Want to know the difference between SEO and SEM?
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You might have heard about search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), but what’s the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEM – an online marketing strategy that involves getting traffic, paid and unpaid, from the search engines.
According to Wikipedia, SEM is “a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPS) through optimization and advertising.”
SEO – a means of optimizing your website so that you get organic (free) traffic from the search engines
According to the Google Knowledge Graph, SEO is “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.”
SEO is a part of SEM!
One aspect of search engine marketing is SEO. However, SEM goes beyond SEO to include paid traffic.
Why Is SEM Traffic So Important?
SEM traffic is important because it’s targeted. It brings people to your website who are searching for information related to your niche.
SEM Includes:
There are Two Types of SEO
Broadly speaking, there are 2 types of SEO: on-page SEO and off-page SEO.
On-Page SEO – optimizing your own website for maximum visibility in the search engines
Off-Page SEO – gaining natural backlinks from other websites
However, it gets more complicated than that. There is also local SEO, international SEO, multilingual SEO and more. You can learn more about these in our search engine optimization classes.
Examples of On-Page SEO:
- Using keywords properly in title tags, headers, and meta descriptions
- Posting blogs with quality, shareable content that easily rank in the search engines
- Using clean URLs
- Optimizing the site so it loads quickly on all devices
- Making it easy for readers to share your content on social media
- Using schema.org markup to give the search bots more info about your web pages
- Ensuring that robots.txt doesn’t block the search bots
- Adding a sitemap that makes it easier for search bots to crawl your website
- Adding internal links so that your website backlinks to itself
- Using the HTTPS secure protocol so that your site can a get a little boost in the SERPs
- Optimizing images for size
- Optimizing images with relevant keywords in the captions and alt text
- Improving page speed with content delivery networks (CDNs)
- Adding relevant header tags that include keywords
- Refreshing old content with new info
- Sprinkling relevant keywords throughout the content but not to the extent that it looks like “keyword stuffing”
- Using latent semantic indexing (LSI) or concepts similar to your keyword so that the search bots get a better impression of the nature of the content
Examples of Off-Page SEO:
- Creating a natural backlink profile from quality websites
- Sharing your content on social media
- Gaining attention from influential people in your domain
- Guest posting
- Engaging in influencer marketing
SEO vs. SEM: What’s Organic Traffic?
Organic traffic is traffic you receive for free from the search engines. You get organic traffic with SEO.
SEO vs. SEM: What Is Paid Search?
You can pay one or more of the search engines to list your site in the results list. That’s called paid search.
How Does Paid Search Work With SEM?
If you’re interested in running a paid search campaign, here are the steps you’ll have to follow:
- Create an account – Start by creating an ad on an ad network. You’ll need to provide complete information about your business and how you’ll pay for your ads.
- Select your keywords – You’ll run ads based on keywords. When people search for those keywords, they’ll see your ad. That’s why it’s important to select only keywords relevant to your niche.
- Bid for the keywords – Unless your keywords are very unique, you’ll be competing with other advertisers for ad space. That’s why you need to bid high enough so that people see your ad, but not so high that you limit your ROI.
- Set a headline and description – Since your ad will show in the search results, you’ll have limited characters for both the headline and description. Use the space wisely.
- Set your budget – Most advertising platforms let you set a periodic budget so you don’t have to deal with cost overruns.
- Launch your campaign – Once everything is set up, launch your campaign with just the click of a button.
Popular Search Engine Ad Networks
- Google Ads – allows you to run ads on Google search results
- Bing Ads – allows you to run ads on Bing search results
Currently, Google Ads is the second most popular ad technology in the world. Bing Ads is the 10th most popular ad technology.
Difference Between SEO and SEM: What’s PPC?
Search ad networks generally use a pay-per-click (PPC) payment structure. That means you only pay when somebody clicks on your ad.
The advantage to PPC over paying for “space” is that you’re only making an investment when your ad gets results.
Remember, though, just because people click on your ad, that doesn’t mean they’re going to convert once they get your landing page. It’s up to you to use your marketing prowess at that point to convince visitors to take the action you want them to take.
Where Does the Ad Appear?
If you’re thinking about running an ad on a search engine, you certainly want to know where it will appear. The answer is: it depends.
Google Ads – Your ad will show at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) but not necessarily on the first page. Keep in mind that there are 3 spaces at the top of the SERPs. If you want your ad to appear at the top of the first page, you’ll need an Ad Rank better than your competitors.
Bind Ads – Bing ads includes ads at the top and on the sidebar. As you can imagine, ads at the top are more expensive.
