Search engine marketing can often feel technical or downright overwhelming. Keywords, bidding, budgets, conversions, landing pages, analytics — it is a lot to sort through, especially when your bank or credit union is trying to make smart marketing decisions without wasting spend.

That is where Alec Langowski comes in.

As forbinfi’s SEM specialist, Alec helps banks and credit unions approach paid search with more clarity, strategy, and confidence. His work goes beyond setting up Google Ads. It involves research, testing, budget awareness, compliance-friendly messaging, and a clear understanding of what each financial institution is trying to accomplish.

In this spotlight, Alec shares what an SEM specialist does, why paid search can be valuable for financial institutions, and how better data can lead to smarter marketing decisions.

forbinfi team members at a VGM conference

Alec and the forbinfi team bring search strategy, data, and digital marketing support to financial institutions.

What Does an SEM Specialist Do?

An SEM specialist manages paid search campaigns that help businesses show up in sponsored search results when people are looking for relevant products, services, or information online.

Or, as Alec puts it:

“I mainly make the ‘sponsored’ search results in Google as well as popup ads you may see on other sites.”

For banks and credit unions, that could mean campaigns for checking accounts, mortgages, auto loans, business banking, CDs, digital banking tools, or other services your audience is already searching for.

An SEM specialist may help with:

  • Keyword research
  • Google Ads campaign setup
  • Search and display ad strategy
  • Ad copy testing
  • Budget monitoring
  • Conversion tracking
  • Reporting and campaign optimization

The main purpose is to help your financial institution reach the right people with the right message, then use campaign data to make better marketing decisions.

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A Few Quick Facts About Alec

  • Role: SEM Specialist
  • Focus areas: Sponsored search results, display ads, website data, analytics, and campaign insights
  • Favorite area to nerd out about: Data projects and engagement tracking
  • Fun fact: Alec has a green thumb, especially with tropical houseplants. He has kept some plants alive for nearly five years and has a monstera that is close to developing secondary fenestrations.
  • Alec’s work motto: “The insights you get out are only ever as good as the data you put in.”
  • Years of experience: 1.5 years as an SEM specialist
SEM specialist headshot for forbinfi employee spotlight

Why SEM Is So Important for Banks and Credit Unions

SEM matters for banks and credit unions because it helps your institution appear when people are actively searching for financial products or services.

Instead of hoping someone eventually finds your website, paid search can help you show up closer to the moment they are looking for answers.

Alec describes SEM as being reactive to a user’s search. When someone performs a relevant search, the ad can respond to that search and appear in front of a highly relevant audience.

forbinfi’s search engine marketing services include paid search, display, and remarketing ads, along with ongoing testing and optimization to help campaigns and landing pages perform more effectively over time.

For financial institutions, SEM can support goals like:

  • Promoting loans, deposits, or digital banking tools
  • Increasing visibility in competitive local markets
  • Driving traffic to product or service pages
  • Reaching people searching for financial services now
  • Tracking actions like clicks, calls, form fills, and other conversions

That last point is important. Paid search for financial institutions works best when your team understands what is happening after someone sees or clicks an ad.

That is where Alec’s analytics mindset comes in.

Ready to Look at Your Paid Search Strategy?

If your bank or credit union is running Google Ads but you are not sure what the data is telling you, our team can help you take a closer look.

Review Your SEM Strategy

Meet Alec: The Strategy Behind the Search Ads

Behind every paid search campaign is a lot of thinking that clients may not always see: how the campaign is structured, what the data is showing, and whether the traffic is actually supporting the client’s goals.

That is where Alec’s mix of paid advertising, analytics, and user behavior comes together.

SEM specialist presenting at a VGM conference

Alec’s work connects paid search strategy with data, reporting, and real user behavior.

He is not only thinking about whether an ad gets clicked. He is also looking at what happens next.

“I focus heavily on the data that we collect from our sites. I use that data to try find things out about our sites and the people that visit them that might help us market our clients better.”

That means asking questions like:

  • Did the visitor stay on the page?
  • Did they engage with the content?
  • Did they click to apply, call, or learn more?
  • Is the campaign attracting useful traffic?

From there, Alec looks at the bigger picture of campaign performance, asking additional questions like:

  • What demographic information is important for targeting?
  • How well are we competing in the product space?
  • What about the campaign is or is not working?

This kind of thinking helps turn SEM from “we ran ads” into “we learned something useful.”

Alec especially enjoys digging into data projects. One project he shared involves collecting engagement data from websites and using it to calculate how much time users spend in 5% intervals on a page. From there, he is working on a web app that displays that data as a heatmap over the corresponding page, making it easier to see which parts of a page are most engaging.

However, he noted there is an important piece often overlooked in tools like this: data privacy.

“Tools like this already exist, but they are not HIPAA compliant. My goal is to build something that provides these insights while still meeting those privacy standards.”

In other words, Alec is not just looking at ad performance in a spreadsheet. He is thinking about what users are doing, where they are spending time, and how those insights can help our clients improve their marketing.

How Alec Helps Financial Institutions Approach Paid Search

Paid search can support a financial institution’s marketing goals by helping the right audience find the right service at the right time. However, a good campaign should start with more than a budget and a few keywords.

Alec looks at the bigger picture:

  • What service are we promoting?
  • Who are we trying to reach?
  • What action do we want them to take?
  • Does the landing page support that action?
  • What data will help us improve the campaign?
  • Are we targeting the right locations to reach relevant audiences while avoiding overly competitive, low-fit markets?

