The digital world is more competitive than ever before. Businesses like you constantly strive to improve the online visibility, attract more customers and increase revenue. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are some of the most powerful strategies that help you achieve all these objectives. No doubt SEO and SEM have different approaches but they just work best when you combine it. You might struggle to decide whether to invest in SEO, SEM or just both? The reality is that using SEO vs SEM together can maximize your results bringing both long term growth and immediate traffic. In this guide you can learn everything about SEO VS SEM .
Understanding SEO Services
SEO is basically the process of optimizing your website to improve its ranking in search engine result pages without paying for ads. The objective of SEO is to attract organic traffic from search engines like Google Bing and Yahoo. Whenever somebody searches for something on Google the search engine uses complex algorithms to decide which websites to display first. SEO basically helps the websites rank higher by making them more relevant and user friendly.
You must know as SEO includes multiple techniques to improve the website ranking. On page SEO refers to everything you do within your website to improve search rankings. It includes using relevant keywords in titles, headings and content. The experts also write useful informative and engaging articles. You must write short descriptions that improve click through rates. Linking different pages within your website for better navigation. At the same time you need to use alt text and compressed images to improve speed.
Off page SEO is all about external factors which include improving your website’s credibility. These include getting backlinks from other trusted websites. You can also write articles for other sites to gain exposure. Social media sharing is all about promoting content on social media platforms.
Technical SEO focuses on the back end of your website to improve performance and user experience. It includes website speed optimization that means faster websites rank higher in search results. Mobile friendliness is where Google prioritizes websites that work well on mobile devices. Secure HTTPS connection where websites with SSL certificates rank higher.
The benefits of SEO
- You don’t have to pay for every visitor. A well optimized website will keep ranking for several months or even years. The best part is that people trust more organic results as compared to paid ads so you will completely benefit. SEO improve site speed, mobile friendliness and navigation for your site.
- But you must know that SEO takes time. It might take several months to see major improvements. That is where SEM comes in the picture.
Understanding search engine marketing
Search engine marketing is actually a paid advertising strategy that helps you appear at the top of the search results instantly. Instead of waiting for several months to rank organically you and use PPC ads to get immediate traffic.
How does search engine marketing work?
Before you learn the difference between SEM vs SEO, it is very important for you to understand how it works. The most prominent platform for search engine marketing is Google ads. You can bid on keywords and when users search for all those terms the ads appear at the top of the search results. It’s very different from SEO which brings free traffic search engine marketing works on PPC model meaning advertisers pay only when they click on the ad.
Search ads appear at the top of the Google search results. Banner ads are shown on websites and mobile apps. Shopping ads can be used for ecommerce businesses to showcase products. Video ads or video advertisements can be shown on YouTube and other platforms. Retargeting ads are all about targeting people who have previously visited your website.
Benefits of search engine marketing
These ads appear at the top of the search results instantly. You must know that the ads are shown to people actively looking for your product or service. You can increase or decrease your budget based on the performance. The best part is that you can easily track the ads performance and return on investment.
But you need to know that search engine marketing requires constant spending. Once you stop paying for your ads your traffic will disappear.
How does search engine optimization and search engine marketing work together?
- Firstly you need to know that search engine optimization takes a lot of time to improve rankings but search engine marketing can bring traffic instantly. You can use search engine marketing in the short term while your SEO strategy grows.
- Google rewards websites with good SEO by lowering the PPC ad costs. A well optimized website can help you get a higher quality score which reduces the cost per click.
- PPC campaigns provide you with valuable keyword insights. You can use this data to optimize your SEO content and target high performing keywords.
- SEO can create long term credibility while search engine marketing provides you immediate exposure. By using both together you can establish a strong online presence.
- If someone visits your website through SEO but doesn’t convert you can use search engine marketing retargeting ads to bring them back and encourage them to make a purchase.
Best practices for combining certain and optimization and search engine marketing
You can use search engine marketing for competitive keywords and for long term rankings you can use Seo. You need to optimize the landing pages to perform well for both organic and paid traffic. Furthermore it is very important for you to analyze the PPC keyword data to improve your SEO content. Monitor both search engine optimization and search engine marketing performance using different tools like Google Analytics. Always invest in Seo for trust and certainly in marketing for fast results.
The future of SEO vs SEM
The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Search engines update the algorithms, new technologies emerge and user behavior shifts with time. Google’s AI driven algorithms have changed how search results are ranked. Systems analyze user intent search behavior and content quality determine rankings. With ever increasing popularity of voice assistants like Alexa and Google assistants more users today are performing searches using natural language and conversational queries. It means SEO must just focus on long tail keywords and question based content.
So if you want quick results you should use search engine marketing. Focus on certain optimization if you want long term success. The best approach is to use both together. One thing that you must know is that certain optimization and search engine marketing are not competitors but they are partners. By combining the long term benefits of search engine optimization with the instant impact of search engine marketing you can create a powerful digital marketing strategy that drives consistent traffic leads and sales. With the right balance of sorting and optimization and search engine marketing you can dominate search results and state of the curve.
Nikita Sharma is Chief Strategy Centrik @ hicentrik. She Strategizes, Optimizes & Revises digital activities to deliver optimum results & returns.
6 Years of Global Experience in Multi-tasking, i.e. Digital Advertising, Social Media, Ad Campaigns, Web Design & Development, Lead Generation, and Reporting.