Difference Between SEO and SEM: Google Ads Ad Rank
Google ranks ads and uses that rank to determine where they’re shown in the SERPs. An ad with a rank of 1 will appear at the top of the first page.
Here’s what determines your ad rank:
- Bid
- Expected click-through rate (CTR)
- Ad relevance to keyword
- Landing page experience
If you want to improve your ad rank, here’s what you can do:
- Increase your bid
- Improve the quality of your ad
- Improve the quality of the landing page user experience
Learn more about how pay per click marketing works.
Which Is Better? SEO vs SEM?
Now that you know the difference between SEO and SEM, you might be asking: “Which one is better?”
The answer to that depends on your overall strategy and budget.
- If you’re running a startup and bootstrapping, you probably won’t have a lot of money for paid search
- If your business has plenty of cash and a narrowly defined target market, you might benefit from paid search
In this day and age, all businesses need SEO. That’s no longer an option.
Difference Between SEO and SEM: Paid Search Advantages:
- Instant web traffic unlike SEO which takes a long time to get results
- Guaranteed visibility that boost brand-name awareness
- You can start with a small budget and increase it as your business grows
Difference Between SEO and SEM: Paid Search Disadvantages:
- There’s a steep learning curve involved in paid search campaigns
- It will cost you additional money if you decide to outsource
- Usually, large businesses see the best results because they have the money to invest in PPC
- Lots of testing required to see which ad performs best
- Requires constant monitoring and updates
- You could lose a lot of money if you don’t do PPC correctly
Difference Between SEO and SEM: SEO Advantages
- Although it takes a long time to get results, it establishes organic search credibility
- Usually inexpensive relative to SEM
- It can be less expensive in the long run
- People will view your site as an authority in your space when it ranks highly for relevant search terms
- Once you do get results, they tend to last for a long time
Difference Between SEO and SEM: SEO Disadvantages
- It takes a long time to get results
- It still requires an investment in time and money
- You’re at the mercy of search engine algorithms
- It’s difficult to get a high rank in a competitive niche
- You’ll need to invest in keyword research
- Tools and outsourcing can be very expensive
Learn More About The Difference Between SEO and SEM
FAQ Difference Between SEO and SEM
1. Why is SEM so important?
SEM has many benefits. Not only does it cover SEO in its entirety, it extends to your entire presence in the search results. When implemented correctly, strong SEM can:
- Increase leads to your website
- Increase visitors to physical locations
- Increase online visibility
- Offer precise targeting
- Provide trackable and measurable analytics
- Target users based on search intent
2. How can I improve my PPC conversion rates?
There are many ways to improve your conversion rate. First, you’ll want to reestablish your goals and A/B test your ads – your CTA, ad creative, timing, etc. – to see which version best achieves them. From there, you may need to make changes to your landing page to make sure users are converting once they get there.
3. How does Ad rank affect cost-per-click (CPC)?
When it comes to PPC, the higher your ad rank, the higher your CPC. The most you will pay is the minimum amount required to hold your ad rank position. If you want a high rank in the search engine results, you will need to budget accordingly.
4. What is the most important factor in an SEO campaign?
There’s no one answer to this question. The fact is there are many factors that play important roles, and will depend on the overall goals of your campaign. Common important factors include keyword research and selection, backlink profile, quality content, etc.
5. How does my Google Quality Score affect my PPC campaign?
Google’s Quality Score is based on a few key factors: keyword, ad text, and landing page relevance, as well as your historical performance. If you maintain a high quality score, Google rewards you with higher ad rankings and lower costs. So, the higher your score, the lower your cost per conversion.
Web pages.
It’s important that you include keywords in your title and description meta tags.
Backlink building.
It’s also important to get backlinks to your site from other websites with high domain authority. That’s because those sites will pass pagerank.
User experience optimization
Finally, it’s important to develop a website that offers visitors a positive experience. That means it needs to look great on all platforms (especially mobile devices) and present a UI that’s intuitive.
6. How do backlinks help with SEO and SEM?
Google looks for authority when ranking web pages for a specific keyword. One of the ways that Google determines whether or not a site has authority is by evaluating backlinks.
If major websites like The New York Times, Huffington Post, and BuzzFeed link to a site as a source of info for a particular subject, Google will pass pagerank to the linked site. As a result, that website will more likely get a high rank for search terms related to its subject.
That’s why it’s important that you build a healthy backlink profile from credible sites with high domain authority.
