In the digital marketing world, you may have heard of the terms SEO and SEM. Both strategies involve optimizing your website to increase your ranking in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). But while SEO is organic, SEM is a paid strategy, and that is where the difference lies. However, did you know that employing both tactics together will make a world of difference in your digital marketing efforts?
In this article, we’ll share more about SEO and SEM and how they can work hand in hand in increasing your online presence and boosting your business profits:
SEO vs. SEM
First, let’s take a look at their main difference by definition. Take note of the following:
- SEO: Search Engine Optimization involves optimizing the technical aspects of your website (technical SEO), writing relevant pieces of content (on-page SEO), and creating backlinks (off-page SEO). Its ultimate goal is to put your site and content in the top SERPs ranking for increased online visibility and site traffic.
- SEM: Search Engine Marketing employs paid tactics to gain online visibility in the SERPs. This includes setting and optimizing ads as well as paying for the ads display. This marketing form is often referred to as paid search or pay-per-click (PPC) marketing.
How they complement each other
While there are many ways to optimize your website and content to earn the top ranking, both SEO and SEM heavily rely on the use of keywords. This means that you have to incorporate certain words or phrases that your target users are more likely to type in the search engine field when looking for information, products, or services. This is why keyword research is very crucial to the overall success of your search marketing strategy.
With that, you can still implement both strategies in your marketing campaign. Whether you want to optimize your site for organic search and pay advertising networks to display your ads, you can utilize keywords that will work for both approaches. If your SEO efforts aren’t paying off, you can then use the keyword information in your SEM if it has a high click-through rate (CTR)—or the other way around.
Ultimately, utilizing both strategies hand-in-hand will give your site a greater possibility of ranking higher and increasing your web presence for your business’s good.
How they can impact the future business and marketing
There’s no denying that search marketing has always been the pillars of digital marketing. How can you market your brand and promote your products or services if your content pieces and website cannot be found in the first place, right? This is why the implementation of SEO and PPC has always taken grounds in the marketing world.
As the business landscape is ever-evolving and SEO and SEM rules are ever-changing, you can expect that these strategies will continuously impact many businesses across the globe. As early as now, you must implement both tactics to get ahead of the industry competition!
Conclusion
At this point, you now know the difference between SEO and SEM. Most importantly and have a robust idea of how to incorporate both strategies to take your search marketing up a notch. If it helps, you should also work with a search marketing expert who can help you implement both tactics. Not only will you boost your online presence, but you’ll also drive users into your website, generate more leads, and get the prospects converted into actual customers!
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