-quality images, videos, or carousel content, and write compelling copy with a strong CTA.
- Choose Instagram Placement: Select Instagram Feed, Stories, Reels, or Explore as your ad placement.
- Monitor & Optimize: Once the ad is live, track its performance and optimize for better results.
YouTube Ads are a powerful form of video advertising that allows businesses to reach a massive audience on the world’s second-largest search engine. With billions of users and an immense amount of content being consumed daily, YouTube ads offer an incredible opportunity for advertisers to promote their products, services, or brand to a highly engaged audience.
Key Features of YouTube Ads:
Ad Types: YouTube offers a variety of ad formats that can appear before, during, or after videos. These include:
TrueView Ads: The most common ad format. They allow users to skip the ad after 5 seconds.
- TrueView In-Stream Ads: These appear before, during, or after a video. Viewers can skip the ad after 5 seconds. You only pay if the viewer watches the ad for 30 seconds or interacts with it.
- TrueView Video Discovery Ads: These ads appear as thumbnails in YouTube search results or related video sections. When clicked, they play the video content.
Bumper Ads: These are non-skippable, 6-second video ads that play before a YouTube video. They are ideal for quick brand messaging or awareness campaigns.
Non-Skippable Ads: These are 15-20 second ads that play before, during, or after a video and must be watched in full. They’re great for brand awareness but can be intrusive.
Overlay Ads: Text or image ads that appear as banners at the bottom of a video. They are only available on desktop and are less intrusive.
Sponsored Cards: These appear as small, clickable cards that show content related to the video, such as products featured in the video.
Display Ads: These ads appear on the right-hand side of the YouTube video player and are visible only on desktop devices.
Targeting Options: YouTube offers advanced targeting options based on Google Ads’ vast data, allowing advertisers to reach the most relevant audience for their campaign. Some of the most powerful targeting features include:
- Demographics: Age, gender, parental status, household income, etc.
- Interests: Target based on what users are interested in, such as fitness, gaming, beauty, or technology.
- Behavior: Target users based on actions they have taken, such as previous video interactions, website visits, or Google searches.
- Keywords: Show ads based on specific keywords related to the video content the user is watching.
- Topics: Target audiences based on specific topics like cooking, technology, travel, etc.
- Placements: Choose specific channels, videos, or websites on the Google Display Network to show your ads.
- Custom Audiences: Upload your own list of contacts or create a Lookalike Audience to find people similar to your best customers.
- Remarketing: Show ads to people who have previously interacted with your content, website, or app.
- Device Targeting: Target based on device type (desktop, mobile, tablet, TV), or specific devices (e.g., iOS vs. Android).
Ad Objectives: YouTube allows you to choose specific campaign objectives based on your goals, similar to other Google Ads platforms:
- Brand Awareness: Increase the visibility of your brand to a large audience.
- Consideration: Encourage people to interact with your ad, like clicking to your website, engaging with your video, or downloading your app.
- Conversions: Optimize for actions like website purchases, sign-ups, or other key actions.
- Product and Brand Consideration: Encourage users to research or consider your brand before purchasing.
- App Promotion: Drive app downloads and engagement through video ads.
Ad Format and Creative Best Practices: Video ads are a visual and creative medium, so it’s crucial to have engaging and high-quality content. Here are some best practices for creating YouTube ads:
- Keep It Short and Engaging: While TrueView ads can be skipped after 5 seconds, you still want to hook your viewers in that first few seconds. The first 5 seconds should include the most important messaging.
- Brand in the First Few Seconds: Start with your brand’s logo or key messaging to ensure even if users skip, they still remember your brand.
- High-Quality Video: Ensure the video is visually appealing and has high production value. Poor-quality videos can hurt brand perception.
- Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): Include a clear CTA, such as “Learn More,” “Buy Now,” or “Subscribe,” and make sure it’s easy for users to take action after watching the ad.
