Search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) can be a difficult concept to grasp. In short, SEO is about increasing the amount of website visits by getting your website to appear on the 1st page of the search results returned by the search engine (Google or Bing). While SEM is internet marketing that increases your website’s visibility through advertising on Google or Bing. There is a difference between the two and it is important to understand that difference. In this blog post, I will explain the difference of each and how they can help your website results.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results. It should be a sustainable long-term strategy. The goal is to a create a seamless user experience on your website for users who visit your site. By having relevant content on your site for what people are searching for, Google will show your site higher in the search results. Search engines want to refer users to websites and content that is the most relevant to what the user is looking for. One way that this is determined is with content. Say you have a page, ‘Top 5 Places to witness Fall Colors’, you share this page on your social channels, the search engines will index that page / website and when people search for that topic your page will start to come up in the search results. BUT, you must have strong content not just a paragraph. Be an authoritative figure, have quality content and be useful to the user. The first 3 spots in the search results are usually ads, sometimes there is 1 ad or 2 ads, while other times these ads are at the bottom of the page. The organic results appear after the ads, otherwise right away if there are no ads at the top. Simply put, SEO is the activity of ensuring your website can be found in Google and Bing for words and phrases relevant to what your page and site are offering.
What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a form of digital marketing that involves the promotion of your website and content by increasing the visibility in the search engine results through advertising. These ads may appear as one of the ads on the results page when you do a search in Google or Bing. Both search engines aim to deliver exactly what the searcher is looking for. Creating a well-targeted SEM campaign depends on numerous factors, such as understanding the specific target audience, setting specific goals for the campaign, choosing the right keywords to target, having those keywords set up in focused campaigns and ad groups, writing compelling ads, and driving traffic to a dedicated landing page that delivers the right information that the searcher is looking for. These ads are created in Google Adwords and Bing Ads. With more and more consumers researching and shopping for products online, search engine marketing is a crucial strategy for increasing a company’s reach and awareness. SEM is an efficient and effective way or a company to spend its marketing dollars as they only pay for impressions/clicks that result in visitors to their website. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the backbone to any digital marketing strategy.
What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
A good SEO strategy and strong SEM strategy should work together seamlessly to attract visitors to your website. One thing to know is that they don’t necessarily affect each other directly because they focus on different factors influencing search engine performance. In a perfect world, your site should have both a well thought out SEO strategy and a planned targeted SEM strategy to cover the most search real estate. But how do they differ? SEO focuses on organic search traffic, these are search results generated by Google and Bing that aren’t marked as ads. Google ad position is determined by ad rank, which using your bid amount, the components of Quality Score of your ad (click-through rate (CTR), ad relevance, and landing page experience), and the expected impact of extensions and other ad formats. SEM is precise and agile. You get the targeted buyers who are actively searching for your product. SEO is technically free, but you have to work at it and your website needs to be optimized so that you get the organic traffic from the search engines. Although SEO takes a long time to get results, it establishes organic search credibility and will build over time.
In order for SEM to be a worthwhile investment from your organization, it is a good idea to have an effective SEO strategy already in place. No matter where you are in the process of launching your digital strategy, be sure invest some time into performing SEO keyword research and fully optimizing your website. SEM is the backbone to any digital strategy, and with a strong SEO strategy, you will be maximizing your overall search results.
