Irma D. Rutherford SEO vs SEM: What’s the Difference?
SEO and SEM can be seen as two sides of one coin. However, they are very different activities and relate to different aspects of marketing. Sometimes, the terms are combined to refer to similar activities. This can confuse people who don’t know much about this world.
What is the difference between Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing? What does it mean for the two to work together?
These terms are essential for digital marketing professionals.
Continue reading to learn more about the role of SEO and SEM in digital marketing today.
What is SEO? How does it work?
SEO is an important part of any digital marketing strategy. It is vital to have some knowledge in this area.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process where search engines “crawl” content to determine its effectiveness in attracting traffic. Search engines assess many things on a website, such as keywords, tags and link titles, and then rank it according to its ability to attract organic traffic.
Crawlers look for the following:
- Quality Content It sends search engines a message that your website and company are delivering legitimate goods or services by providing great content Link building and keywords are a part of how search engines assess you.
- User Experience Was your website created for users to have an easy experience? Is your website easy to use? Are users able to achieve their goals (e.g. Users can easily achieve their end goals (e.g.
- Link Patterns – Are you backlinking with authority sites? Where do your inbound links come from?
SEO is easy to learn and can be integrated into any digital marketing, sales or content strategy. Getting more traffic is easy if you know how to do it correctly. However, learning the intricacies of SEO takes time. If you want to make your website convert more visitors, it is worth looking into hiring an SEO expert.
It takes Google some time to recognize and reward your website – if your site’s new, it may not get noticed by Google for a while.
What is SEM? How does it work?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a descriptor, is an umbrella that includes various types of paid advertising. You will see this in a Google Ad, which usually ranks at the top of a page. This is usually due to keyword placement and usage. It’s another reason why it can be difficult to do well.
These are just a few examples of SEM-based advertising:
- Pay-per-click (targeted) advertising campaigns
- Writing copy using very particular keywords.
- Ensure advertising activities stay within a budget
- To improve future advertising activities, you can use key performance indicators such as click-through rates (CTR) and cost-per-click (CPC).
Poorly executed SEM is possible, but it can get you to the top. This means you must spend some time designing your ads to target the right audience.