- Mobile-Optimized: Many YouTube viewers watch on mobile, so make sure your ads are optimized for smaller screens and fast-paced viewing.
- Sound Design: Since many viewers watch YouTube with sound off, it’s important to include captions or make sure your message is clear even without audio.
Budgeting & Bidding: YouTube ads are managed through Google Ads, allowing you to set a budget and choose a bidding strategy. Some options include:
- CPV (Cost-Per-View): You pay when someone watches your ad for 30 seconds (or the entire video, if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with your ad.
- CPC (Cost-Per-Click): You pay when someone clicks on your ad, such as to visit your website or app.
- CPM (Cost-Per-Thousand Impressions): You pay for every 1,000 times your ad is shown.
- Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Automatically optimizes your ads to generate the highest return on investment for your goals.
Analytics and Performance Tracking: YouTube offers in-depth analytics through Google Ads and YouTube Analytics, including:
- View Metrics: Track the number of views and average view duration of your videos.
- Engagement: Measure likes, comments, shares, and subscribers gained from the ad.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Track how often users click your ad compared to how many times it’s shown.
- Conversion Metrics: Track what actions users take after watching your ad (e.g., purchases, website visits).
- Demographics and Interests: Learn more about the audience engaging with your ads, such as their age, gender, and interests.
Why Use YouTube Ads?
- Massive Audience: With over 2 billion logged-in monthly users, YouTube provides access to an incredibly broad and diverse audience.
- Targeting Precision: Advanced targeting options, including interest, demographics, and behaviors, ensure that you reach the most relevant users.
- Variety of Formats: Choose from different ad types to align with your campaign objectives, whether you want to increase awareness, drive conversions, or promote an app.
- Engaging Visual Content: YouTube ads allow for rich, video-based storytelling, which can engage audiences in a way that text and static images can’t.
- Measurable ROI: With detailed analytics and tracking, you can measure how well your ads are performing and optimize accordingly.
Steps to Create YouTube Ads:
- Create a Google Ads Account: If you don’t already have one, set up a Google Ads account, as YouTube ads are managed through this platform.
- Choose Campaign Type: Select the campaign type (e.g., video, product, brand awareness).
- Set Your Budget: Define your daily or lifetime budget, as well as your bidding strategy (CPV, CPC, or CPM).
- Target Your Audience: Define who you want to target using demographics, interests, behaviors, and other factors.
- Upload Your Video Ad: You can upload your video directly to YouTube and select it for your campaign.
- Set Your Ad Placement: Choose where your ad will appear on YouTube—on video pages, search results, or in the YouTube app.
- Track and Optimize: Use Google Ads and YouTube Analytics to track ad performance and adjust your campaign for better results.
Keywords are words or phrases that people type into a search engine (like Google) when they are looking for information, products, or services. In digital marketing, especially in search engine advertising (like Google Ads), keywords are used to target the right audience for your ad campaigns.
When you create an ad campaign, you select keywords that are relevant to your business or product. These keywords act as triggers for your ads to show up when someone enters those terms or related phrases into a search engine. The goal is to match your ads with the searcher’s intent, so your ad is shown to people who are most likely to be interested in your offering
Keyword Match Types (How to Control What Searches Trigger Your Ads)
When you choose keywords for your Google Ads campaign, you also choose the match type, which determines how closely the search query must match your keyword for the ad to appear. There are several match types, including:
Broad Match:
- Your ad can show for searches that include synonyms, variations, or related terms.
- Example: If you target “running shoes,” your ad could show for searches like “sneakers” or “best shoes for running.”
Phrase Match:
- Your ad will show for searches that contain your exact keyword phrase, with additional words before or after.
- Example: If you target “running shoes,” your ad will show for “buy running shoes” or “best running shoes for women.”
Exact Match:
- Your ad will show only for searches that exactly match your keyword or close variations.
- Example: If you target “running shoes,” your ad will only show for searches like “running shoes” or slight variations (e.g., “running shoe”).