//San Jose · A search engine marketing agency
A search engine marketing agency serving San Josethat starts with what is actually broken.
Search engine marketing means different things to different buyers. We use it to mean paid and organic search planned together, against the same queries, with one budget decision behind them. If you only need one of the two, we will tell you that instead of selling both.
Work directly with our founders. No account-manager handoff.
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What SEM means here, and what changes in San Jose.
Worth defining up front, because the term is genuinely ambiguous. Some agencies use search engine marketing to mean paid search only. We use it to mean paid and organic treated as one plan: deciding which queries are worth buying now, which are worth earning over time, and which are not worth either. Buying a click for a term you already rank first for is a common and expensive mistake.
In San Jose that coordination matters more than usual. This is the civic heart of Silicon Valley, with a deep base of local and family businesses sitting alongside the technology employers, and paid click prices in the region reflect the well-funded companies competing for attention. When clicks are expensive, the value of knowing which terms you should stop paying for goes up sharply.
What we would look at first.
- 1Are the right people finding you?Search, maps and paid placement for the terms that carry buying intent, not the ones that only carry volume.
- 2Are you paying for the right demand?Spend against what converts, and an honest look at the demand you are buying that was never going to.
- 3Does the site finish the job?The offer, the proof and the next step, on the page the traffic actually lands on.
- 4Can the owner tell what worked?Calls, forms and bookings traced back far enough to make the next budget decision defensible.
Already have an agency? Good. Bring the report.
We will tell you what looks healthy, what we cannot verify and where we would look first. If the current setup makes sense, we will say that too. You do not have to fire anyone to get a second read.
Work you can check.
These are our clients, not San Jose clients. Every number on them is published on the study itself, so you can read the whole engagement rather than a highlight.
What we would most likely run for San Jose.
Founders stay.
The people you meet stay on the account. There is no sales handoff and no junior takeover after the contract is signed.
Yours to keep.
Accounts, domains, ad platforms and content are in your name. If we part ways you keep all of it.
Month to month.
No annual lock-in. We would rather keep the work worth renewing than hold you to a term.
//Common questions
What San Jose owners ask us first.
Is SEM just Google Ads with a different name?
Not the way we use it. We mean paid and organic search planned against the same query set. If your situation only calls for paid, we will run paid and say so. Some agencies use SEM to mean paid search only, so it is worth asking anyone you talk to what they mean by it.
Are you actually local to San Jose?
No. Mining Wells is based in Irvine and serves San Jose businesses from there. There is no San Jose office and we will not claim one.
What if I already run Google Ads?
Bring the account and the reporting. We will tell you what looks healthy, what we cannot verify and where we would look first. A common finding is spend going to terms the site already ranks well for.
How do you price?
After the diagnosis. Month to month, no annual lock-in, and the ad accounts stay in your name so history and learning stay with you.
Can you guarantee a cost per lead?
No. We can tell you what your current cost per lead appears to be, what is inflating it and what we would change first. A guaranteed number before seeing the account would be a sales tactic.
Get my free marketing plan.
Tell us about the business and where the marketing is getting stuck. We will write you a plan for it, free, and tell you honestly if we are not the right people to run it.
No cost. No obligation. No pitch if it is not a fit.
Nearby markets we serve
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