TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on satisfaction ratings and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.
Search engine marketing tools help marketers manage and optimize paid search ads. SEM tools allow users to research keywords, set a budget, run paid ad campaigns, act on intelligent bidding recommendations, automate bidding and copy generation, and analyze and forecast results.
The goal of search engine marketing tools is to bring a target audience to your website, particularly for keywords where you are not likely to be the top organic result.
The most widely used SEM software include those offered by search engines themselves, such as Google AdWords and Bing Ads. Many cross-channel campaign management tools include capabilities for managing paid search, social, and display ads. Similarly, many SEO platforms include features for managing paid search ads or integrate with first-party tools like AdWords.
Some SEM tools also offer competitive analysis. In other words, SEM software allows you to see what search terms your competitors are bidding on. The information provided by SEM software may allow you to identify missed opportunities to increase your visibility in search. It also may help you protect your brand from unwanted (or unlawful) use by competitors.
First-party SEM tools are often free in the sense that you don’t pay for the SEM software itself. Rather, the cost is rolled into what you pay for your ads. Ads are usually on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. Other methods include CPM (cost-per-thousand-impressions), or pay-per-call, particularly for ads served on a smartphone.
The cost of ads varies widely depending on the competition for targeted search terms. Tools allow you to set a budget and limit spending.
Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.
Bing Ads is Microsoft's search engine marketing and advertising campaign management alternative to the popular Adwords, that, similar to its competitor, provides analytics and a management dashboard for running a pay per click (PPC) paid listing campaign, though across the Yahoo! Bing Network. Bing …
Google Marketing Platform (a combination of former DoubleClick advertiser tools and Google Analytics 360 Suite) is a set of tools for marketers to manage their advertising campaigns. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2008. It focuses on uploading ads and reporting their performance and also prov…
Marin Software is a very popular cloud-based cross-channel marketing advertising campaign management platform which integrates many tools and functions, and it is the name of the company in San Francisco that issues the software. Marin touts cross-display (including mobile-optimized) advertisement r…
Wordstream, the eponymous offering from the company in Boston, MA, provides a free tool for analyzing performance "grading" an Adwords campaign, beyond which, Wordstream Advisor provides (for a fee, though a free trial is available) recommendations to optimize a paid advertising campaign on Google, …
Acquisio is a performance marketing solution that enables digital marketers to manage, report, and optimize on all digital advertising initiatives in one easy-to-use dashboard, across search, social, and display. According to the vendor, this solution provides the most powerful optimization algorith…
Kenshoo Infinity Suite is a cross-channel advertising solution for search marketing, social media and online advertising. The product aims to give advertisers and agencies the control and automation needed to make better investment decisions across search marketing and online advertising.
AdobeAdvertising Cloud (formerly Adobe Media Optimizer) is an ad management product and is part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. It delivers a rules-based bidding solution that improves the performance of search engine marketing campaigns and is integrated with Adobe Analytics.
Sizmek is the rather extensive eponymous advertising / marketing platform from the company of the same name recently formed and gone public as a separate entity from its former body (Digital Generation, Inc, or DG) in 2014. It's focus is on broadness: it is meant for advertisers and agencies wishin…
Serpstat is an All-in-one SEO platform which provides more than 20 tools: Competitor Analysis, Keyword Research, Backlink Analysis, Site Audit and Rank Tracker and many more. Serpstat is the fastest-growing SEO tool on the market that provides comprehensive search analytics data to more than 300,000…
ClickGUARD headquartered in Los Angeles offers their search engine marketing click fraud tool, designed to prevent fraudulent clicks by bots or malicious actors.
SE Ranking is a website optimization solution. Some key features include: Local Rank Tracking, Automatic Daily Updates and Monitoring of Competitors.
Yahoo! Advertising, or Yahoo Search Marketing, is Yahoo's search marketing platform for placing advertisements in search results across the Yahoo! Bing Network. It is an old advertising platform, having begun as GoTo.com in the nineties, renamed Overture Services, Inc in 2001, and finally being acqu…
ReachLocal is an all-in-one digital marketing system designed for SMBs. The ReachLocal online marketing suite includes solutions for: search engine marketing (ReachSearch™), Web presence (ReachCast™), display advertising (ReachDisplay™), online marketing analytics (TotalTrack®), lead conversion (Rea…
The Kantar Advertising and Paid Search Intelligence service is based on AdGooroo, a Kantar company since its acquisition in December, 2012. The platform of is designed to optimize search engine marketing via, primarily, keyword research and suggestions. Kantar delivers competitor data and campaign p…
The AdStage Platform is a self-serve cross-network online advertising platform with full management and analytics for campaigns across search, social, display, and mobile ad networks like Google AdWords, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn Ads. It's an all-in-one marketing platform, complete with a …
ReportGarden is a reporting and dashboarding product for enterprise ad agencies. According to the vendor, Reportgarden provides a full spectrum of marketing tools that seamlessly integrate with the workflow of an agency. 1000+ agencies use ReportGarden to automate the most time consuming tasks lik…
NinjaCat is an all-in-one reporting solution for leading digital marketing agencies. It combines Google AdWords, Bing Ads, Analytics, Facebook, DoubleClick and Call Tracking into one interface, allowing users to monitor campaigns and deliver reports. The vendor’s value proposition is that their solu…
MatchCraft Advantage is a search engine marketing (SEM) platform for managing many paid advertising campaigns at once, ideally for agencies managing campaigns for a number of small to midsize businesses with their local marketing efforts. To that end it automates many elements of running Google Adwo…
MarketMuse is a search engine marketing platform built around features such as site auditing, content quality grading, and content analysis.
Swoop is a search engine marketing solution with platforms for advertisers, publishers, and users.
Netpeak Spider is a desktop tool which crawls your website like a search engine robot and detects key SEO issues that influence the website’s visibility in SERP. According to the vendor, this tool allows you to:Spot 60+ issues of your website optimization.Check 50+ key on-page SEO parameters.Calcula…
Adzooma’s AI and machine learning based Google and Facebook Ads platform, offers simple campaign management, 24/7 optimisation and time saving automation, all in a single interface. The platform includes many features including scanning for 50+ improvement opportunities, many of which can be actio…
RocketData is a SaaS-platform for managing a company’s locations in digital space. The solution submits business information to online maps, catalogs, GPS systems, social networks, global and regional directories, and controls data to protect it against unauthorized changes. RocketData not only add…
iSpionage is a search engine marketing solution built specifically for PPC marketers. It is built around features such as competitor research and campaign monitoring.
There are plenty of options out there, but here's our shortlist of the best Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Tools. These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. To qualify, a product must have 10 or more recent reviews and a trScore of 7.5 or higher, indicating above-average satisfaction for business technology. The products with the highest trScores appear first on the list. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.