Search Engine, in a broad sense, refers to a type of website on the Internet that provides a user search interface and has a search function. It can help people search for the information they need in the online world. In a narrow sense, a search engine refers to a system that can automatically analyze and process resources and return matching resources to users through queries. It mainly includes three parts, namely information collection, information organization and user query. For example, Baidu, Google and Bing, which we are familiar with, are all famous search engines.
The so-called search engine marketing (SEM for short) is a network marketing method based on the search engine platform. It uses people’s dependence on and usage habits of search engines to deliver marketing information to target customers as much as possible when people retrieve information. Its main purpose is to increase the click-through rate and page views of the website through a higher search engine ranking, thereby increasing the sales of products or services. It has obvious effects on website promotion, network brand building, product promotion, online sales, etc.
Search engine marketing plays a very important role in the promotion of cross-border e-commerce enterprises. First of all, according to the survey, more than 80% of users learn about new websites through search engines, so if the websites of cross-border e-commerce enterprises are not included in search engines, they will lose a large number of potential customers. Secondly, in the search process, users’ visits are purposeful, and they actively query according to their own needs, which makes them more likely to become the final customers of cross-border e-commerce. Finally, search engines are open platforms with relatively low thresholds, and any cross-border e-commerce company can promote and advertise on search engines. Therefore, for cross-border e-commerce companies, search engines have become one of the most direct, convenient, effective and important ways of marketing and promotion.
The essence of search engine marketing is to use the opportunity of users entering keywords to retrieve information to convey the company’s marketing information to target users. Companies can also analyze their behaviors and psychological expectations based on the keywords retrieved by users to better meet the consumption needs of users. Although the advertising content in the search results page is designed in advance by the company’s website, since users search for this information by entering keywords in the search engine on their own, users will feel that they have actively created the opportunity to be marketed, rather than passively accepting the mandatory push of advertisers, so the effect of search engine marketing is often better than other online marketing methods.