To keep up with such shifts, marketers need to develop new marketing plans that are fresh, compelling and attuned to the heartbeat of the new marketplace. Here's a great read for SEM Trends this 2021. Full blog here - https://digitalmarketingphilippines.com/search-engine-marketing-trends-2021-mid-year-report-infographic/

1. MID-YEAR REPORT
S E A R C H E N G I N E M A R K E T I N G T R E N D S 2 0 2 1

2. In 2020, companies had to re-adjust with the
global situation and adapt to new norms of
doing business. Those who were not familiar
with remote operations have no choice but to
realign their working conditions and adopt
new industrial initiatives that could give them
some semblance of normality.

3. One area that experienced considerable
changes in recent periods is Search
Engine Marketing (SEM), driven by the
shift in purchasing behavior that
affected not only individual consumers,
but business entities as well.
The first half of 2021 witnessed businesses slowly picking themselves up.
There is still a dark gloom in the horizon, but those who have adapted easily
to new marketing approaches and embraced digital-driven strategies are at
a competitive advantage.
SEARCH

4. To keep up with such shifts, marketers need to develop new
marketing plans that are fresh, compelling, and attuned to the
heartbeat of the new marketplace.
The following describes the most
popular trends in SEM that created
radical waves in the marketplace
over last few recent periods.
These trends are expected to
continue picking up pace towards
the end of 2021 and are predicted
to create even bigger waves next
year and the periods to come.
2021

5. Differentiating itself from SEO that
rely largely on organic traffic, SEM is
primarily driven by paid ads, PPC and
Search Advertising. For obvious
reasons, 2020 witnessed a massive
slump in advertising investments,
and media buyers are still unsure if
the budget outlook will bounce back
during the remaining periods of 2021.
However, we are now witnessing the easing of lockdown
restrictions and the opening up of global businesses.
SEARCH ADVERTISING
1 . T H E M A I N D R I V I N G F O R C E I S S T I L L
SEARCH YOUR HOUSE

6. Such are proving hopeful for many businesses and marketers, as we see the
following trends creating enormous ripples in the marketplace:
• Marketers are now seeing greater automation
features and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
optimizations with Google Ads, particularly the
Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) feature. RSAs
are designed to help marketers optimize the
headlines, descriptions, messaging, and CTAs
of their ads, making them more aligned with
the search queries of their targeted audiences
• Global advertising spending is generally on an
upward trend, reaching almost $650 billion so far in
2021. Search Advertising accounts for the largest
market share and is expected to continue pushing
Digital Advertising expenditures to $691 billion by
the end of 2023.

7. • Google introduced a new Ads tool called
Consent Mode that enables advertisers to
control cookie behaviors and conversion
measurements according to users’ consent
choices (whether they allow or not allow
advertising cookies) using a new tag
setting called “Ad Storage”.
• In 2020, Google officially introduced Product Listing Ads
(PLAs) or what is now more commonly known as Google
Shopping Ads. Accounting for 76.4% of the total retail search
ad spend and generating up to 85.3% of all clicks, Shopping
Ads emerged as the most popular ad format, prompting an
intensified competition among retail advertisers.

8. The shift to online engagements and virtual interactions precipitated a
tremendous global consumption for video, prompting SEM campaigns to
take advantage of Video Advertising.
• Last year, Video Advertising accounted for over
$27.7 million in revenues, and is expected to
continue growing by 5.5/year over the next few
years. With more than 70% of people online
saying they consume video as part of their
purchasing journey, it would be wise for SEM
marketers to include their targeted keywords in
their video titles and description.
VIDEO ADVERTISING
2 . TA K I N G A D VA N TA G E O F

9. • By the year 2022, it is predicted that as much
as 82% of all Internet traffic will be generated
from video content. Video is also more effective
in generating more clicks, impressions, and
engagement that mere text ads as people have
the natural tendency to remember as much as
95% of a message if delivered through video.
• With 2 billion active users each month, YouTube
is now the second largest search engine. Not
only that, Facebook, Tiktok video ads, and
Instagram Stories are also gaining significant
ground in reaching a huge number of people.
This should prompt marketers to streamline and
adapt their PPC video ads to these platforms.

