8 SEM Trends to Watch in 2023

2023 has brought a significant shift to the marketing industry, as every aspect of consumer behavior has changed under the influence of many factors. This has pushed marketers and advertisers to adapt by using search engine marketing (SEM) and optimizing their marketing strategies in Vietnam based on consumers’ needs and interests.

To drive valuable traffic to your website, capture lead information and turn those leads into real customers, it is essential to follow the paid marketing practices that are popular and effective right now. Get to know the current SEM landscape so you can build the most effective paid advertising strategy for your business.

Below is a list of the SEM trends you should keep an eye on in 2023.

8 SEM Trends to Watch in 2023

Voice Search Is on the Rise

Some time ago, voice search became popular thanks to apps like Siri and Alexa. You can use a voice command to look up information on the internet simply by speaking into your phone. While this trend seemed to fade into obscurity recently, voice search is becoming a standout trend to consider for SEM services in Vietnam.

Voice search affects both SEO and SEM services. More and more people use voice search to find answers to common questions. In that case, you should try using more long-tail keywords in your website content.

Statistics from Google show that about 70% of requests to Google Assistant are made in natural language. This implies that voice-based search queries are likely to include questions phrased as extended keywords. For example, most voice-based search queries consist of questions such as:

• What is the current weather in Ho Chi Minh City?
• Where is the nearest grocery store?
• How much does the latest iPhone cost?
• How do you treat a fever?

In short, voice search usually centers on questions that are typically asked using extended keywords. This highlights the importance of building longer keywords into your paid ads. By doing so, you can expect higher ad rankings and connect with people who use voice search on Google.

Growing Use of Artificial Intelligence

By embracing the Artificial Intelligence (AI) trend for paid search advertising (SEM) in Vietnam, you can optimize your ads to improve conversion rates. Google Ads offers an ad type called Responsive Search Ads (RSA).

Responsive Search Ads provide automated features that help you optimize your calls to action (CTAs), headlines and meta descriptions. With support from AI-powered ads, you can create better ads that reach users on the web at the right moment.

Today, AI can reason about and understand users’ search intent, producing far more accurate and relevant results on the search engine results page (SERP). The challenge for marketers today is to create content that matches users’ search intent so they can secure higher rankings on the SERP.

Mobile-First Priority

Several years have passed since Google announced its mobile-first indexing update. With most users accessing Google Search on mobile devices, Google primarily uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking.

There is no denying that mobile devices dominate desktops when you look at global usage rates. So, to reach as many users as possible, you need to optimize your ads for mobile devices.

To optimize your ads for mobile devices, here are a few things you should do:

• Use a strong call to action (CTA).
• Write compelling headlines.
• Create a dedicated mobile landing page for your ads.
• Use ad extensions that suit mobile devices.

Video Ads Become Essential

Since YouTube became part of the Google Display Network, marketers have used video ads as an effective way to capture potential leads. By creating video campaigns in Google Ads, you can show your ads within videos. This also lets you measure performance, so you can check views and the cost per ad.

Video campaigns bring many benefits, such as:

• Boosting sales
• Driving more traffic to your website
• Raising brand awareness
• Reaching the right target audience

Consumers often prefer video over other types of content, so launching a video campaign now could be a good idea. By creating a quality video ad, you can reach your target audience on YouTube. To create more relevant content, you can follow video production trends. At the same time, set a budget limit to avoid overspending, and define who will see your video based on users’ interests, age, location and other factors.

Visual Search

Unlike text-based search, with visual search users upload an image when using a search engine for their query. For example, instead of typing “đồng hồ cổ” (antique clock), you can upload a photo of the antique clock you are looking for to Google Lens. Next, Google helps deliver the results that best match the image you uploaded. Google Lens uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision and augmented reality (AR) to deliver accurate and effective visual search.

In 2021, Instagram introduced visual search, a trend that improves image discovery when shopping in the app. This is similar to the Pinterest Lens feature on Pinterest, which lets you search for items on the platform by uploading an image. Along with voice search, visual search is one of the SEM trends of 2023 that you need to follow.

Here are a few tips for optimizing your images for the visual search trend:

• Provide a variety of images
• Use high-resolution images
• Optimize image titles and descriptions
• Use alternative text for images (alt text)
• Add captions to images
• Optimize image file types and sizes.

Automation Options

Many aspects of search engine marketing will be heavily influenced by automation in 2023. To start, automated bidding for keywords and ad groups removes the need to set bids manually. Beyond automated bidding, the automation trend also applies to scheduling and to setting up basic rules for each task and process in search engine marketing.

Marketers can also benefit from automation when monitoring website health. Automation tools will track broken links, page load times and website uptime. On top of that, automation helps speed up backlink monitoring.

Although automation in SEM still needs human involvement, it significantly reduces manual work and improves productivity. The challenge for marketers is how to optimize and make the most of these tools.

Social Media Keeps Growing in Popularity

Google is currently the largest search engine in the world, and Google Ads is one of the best online ad management platforms. Still, marketers who pay attention to other platforms, such as social media, can gain significant benefits.

Digital marketers looking to expand their PPC campaigns should consider the trend of paid advertising on social media. Social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok attract a huge audience. Moreover, these audiences are divided into segments and sub-segments. This makes it easier for marketers to run targeted advertising campaigns.

Here are a few tips to make the most of paid advertising on social media:

• Define your goals
• Identify your target audience
• Prioritize your platforms
• Have a consistent, concise message
• Choose the right ad formats.

See more: Learn About TikTok, the New Marketing Trend of 2023

Competition Among Shopping Ads

If non-Google SEM strategies keep growing, competition for shopping ads, especially on Google, will become even fiercer in the years ahead.

The shopping ads trend helps retailers strengthen their shopping campaigns to showcase products and increase traffic to their websites or e-commerce platform accounts. Compared with text ads, shopping ads display the product’s image, name, price and store name. It is reasonable to expect that shopping ads will play an increasingly important role in the next trends in search engine marketing.

The benefits of shopping ads include:

• Better-quality leads
• Less complex retail-focused campaign management
• Increased visibility
• More detailed competitive data reporting

Conclusion

Overall, 2023 promises a significant shift in search engine marketing (SEM), with the development of many important trends. These changes are creating new opportunities to optimize your strategy and engage deeply with customers.

By understanding and adapting to these trends, marketers can build successful SEM campaigns and stay ahead in an ever-changing marketing environment.