Search engine marketing
Stage: Be bookedSearch engine marketing
Paid and organic search planned as one, so you stop paying for clicks you already win and put budget where you do not.
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Campaigns · last 12 weeks
Cost per qualified lead$34
High-intent search46%
Meta prospecting26%Retargeting14%Broad and wasted14%Qualified leads a month162Wasted spend14%Return on ad spend3.8x
Illustration. Share of monthly spend by campaign type.Trusted by partner brands
Why it matters now
Clicks cost more every year
Search ads keep getting more expensive, and AI Overviews push organic results further down. Running paid and organic separately means paying twice for some searches and missing others completely.
Then
SEO teamAds teamSeparate reportsOverlap
Two teams bid and optimize for the same searches without talking.Now
One search planPaid fills gapsOrganic takes overLower cost
Paid covers what organic cannot win yet, and steps back where organic already ranks.What’s included
One plan for every search
Six parts of every SEM program.
How we do it
Five steps, one owner
Part of your first 90 days. Every step has a date, an owner and something you can see.
Week 1Account and tracking auditReview structure, spend, search terms and conversion tracking, and agree targets.You get an audit with quick wins
Week 1 to 2Fix measurementSet up or repair conversion tracking, offline conversions and CRM links.You get numbers you can trust
Week 2 to 4Paid and organic planRebuild what is wasting budget and launch the new structure.You get one search plan
Week 3 to 12Test and shift budgetTest creative, audiences and landing pages, and move budget to what wins.You get budget moved to what wins
Every weekOptimize and reportAdjust bids, budgets and tests, and report cost per lead and revenue.You get a Monday report
Where the savings are
Stop paying for clicks you already own
When you rank first organically, many brand and high-intent searches convert without the ad. We test where ads add clicks and where they only add cost.
45%25%15%15%
Searches only paid can winKeep and growOverlap with top organic rankTest reducingBrand protectionKeep where competitors bidWasted spendCut
Typical split of search spend after a paid and organic review. Illustrative.How we measure it
Every week, tied to revenue
Spend, leads, pipeline and revenue by campaign, from Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, Search Console and your CRM, in one weekly report, next to your organic search results in Surface.
Weeklybudget and bid reviews1report with paid and organicCRMleads tracked to revenue
- Cost per lead and cost per qualified lead
- Return on ad spend and revenue
- Conversion rate by landing page
- Spend by campaign against target
Your options
Four ways to run SEM
Run it in-house, use a freelancer, hire a channel specialist, or run it with your search partner.
One team, no handoffs
SEM Services works best with the rest of search
The same team runs every service that feeds AI answers, so nothing waits on another vendor.
Questions
What people ask about SEM Services
What is search engine marketing (SEM)?
SEM covers paid search ads, and in our programs it is planned together with SEO, so every important search is covered by one or the other.
Which platforms do you run?
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising, including Search, Shopping and Performance Max.
How do you decide between paid and organic?
We look at where you rank, what the ad adds and what each click costs, then test reducing spend where organic already wins.
Will cutting ads hurt our leads?
We test it in steps and watch total leads, not just paid leads. If total leads drop, we put the spend back.
Do you manage the ad budget?
You pay the platforms directly. We manage the campaigns and the budget allocation.
What is the minimum engagement?
We work in 90-day blocks with a 6-month minimum.
The full guide · 7 min readSEM: where most ad budgets fail between click and customer
Why search budgets leak, how paid and organic should share a plan and what to fix first.
- 01Paid and organic as one plan
- 02Finding wasted spend
- 03Landing pages that convert
- 04Blended reporting
Find the spend you can cut
Talk to a partner and we will review where your paid and organic search overlap.