SEO vs SEM: Understanding the Similarities and Differences
As long as it might take you to read this sentence, Google has received 176,000 searches. Every second that passes, Google receives over 88,000 searches.
How do you, as a business, ensure that you land in those search results when it might be you that people are looking for?
SEO and SEM are both viable options to get you ranking but what are the differences? SEO vs SEM may have you scratching your head but we’ve got you covered, keep reading to find out exactly what the similarities and differences are.
Clarifying Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization can be designed as a set of tasks that you do in order to get your website ranking in search engine results.
These tasks are made up of things like keyword usage and placement, meta descriptions, website user-friendliness and user experience, and many other on-page and off-page tactics. Look out for tips to boost your SEO to increase web traffic.
What About Search Engine Marketing?
SEM, on the other hand, is the combination of various paid advertising tactics that can help your website show up on the first page of search results.
This is where you would encounter terms like CTR (Click-through-rate) and CPC (Cost-per-click). Never fear, you’ll get the hang of the acronyms soon enough!
SEO vs SEM: Fundamental Difference
The biggest differentiator between SEO and SEM is the fact that Search Engine Optimization is free to perform whilst Search Engine Marketing only has paid options.
SEO may take time to show results as search engines take time to crawl through your content and rank your website. SEM, however, can get you at the top of results almost immediately, depending on the size of your budget.
First Similarity: Keywords
At the foundation of both SEO and SEM is one thing: keyword research. Both of these should be based upon extensive keyword research for your business and your industry.
Gone are the days when you could just place ‘plumbing’ all over your website and know that it will get you results. Nowadays, you need to understand how your ideal target market is searching and what they’re searching for in order to direct them to your website.
Both SEO and SEM rely on the fact that you’ve done your research and you know what your potential customer is typing into that search bar.
Second Similarity: Branding and Traffic
SEO and SEM both contribute to two very important things for your business:
- Every click counts, so your online brand awareness will go through efforts on both
- SEO and SEM are meant to drive up your website traffic
In fact, if you have the extra budget, you could consider doing SEO and SEM concurrently in order to maximize your search engine rankings.
Successfully SEOing and SEMing
SEO vs SEM may still be front of mind for you, but the truth is, you don’t actually have to choose between the two. Your business doesn’t have to only commit to one.
We will say this though, you’ve got to give SEO more time to show results than SEM, sometimes it can take months for your website to crawl up in search results.
Don’t go anywhere just yet, if you just type SEO into our search bar, we’ve got more great content just for you.
