Combining SEO & SEM
I’m pretty sure most of you have heard of SEO or SEM, and some might even know what they are on a basic level. If you were to google either of these, results are usually ‘SEO vs SEM’. However, most people fail to see that choosing either 1 of it will not fully optimize their businesses. Allow me to share with you a little on SEO, SEM and how engaging both is the way to go.
SEO is an organic marketing strategy that helps websites to increase their positions in the search engine result pages (SERP) for selected keywords or phrases and gain organic web traffic. The aim of SEO is to attract relevant visitors to a brand’s website. Below is an introduction to the 3 types of SEO:
· On-page SEO optimizes each webpage to target a specific keyword and appeal to search engines by helping search engines to understand the content of a page and thus giving it higher rankings. However, spamming of keywords will be CANCELLED by SERP algorithm (e.g. Pandas, Penguins, Hummingbirds in Google) as it will filter out these sites and rank and place them at the very back of the SERP.
Examples: content creation, keyword research & optimization
· Technical SEO optimizes both the non-content elements and website as a whole to improve its backend structure and foundation. These improves users as well as search crawlers’ experiences which will lead to higher search rankings.
Examples: webpage speed, crawlability, structured data, site architecture, security, indexing, user & mobile friendliness
· Off-page SEO is optimization that does not take place directly on a website but is generating traffic to the website through means like link building and local SEO. It optimizes a website’s reputation by connecting it to other authorized high-quality websites. When a website is linked to a reputable brand’s website, search engines will deem this website as trustworthy, hence increasing its search rankings.
Examples: Acquiring high-quality backlinks from reputable websites, personal brand development, positive reviews
SEM is basically paid marketing strategies that help websites gain visibility in the SERP and drive relevant traffic in a short period of time. The most common SEM would be Pay-Per-Click (PPC).
Advertisers who engage PPC basically bid for keywords so that when users search for stuff that include these keywords, their websites will then appear as advertisements (ads) alongside other results for those search queries on the SERP. Of course, the highest-paying advertiser will then have the best placement for their ads on the SERP. In addition, these advertisers will have to pay a fee each time a user clicks on their ads to access their websites.
PROs & CONs (SEO vs SEM)
Benefits of using SEM & SEO concurrently to optimize website:
· On-going results
To succeed in SEO, it is time-consuming. However, once your website is optimized, you will see a continuous increase in traffic (given that you continue to optimize the webpage). This will then result in higher conversion rates. Combining this with the concept of SEM; when you use unique well-targeted keywords, you will be able to drive traffic to your website instantaneously. Hence, SEM brings immediate results while SEO helps to retain those results in the long-term.
· Increase Visibility/Awareness
If users were to see the same website appearing twice, once as an advertisement and the other under organic searches, they will hold the view that the brand is credible and establish the it as an authority. This also increases awareness for the brand. Thus, using both SEM and SEO together gets the website seen twice on the SERP and also builds authority for the brand.
· Optimizing well-performing keywords
Engaging in PPC campaigns allow advertisers to monitor the performance of the various keywords. They will be able to track the keywords that drive the most traffic to their websites. Once they have identified those popular keywords, advertisers can then target these keywords in their SEO strategies as they already know that these keywords convert well.
· Best of both worlds
Since SEO does not deliver results in the short run, while waiting for it to optimize, advertisers can turn to their backup plan (SEM). Advertisers can use SEM to fill the gaps where SEO falls short as SEM delivers fast results. If you do not rank well under organic search for the time being, do not give up, keep working on it. Meanwhile you can look to PPC ads to tide you through. Therefore, Using SEO and SEM together, advertisers will be able to ensure that their websites constantly have high-quality traffic as SEO will fill the gaps where SEM falls short and vice-versa.
To sum up, SEO and SEM are marketing strategies that businesses use to generate brand awareness and drive traffic through search engines. Most advertisers will adopt either of these strategies based on their brands’ needs and focuses. They may see some results, however the differences between SEO and SEM will start to be more glaring when they start evaluating the process and costs of each of these strategies. Therefore, I hope my post will change your view on having to choose either of the strategies, but instead, consider incorporating both SEO and SEM to optimize your website to cover all bases. Remember, SEO covers the organic search results on the SERP by improving content of website. SEM focuses on prominent advertisement placement that encourages users to visit the website. Both options can return positive results at different costs and time-frame.
Cheers,
Dayna.T
