Search Engine Marketing (SEM) continues to be the biggest and most powerful form of digital marketing. Since 2007, the Search Marketing Expo has been the leading conference for SEM professionals, helping thousands of marketing practitioners succeed with actionable tactics.

The SMX Conference series takes place multiple times a year around the globe. And this past May, Azura took part in the London SMX event! Among the sponsors were big brands such as Google, Microsoft, Majestic and AccuRanker, underscoring London SMX’s high standing as one of the year’s must-attend online marketing events.

The two-day conference provided useful insights from leading thinkers and trendsetters in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) industries. The event not only allowed us to explore valuable networking opportunities, but also featured the latest digital marketing techniques and new ways of applying them for our clients’ online promotional campaigns.

Here are just a few of the interesting topics discussed during the event:

1. About 40% of business locations on online maps are incorrect.

Why is that?

Anyone can edit this information, so the risk of human error is high. Moreover, businesses fail to give enough importance to this valuable aspect of their online presence.

What does this mean for you?

Monitor your business location listings continuously, making sure the same location information is listed in all places. Consistency and perseverance is the key.

2. As much as 76% of the average Adwords budget is wasted.

Why is that?

Based on the findings of recent online analyses, companies that have unqualified personnel in charge of their Adwords campaigns are more likely to waste the click budget allocated for their ads, due to incorrect bidding techniques.

What does this mean for you?

Unless you are very familiar with the ins and outs of running Adwords campaigns, hire a professional agency to make the most of your investment.

3. Website speed is becoming increasingly important.

Why is that?

As Google places more and more importance on the user experience, the page loading time is becoming one of the major factors that influence your website rankings and online conversions.

What does this mean for you?

Make sure your online performance is optimal by improving your website’s loading time.

4. Intent is still the key for conversions, but context is becoming more important.

Why is that?

Recent increase in mobile use gives marketers more access to the context of people’s searches. Learning how to use this insight leads to increased conversions.

What does it mean for you?

Your business needs to learn to use the context of the query to better target your ads. For example, if you have searches that express an intent, but those searches are made in a specific city by a tourist at a specific time of day, you have more control over which content is the best to show to that user. If you use this insight properly, users find what they are searching for and your business gets more leads and conversions.

Big picture wrap-up

As Search Engine Marketing becomes more of a science than a marketing activity and has an increasing impact on your company’s bottom-line performance, business owners should invest wisely in this marketing channel to take full advantage of all its benefits.