How do you measure SEM effectiveness across channels?

1 Define your SEM goals and KPIs

Before you start measuring your SEM effectiveness, you need to define your SEM goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Your KPIs should be aligned with your goals and reflect the outcomes you want to achieve. For example, if your goal is to increase sales, your KPIs could be conversions, revenue, or return on ad spend (ROAS). If your goal is to raise awareness, your KPIs could be impressions, clicks, or click-through rate (CTR).

2 Track your SEM campaigns across channels

To measure your SEM effectiveness across channels, you need to track your SEM campaigns using a consistent and reliable method. One of the most common and effective ways to track your SEM campaigns is to use tracking codes or parameters in your ad URLs. These codes or parameters allow you to identify the source, medium, campaign, and keyword of each ad click and attribute it to the corresponding channel. You can use tools like Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager to generate and manage your tracking codes or parameters.

3 Analyze your SEM metrics across channels

Once you have tracked your SEM campaigns across channels, you need to analyze your SEM metrics using a dashboard or a reporting tool. These tools can help you visualize and compare data across channels, discover trends, patterns, and insights. Popular tools to create and customize dashboards or reports include Google Data Studio, Microsoft Power BI, and Tableau. When analyzing SEM metrics across channels, the most important metrics to consider are impressions (the number of times your ads were shown to an audience), clicks (the number of times your ads were clicked by an audience), CTR (the percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks), cost (the amount of money you spent on ads), conversions (the number of times your ads led to a desired action), conversion rate (the percentage of clicks that resulted in conversions), revenue (the amount of money earned from conversions), and ROAS (the ratio of revenue to cost).

4 Optimize your SEM strategy across channels

After analyzing your SEM metrics across channels, it's time to optimize your SEM strategy. This means adjusting and improving ads, keywords, bids, landing pages, and targeting to boost performance and ROI. Utilize tools like Google Ads Editor, Bing Ads Editor, or Facebook Ads Manager to edit and optimize your SEM campaigns. When optimizing your SEM strategy across channels, consider testing and comparing different ad variations such as headlines, descriptions, images, or extensions. Also, use negative keywords to exclude irrelevant or low-performing keywords from your campaigns. Additionally, bid strategies can automate and optimize bids based on goals and budget. Landing page optimization can also be used to improve design, content, and usability to increase conversions. Finally, audience segmentation and targeting can help you reach the right people at the right time with the right message.

5 Evaluate your SEM results across channels

Finally, you need to evaluate your SEM results across channels to measure your SEM effectiveness and ROI. Comparing your actual outcomes with your expected goals and KPIs can be done using tools like Google Analytics or Google Ads. Important questions to ask when evaluating your SEM results are whether you achieved your goals and KPIs across channels, which channels performed the best and the worst in terms of metrics and ROI, what factors influenced your SEM performance and ROI, what challenges and opportunities you faced in your campaigns, as well as what key learnings and recommendations you can take away for future strategies.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?