Because SEM mainly focuses on the paid side of search marketing, backlinks don’t carry the weight that they do with SEO.
7. What Are Some Basic SEO and SEM Strategies?
There are several basic SEO strategists that you should use to boost your search rank:
Keyword research
Use a tool like SEMRush to find keywords related to your industry. Then, optimize the pages on your website for those keywords.
Content marketing
You should also use the keywords you uncovered to produce high-quality, long form content. Google really smiles on “How To” articles that answer popular questions.
Meta tag optimization
Meta tags give search engine bots a little more info about your web pages. It’s important that you include keywords in your title and description meta tags.
Backlink building
It’s also important to get backlinks to your site from other websites with high domain authority. That’s because those sites will pass pagerank.
User experience optimization
Finally, it’s important to develop a website that offers visitors a positive experience. That means it needs to look great on all platforms (especially mobile devices) and present a UI that’s intuitive.
You’ll find some of these SEO strategies similar regarding SEM:
Keyword research
Again, a tool like SEMRush will help you identify the keywords you should be bidding on in your PPC strategy
Set a goal for your campaign
Are you trying to generate new leads? Increase brand awareness? Improve sales? The overall goal will inform the creative and placement of your ads.
A/B Test
Test, and test again. Test your headlines, text, CTAs, ad extensions, etc. to see which combinations produce the best results
8. Black Hat SEO vs. SEM: What’s the Difference and Why Should I Avoid Black Hat?
Black hat SEO is an attempt to manipulate the search engines so that you can get a high rank. It’s never a good strategy.
Why? Because Google is always on the lookout for webmasters who are trying to take shortcuts.
And the Big G is pretty good at uncovering all the latest “tricks.”
When Google catches you using black hat techniques, your site could (and probably will) lose rank. Then, you’ll have to start all over.
In some cases, Google might delist your site completely. That will be catastrophic for your brand.
It’s best to play by the rules. Produce outstanding, high-quality, shareable content and your site should rank well.
Though there certainly can be some questionable practices involved with paid search and SEM, it’s not nearly as common or as well documented as black hat SEO.
9. What Is the Difference Between Onsite and Offsite SEO and SEM?
Onsite SEO is the practice of making your website search-friendly. You do that by optimizing titles, descriptions, and headers. Sometimes, you also need to engage in a little bit of technical wizardry by tinkering with HTML or JavaScript code.
But it always happens on your site.
Offsite SEO is a strategy that involves taking action off of your website to improve your rankings. Usually, that’s accomplished with link-building.
There really is no such thing as onsite or offsite SEM, because all SEM by definition is offsite. All SEM ads run in search results.
10. How Does Social Media Optimization (SMO) Relate to SEO and SEM?
It’s closer to SEO than SEM.
It’s a strategy that’s designed to maximize your visibility on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and other social channels.
How does that intersect with SEO? Sometimes, social media content appears in search results.
For example, if you Google “how to fry an egg,” you’ll see YouTube results about a third of the way down on the first page.
Likewise, tweets and Pinterest pins sometimes appear on Page 1 of the search engine results pages (SERPs).
So it’s possible to optimize social content for search results.
11. SEO vs. SEM: Where Should I Start?
Where you start depends on your budget and your business model.
As a rule of thumb, you can expect quicker results with SEM. So that’s probably where you should start.
There’s a catch, though: SEM costs money.
If you don’t have a lot of money to spend on advertising you’ll likely need to create outstanding content and optimize it for the search engines.
Another caveat: if you do have money, there’s nothing that prevents you from practicing both strategies right out of the gate. That’s how you’ll get the edge over the competition.
12. Should I use SEO or SEM?
While both SEO and SEM have their benefits this choice boils down to timing and how quickly you’d like to see results.
For quick and short terms wins the best results may come from SEM.
For longer term and more sustainable growth SEO is your best bet.
13. What are some SEM strategies?
First and foremost it is important to make sure you have the correct keywords lined up to make the most impact.
Second, make sure you’re incorporating the keywords into your metadata, image alt descriptions, page title, product name, and more.
A third strategy is to use a collaborative effort between SEM and SEO to get the most out of each one.
Learn what your customers are searching for and how they are doing so. This will mold your messaging and targeting.
Lastly, make sure that the ad is leading your user to the right page which will most likely convert them.
14. What is the key difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a subcategory of SEM, or search engine marketing.
SEO’s main function is to optimize your website to it ranks higher in Google’s search engine results.
SEM includes SEO and also utilizes pay per click advertising.
It is through a multi pronged strategy that the best results and outcomes will happen.