SEO vs SEM: Two Strategies, One Match Made in Digital Marketing Heaven
Building a website is a big hurdle to get over, but even harder than that is figuring out how to help it get noticed.
To accomplish this, you need to become very familiar with two acronyms: SEO and SEM.
What is the difference between SEO vs SEM? How do they work together? Most importantly, how can they make your website successful?
This article will help you to better understand this $80 billion industry and how it can help your business.
What is SEM?
SEM stands for search engine marketing. This includes any strategy, especially paid strategies, that help to boost the appearance of your website in search engine results pages (SERPS.)
A common example of this is paid Google ads. Google’s algorithm uses keyword searches used by individuals to custom tailor ads, and the brand is charged every time someone clicks on their ad.
Purchasing ads help you to quickly get your website out there for people to see. You can easily target specific audiences and the results are immediate.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization. This is a subcategory of SEM and is different because it’s aimed towards growing your website organically.
It includes unpaid strategies to help your website appear in SERPS. Instead of your website appearing in ads, it actually appears in the top search results list.
There are three different areas of SEO: on-page, off-page, and technical SEO.
On-page SEO involves using keywords naturally into the website’s text, incorporating social sharing options, writing blog posts that are tailored to your audience, optimizing page loading speed and much more.
Off- page SEO involves having authoritative sites link naturally to your website or giving people the option to bookmark your site on social media.
Technical SEO includes your site security, architecture, and speed.
All three of these areas are important if you’re going to boost your websites SEO.
It can be overwhelming if you try to do it alone, but there are great tools like Adwords Nerds that can help you to build your SEO strategy.
SEO vs SEM: How Do They Work Together?
SEO and SEM are similar in that they both help your website appear in SERPS, increase traffic to your website, and use keyword research but you can’t just choose one or the other. Your marketing should include strategies for both.
SEM is great at getting traffic to your website quickly. It also has the capability to reach the specific audience you want it to. This is great when your website is new and fast results are needed.
Different than SEM, the organic strategies used in SEO help to increase the overall quality of your website. Although the growth is slow in the beginning, SEO strategies make sure that your website stays relevant and successful for years to come.
Develop Your SEO and SEM Strategies
Developing an effective marketing strategy is a process of trial and error.
Understanding the difference between SEO vs SEM and the different ways in which they can help you is essential to your success.
Read other posts like Web Design and SEO: How One Influences the Other to learn more.