10. With social distancing and limited
face-to-face interactions, consumers
turn to their mobile gadgets to
interact with brand, businesses,
entrepreneurs, and other consumers.
With more than 4.28 billion people
across the globe using mobile
devices to access the Internet, Mobile
Internet Advertising should be a top
priority among SEM marketers:
INTERNET ADVERTISING
3 . TA K I N G A D VA N TA G E O F M O B I L E

11. • Google implemented a Full Mobile Index last March 2021.
What this means is that Google’s crawlers will look for the
mobile version of your website as a primary consideration
for ranking. If you only have desktop-only websites, you
should rethink your SEM strategies and re-configure your
websites to be as mobile-friendly as possible.
• Mobile Internet Advertising reached figures of up to $276
billion in 2020. This is expected to continue growing in 2021
and will continue with a $63.2 billion growth by 2023,
eventually reaching up to $495 billion by the year 2024.

12. Long-tail keywords would be the best option, using
question-based phrases like: who, what, when, where,
why, and how.
Mobile internet is also closely linked to voice
search, and in fact almost 50% of searches
made in 2020 were executed using a voice
search using smartphone or related mobile
gadget. By the year 2022, half of consumers
will use voice search for shopping.
VOICE SEARCH
4 . TA K I N G A D VA N TA G E O F
?
SEM marketers should develop targeted ads using keywords and
phrases that are aligned with the informal and conversational way
people use when using voice search.

13. Due to data privacy concerns, Google
will be completely pulling the plug
out for third-party cookies on
Chrome by the year 2022. This should
prompt businesses to overhaul their
retargeting and remarketing
strategies to tactics that will not rely
on third-party cookies.
Marketers should also take into consideration Google’s
introduction of the Privacy Sandbox, which Google will
use as an alternate route for replacing cookies with APIs.
Advertisers can utilize these to gain access on aggregated data of browsing
habits generated from anonymous signals from Chrome (not from cookies).
COOKIE PHASE-OUT
5 . P R E P A R I N G O F A T H I R D - P A R T Y
@
WWW

14. Google implemented the BERT (Bidirectional
Encoder Representations from Transformers)
algorithm as a means to better understand online
users’ search intent. BERT makes use of Machine
Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing
(NLP) technologies to have a clear understanding
of what online users are really trying to search.
SEARCH INTENT
6 . R E A L I G N A D V E R T I S I N G T O
In line with this, SEM marketers should re-align their PPC advertising and make use
of Intent-Based Targeting strategies.
They should create ads that make use of carefully chosen
keyword phrases that are streamlined based on the search
intent of their targeted audiences.

15. While a robust SEM strategy that
revolves around the Google Ads
campaign is an effective route for
most marketers, it would also be
to your greatest advantage to
make use of other PPC platforms
that can generate great results for
your campaign.
This includes exploring and investing on paid social strategies. Not only are
these social media ads more affordable, they can also offer a great
diversification route for your campaign that can generate surprisingly
positive results. These include but are not limited to:
OTHER PPC PLATFORMS
7 . TA K I N G A D VA N TA G E O F

16. • Facebook for Business – With
more than 2.8 billion people using
Facebook each month, two-thirds
of which visited a business
Facebook page, advertising in this
platform is surely a great
alternative for your SEM campaign
• LinkedIn – This platform has
evolved from being a mere job
posting site, into a highly
engaging social hub for lead
generation. In fact, over 80% of
socially-generated B2B leads
came from LinkedIn.

17. • and many more!
• Instagram – With more than 1
billion monthly active users
participating in this platform,
your SEM strategy simply could
not go wrong when advertising
in this network
• Quora – Starting out as a Q&A
website, Quora has reached a 300
million monthly active user base
and has evolved into a very strong
global community. This makes it
another great platform where SEM
marketers can generate valuable
leads via Quora Advertising
Q

18. The year 2020 was truly a chaotic year for businesses across the globe.
THE TAKEAWAY

19. At the forefront of such campaign
remains Search Engine Marketing,
continuously generating high-value
leads that convert by using strategies
that effectively reaches out to
targeted audiences. SEM marketers
should continue to explore new
trends and invest in new strategies to
prepare their businesses for
whatever comes their way with the
remaining half of 2021, and beyond.
Since then, businesses have learned to adjust and adapt with changes in
the marketplace, adapting new strategies that will let them connect and
engage with their audiences – and turn them into customers.
SEARCH

20. Want one for your business? Go to:
www.digitalmarketingphilippines.com today!
Created & Designed by:
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