SEO VS SEM: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE AND HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT?
For those new to digital marketing. The terms SEO and SEM can be incredibly confusing.
Both have “Search” and “Engine” in them. You don’t “manage” the things you “optimize”… Fear not, at TINGIS WEB we have found an appropriate way to summarize the difference between these two distinct but very related elements of the marketing mix.
How, you ask? By comparing it to online dating of course. Analogies are often the best way to explain concepts to customers. And what better way to use it than to improve your online dating profile.
WHAT IS SEO IN A NUTSHELL ?
Search engine optimization SEO- SEM . In short is the strategy of convincing search engines to place your website at the top of the search results pyramid. And that consumers can see. Which, in turn, helps consumers get to your website. The traffic to your website that is driven there via SEO tactics is also known as ‘organic traffic’. Which, is probably the most valuable type of traffic. Because it is absolutely free and incorporates work and updates on your website. The thing that only guarantees that you are the best option for your target market.
The relationship between SEO and search engines is a bit like the relationship between dating sites and your personal dating profile. It is the website’s responsibility to match you with other potential love interests based on your profile. It is your responsibility to create your profile with the intention of being honest. To keep it up to date and have all the necessary and interesting information about your potential partner would need.
SO, WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEO AND SEM ?
On a website, there are a number of elements on and off the page such as content, meta titles, back links, internal links, etc. They are all taken into account by the search engines. They are all taken into account by search engine spiders to determine whether to rank a site for a keyword. In terms of online dating. Your best photos and interests are kind of like ranking signals.
The Google bot, or potential interests. It detects these signals and decides whether it will rank you on relevant search terms, or drag you directly in this case. If you have a combination of the right elements, you will surely find eligible matches, and the dating site will be able to do its job properly and help everyone find love. Referencing works the same way. It’s simply a matter of matching online businesses with the appropriate consumers.
WHAT IS SEM IN A NUTSHELL?
Search engine marketing used to be an umbrella term that incorporated both SEO and paid search marketing strategies. But over time. The acronym SEM has evolved to primarily represent the paid side of a digital marketing campaign.
SEM is a search optimization strategy that, unlike SEO, uses paid digital marketing activities. Such as paid search ads and pay-per-click (PPC), to increase visibility in popular search engines.
Google Ads is probably the most well-known paid marketing activity used in SEM. When you use a search engine, you will often find that the first two search results that appear have the word Ad next to them. Thus indicating that this website has paid for their listing to appear first for those specific search results.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF PAID ADVERTISING?
One of the main benefits of paid search is that while SEO is extremely important for a website. It can produce good results when trying to rank number one in search engines.
Paid search can guarantee this position. It is also necessary to take into account the dramatic increase in the use of cell phones . And tablets when using search engines. And with the decrease in screen size. Prime real estate at the top of these search results is worth all the more.
Going back to the dating site analogy mentioned in our previous paragraph. Dating sites also offer (like SEM) their clients the opportunity to have their profiles “boosted” on the site. By placing it above other profiles to increase visibility and matches, for a price.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEO AND SEM?
After all this, we must ask ourselves: what is the real difference between SEO and SEM? While one term focuses on earned traffic, the other is based on paid results. Fortunately, there are many ways to achieve that number one spot online, and while it’s true that the ultimate goal of SEM and SEO is search visibility on websites, the approach and tools they use to achieve it are not. The approach and tools in their arsenal are quite unique.
It’s the difference between having a good profile that immediately attracts users and a profile that gets a little visibility to ensure it is seen.