Service 03
Search engine marketing, managed against profit.
Google Ads, Shopping, Performance Max and paid social. We report on cost per acquisition and return on ad spend — not impressions, and not clicks for their own sake.
The short answer
What is SEM, and how is it different from SEO?
SEM means buying visibility on search results pages through paid advertising such as Google Ads. SEO earns that visibility organically, without paying per click. SEM produces traffic immediately but stops when the budget stops; SEO takes months to build but keeps working without ongoing ad spend.
They are complements, not alternatives. SEM tells you within weeks which keywords and messages actually convert — intelligence that makes the slower SEO programme far better targeted. We routinely use paid data to decide what to write first.
Where the money leaks
Most underperforming ad accounts are not short of budget.
They are short of housekeeping. These are the four problems we find most often when we audit an existing Singapore account.
No negative keywords
Broad match is spending your money on searches for free alternatives, jobs, DIY instructions and competitors' brand names. A disciplined negative list is the single fastest efficiency gain in most accounts.
Broken conversion tracking
If conversions are double-counted, firing on page load, or not firing at all, then Google's automated bidding is optimising toward a fiction. Everything downstream of bad tracking is guesswork.
Ad-to-page mismatch
The ad promises one thing and the landing page talks about something else. You paid for the click and lost the visitor in four seconds — the most expensive kind of bounce there is.
Set and forgotten
Campaigns launched two years ago, still running, still spending. Search behaviour moves, competitors move, and an unattended account slowly drifts into paying premium prices for the wrong traffic.
What we run
Platforms and campaign types.
Google Search
Intent-driven keyword campaigns for people actively looking to buy right now.
Google Shopping & PMax
Product feed optimisation and Performance Max, with the feed treated as the campaign — because it is.
Display & YouTube
Remarketing and awareness, tightly capped so it does not quietly consume the search budget.
Meta Ads
Facebook and Instagram for demand generation and remarketing to warm audiences.
LinkedIn Ads
B2B targeting by role, company and industry — expensive per click, and worth it when the deal size justifies it.
Landing pages
Purpose-built pages that match the ad, tested continuously. Usually the highest-leverage thing in the account.
Questions
SEM FAQs
How much should I spend on Google Ads in Singapore?
Start with enough to collect meaningful data — commonly S$1,500 to S$3,000 per month for a focused campaign in a moderately competitive Singapore category.
Below roughly S$1,000 a month there is usually not enough conversion volume for the account to learn anything, and automated bidding never leaves the guessing stage. If your budget is smaller than that, we will tell you honestly that SEO and content are a better use of it.
Why is my Google Ads account not profitable?
In the accounts we audit, the usual causes are missing negative keywords, broad match spending on irrelevant searches, conversion tracking that is broken or double-counting, and landing pages that do not match the ad promise.
The budget is rarely the problem. What the budget is being spent on almost always is.
How do you charge for SEM management?
We charge a management fee separate from your advertising spend, which goes directly to the ad platform. Percentage-of-spend pricing creates an incentive to spend more rather than to spend well, so we avoid it wherever account size allows.
Do I keep control of my ad account?
Yes, always. The Google Ads and Meta accounts are created under your billing and your ownership, and we are granted access as a manager. If we ever part ways you keep the account, the history and the learnings. Agencies that hold your account hostage are relying on lock-in rather than results.
Let's begin
Want a second opinion on your ads?
Give us view access to your Google Ads account and we will tell you where the money is leaking. No obligation, and we will say so if the account is already in good shape.