That strategy matters because every financial institution has different goals. One bank may want to promote auto loans in a specific market. Another may want to increase awareness for business banking. A credit union may want to support checking account growth or drive traffic to a digital banking page.

The right SEM strategy depends on the goal, the audience, the offer, and the customer journey.

A bank SEM specialist also needs to understand how financial institution marketing differs from other industries. That includes compliance review, local competition, budget efficiency, campaign tracking, and realistic expectations around what paid search can and cannot show.

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What Makes SEM Different for Financial Institutions?

SEM for banks and credit unions is different because financial institutions have unique audiences, regulations, conversion paths, and reporting challenges.

A retail business may be able to connect an ad click directly to an online purchase. For a bank or credit union, the path is usually more complex.

Someone may click an ad, visit a loan page, call a lender, stop by a branch, apply through a separate system, or return later after comparing options.

That makes measurement more complicated.

As Alec explains:

“One major issue I see with financial institutions and analytics is getting a good idea of the actual value a marketing campaign has brought to them.”

Leads can often be tracked, but tracking all the way through to account openings can be more difficult because privacy laws limit access to that data, and rightfully so. Alec notes that understanding account openings from SEM is a team effort.

That is an important reminder for compliance-minded teams.

Paid search can provide helpful data, but it should be evaluated with realistic expectations. Campaign performance may include measurable actions like form submissions, calls, clicks to apply, downloads, or page engagement. However, the full customer journey may also involve offline conversations, internal systems, privacy considerations, and follow-up from your financial institution’s team.

A good Google Ads specialist for banks should understand:

  • Compliance-sensitive messaging
  • Local market competition
  • Product and service area targeting
  • Lead quality versus click volume
  • Tracking and privacy limitations
  • Reporting that helps teams make decisions

For financial institutions, SEM should not feel like a black box. Your team should understand what is being promoted, how the campaign is structured, what the reports mean, and where there may be opportunities to improve.

Review Your SEM Strategy

When Should Your Bank Consider SEM Support?

Your bank or credit union may want SEM support when you need more visibility, better campaign structure, or clearer reporting around paid search performance.

SEM may be a good fit if your financial institution is:

  • Launching a new product or service
  • Promoting loans, deposits, or digital banking tools
  • Competing in a crowded local market
  • Running ads but unsure whether the budget is being used well
  • Getting clicks without clear conversions
  • Struggling to understand Google Ads reporting
  • Looking for a paid search specialist with financial marketing experience

Alec’s advice for financial institutions is simple:

“Trust the process.”

SEM can help drive traffic, but strong performance usually takes testing, learning, and optimization. Algorithms use interaction data from the ads and the website to better understand who should see the ads and how budget should be used. That learning period matters.

In many cases, SEM is not a one-and-done tactic. It works best when campaigns are monitored, adjusted, and improved over time based on what the data is showing.

What Should Banks Look for in a Paid Search Partner?

Banks and credit unions should look for a paid search partner that understands financial institution marketing, explains campaign performance clearly, and builds strategy around your goals instead of chasing clicks alone.

A strong paid search partner should be able to help your team answer questions like:

  • What are we trying to accomplish with this campaign?
  • Which products or services make the most sense for paid search?
  • What keywords should we target?
  • Are our ads written clearly and compliantly?
  • Is the landing page helping or hurting performance?
  • What actions are we tracking?
  • How should we interpret the results?

For financial institutions, industry experience matters. Your partner should understand that a click is only one piece of the customer journey.

Our approach to SEM is built around strategy, testing, tracking, and improvement. We want your campaigns to be understandable, measurable, and connected to the bigger picture of your marketing efforts.

FAQ: SEM Specialists and Paid Search for Banks

What does an SEM specialist do for a bank?▾

An SEM specialist helps a bank or credit union plan, manage, monitor, and improve paid search campaigns. This can include keyword research, Google Ads setup, ad copy testing, budget monitoring, conversion tracking, landing page recommendations, and reporting.

Is SEM the same as SEO?▾

No. SEM and SEO both help people find your financial institution through search, but they work differently.

SEM uses paid ads to appear in sponsored search placements, while SEO focuses on improving organic visibility over time through website optimization, content, technical improvements, and search-friendly structure.

Can Google Ads work for community banks?▾

Yes, Google Ads can work for community banks when campaigns are built around clear goals, relevant keywords, thoughtful targeting, useful landing pages, and ongoing optimization.

Performance depends on the strategy, budget, competition, tracking setup, and how well the campaign matches what your audience is searching for.

When should a financial institution use paid search?▾

A financial institution may use paid search when it wants to promote specific services, increase visibility in a competitive market, support a campaign, reach high-intent searchers, or better understand how people respond to certain products and messages online.

How does forbinfi approach SEM for banks and credit unions?▾

We approach SEM with the financial industry in mind. That means we consider campaign goals, compliance-aware messaging, keyword intent, local market competition, landing page experience, tracking needs, and reporting that helps your team understand what is working and what may need to change.

Want Alec’s Team to Review Your SEM Strategy?

If your bank or credit union is already running paid search, now may be a good time to ask whether your campaigns are working as hard as they could.

Are your ads reaching the right people? Are your landing pages supporting the next step? Are you tracking the actions that matter most? Does your reporting help your team make decisions, or does it leave you with more questions?

Alec and our digital marketing team can help you look at your SEM strategy with a fresh perspective. Whether you need help improving an existing campaign or want to explore paid search for financial institutions for the first time, we can help you understand your options and build a strategy that fits your goals.

Review Your SEM Strategy