About 68% of activity online begins with a search engine. With search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM), your website will appear as a result. What is the difference between SEO vs SEM, though?
Read on to find out! After reviewing this guide, you can determine which digital marketing strategy suits your needs.
Start growing your business with SEO or SEM after reading this guide today!
What Is SEO?
Before we compare SEO vs SEM, let’s look at each strategy separately. What is SEO, exactly?
Search engine optimization is an organic search engine marketing strategy. That’s right: SEO is a type of SEM. SEM is actually an umbrella term used to describe multiple online marketing strategies.
With SEO, you can optimize your website content to appear in front of consumers based on the terms they use during a search. As a result, you’ll have an easier time reaching ideal customers who already want your offerings. You can leverage their initial interest in your brand to generate more leads and sales.
However, there are multiple types of SEO you’ll need to consider when strategizing. The four main types of SEO include:
- On-page SEO
- Off-page SEO
- Technical SEO
- Local SEO
On-page SEO involves tactics you can utilize when creating website content. For example, you’ll need to optimize each page and post on your site for a target keyword. Google will then have an easier time understanding the content before ranking the post for relevant searches.
Off-page SEO involves tactics outside of your website (and therefore, often outside of your control).
For example, you can generate backlinks on other websites. Backlinks appear on other sites that have a high domain authority (DA). The backlink will send readers to your website content, allowing you to generate referral traffic.
Generating backlinks from websites with a high DA can boost your website’s DA, which could indicate higher search engine rankings. Backlinks are one of Google’s top ranking factors. The more backlinks a page has, the more traffic it can generate through Google.
Technical SEO involves the backend of your website. For example, it’s important to appeal to Google’s Core Web Vitals to offer the best possible user experience (UX). A negative UX can cause visitors to leave.
Local SEO can help you reach nearby consumers. You can optimize your Google Business listing or focus on location-specific target keywords.
Strategizing
To develop a strong SEO strategy, it’s first important to research your target audience. Then, you can create personalized content to appeal to the consumer’s needs. Begin by gathering demographic and psychographic research.
Then, build a list of target keywords for each buyer persona you’re targeting. You can use online tools to build a list of longtail keywords, such as:
- SEMRush
- Google Trends
- Ahrefs
- Answer the Public
- Keyword Planner
As you build a list of target keywords to use in your content, look for phrases that feature four or more words. These longtail keywords can help you determine the reader’s needs or interests. Then, you can create relevant content that aligns with their search intent.
Appealing to the user’s search intent can help you attract relevant readers. These consumers are more likely to linger on your site, increasing dwell times. Your bounce rate will drop, which could benefit your organic rankings.
When optimizing for local SEO, feature the target keyword in the:
- Page title
- URL
- Opening and closing paragraphs
- An H1 header
- SEO title and meta description
- Body text
- Image file name and alt text
Optimizing images can help you appear for image searches.
The SEO title and description will appear on search engine pages. Writing compelling titles and descriptions can boost your clickthrough rate, leading to higher rankings.
Claim and optimize your Google Business listing for local SEO. Ask customers to post their reviews on your listing as well. You can learn more about local SEO services.
For technical SEO, make sure your site is fast, mobile-optimized, and user-friendly. If your website is difficult to explore, visitors could leave.
Otherwise, consider hiring an experienced SEO marketing agency this year. With the best SEO services, you can improve your organic rankings to reach more customers.
What are the benefits of SEO?
Improving your organic search engine rankings will help you generate:
- Website Traffic
- Brand awareness and recognition
- Leads and sales
- Brand Credibility
- Brand trust and loyalty
- A better ROI
It will also take time for competitors to knock your ranking down, helping you generate results long-term. Since SEO is cost-effective, your ROI could improve over time as well.
What Is SEM?
What is search engine marketing, then?
Remember, SEM is an umbrella term used to describe multiple digital marketing strategies, including:
- Social media advertising
- Search engine optimization
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
- Display advertising
- Remarketing
- Video advertising
- Shopping advertising
- Geotargeting
As with SEO, you can target consumers based on the keywords they use during a search. However, you can target consumers based on demographics. For example, you might want to reach a specific gender, age group, or city.
You can create different campaigns that target different buyer personas to create personally relevant ads. Personalization could boost your ROI by eight times and sales by 10% or more.
Strategizing
To develop an effective SEM strategy, start by segmenting your target audience. Otherwise, your ad message might not appeal to their distinct needs. You can target different buyers at the campaign level.
Establish a goal for each campaign you set. For example, you might want to generate brand awareness, leads, or website traffic. Setting a specific goal can help you create targeted ads.
Determine what platform you want to use, such as Facebook Ads or Google Ads. Within each campaign, you can create ad groups that contain multiple ads. Consider starting with two ads per ad group.
You can use A/B testing to determine what images, CTAs, or language helps you generate conversions.
The Benefits
SEM can help you generate:
- Website Traffic
- Brand awareness
- Leads and sales
Paid advertising has a 200% ROI rate. It can help you generate twice the number of website visitors than SEO. You can also use your ads to boost brand awareness by up to 80%.
It can also help you reach consumers on different platforms as part of your omnichannel marketing strategy.
SEM can also help you generate immediate results. With organic marketing strategies, it can take time before you generate leads and sales. With SEM, you can go live with your campaigns within 24 hours of creating them.
If you want to advertise an event or short-term sale, you can create a designated campaign instantly.
Choosing Between SEO and SEM
What is the difference between SEO and SEM, then?
SEO is organic while SEM includes paid strategies. With SEM, you’ll pay when someone views or clicks on an ad. The cost can vary based on the keywords you’re targeting or the platform you choose.
With SEM, you can start generating results as soon as your campaign is approved. With SEO, it can take time before your organic rankings improve. Once you improve those rankings, however, it will take time for a competitor to knock you down.
In other words, you can generate results long-term with a strong SEO strategy.
However, both strategies can help increase your online presence. You can generate brand awareness and eventually remain top-of-mind with consumers. If your brand doesn’t appear online, shoppers won’t know to choose your business.
Both strategies can also help you generate more website traffic. Generating traffic will encourage more people to learn about your business. If they like what they see, they might convert from a visitor to a lead or sales.
If you’re growing a business this year, both SEO and SEM can help!
Working Together
Instead of choosing between SEO and SEM, consider using both strategies together.
For example, you can check which search queries people use before clicking on your Google Ads. Then, you can use those keywords as target keywords for your SEO strategy.
As you begin generating traffic through your online ads, your organic rankings could improve. Then, you can appear at the top of search engine result pages to generate more traffic, leads, and sales over time.
Using both strategies will boost your ROI to help your business grow.
Reach New Customers: Unlock the Difference Between SEO vs SEM Today
To recap, what’s the difference between SEO vs SEM? Search engine optimization is organic while search engine marketing includes paid strategies. Both strategies can boost your online presence, helping you reach more potential customers.
Consider using SEO and SEM services to grow your business in the new year.
Searching for more tips, tricks, and guides? You’ve come to the right blog.
