Search Engine Advertising, is it effective or just a waste of time?

As the internet has evolved more and more businesses are looking to develop online marketing strategies in order to keep up with competition. One of the tools that is commonly used is Search Engine Advertising (SEA). What is SEA you might ask? Well SEA is advertising at that is displayed at the top or within a search engine results page (See the picture below for clarification!). This advertisement is targeted using certain keywords chosen by the business that are related to their business.  The cost of these ads can vary but the business often pays per click with a budget set. After the budget is met the ad will not be displayed anymore. Clever isnt it?

However how many of us look at the ads at the top of one of our Google searches and say to ourselves that ad looks dodgy. Well because of this many consumers ignore these ads and just label them as spam or even just annoying. But if they are placed effectively they can work very well. For example if you are looking for an online used book store the ads at the top of the search may be useful as the geographical location of the online store is not a big deal. However if you are looking for a plumber it is possible that the ads at the top of the screen will not be useful as they might be ads for plumbers outside of your residential area or even your state that have just chosen plumber as a keyword. It may be good for these type of businesses to use another form of online marketing.

Therefore it is very important for businesses to choose there keywords wisely and determine whether SEA is a suitable way of advertising their business to avoid economic losses.