Difference between SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Topics Covered in this article :
- SEO Vs SEM
- Difference between SEO and SEM in Detail
- What is SEM
- What is PPC Advertising
- What is SEO
- What is On-Page SEO
- On-Page SEO Activities
- What is Off Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO Activities
- Which Is Better, SEO or SEM
SEO Vs SEM
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – focuses on optimizing your website so that you get organic (free) traffic from the search engines. The main goal of SEO appearing higher in organic search results using strategies like On-Page SEO and off-page SEO. You get organic(free) traffic with SEO.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) – is a paid search strategy. In SEM, we get search visibility through paid advertisements on search engines.
Difference between SEO and SEM in Detail:-
What is SEM ?
SEM – stands for Search Engine Marketing. – In old days, SEM was used as an umbrella term, to encompass both SEO (search engine optimization) and paid search activities. However today, SEM is used to refers strictly to paid advertising.
In other words, In SEM, Digital Marketers purchase ads on search engines for gaining website traffic. It’s also known by many other names.
It’s also called:
PPC Advertising – allows you to target potential buyers through relevant ad copy and keywords that match their search queries. PPC ads show up in search engines (Google or Bing) results pages (SERPs) next to organic listings. Advertisers pay each time a user clicks on one of their online PPC Ads.
Google Ads (AdWords) is far the most popular search engine platform for hosting ads. Consider other opportunities, too, like Bing Ads.
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an organic search strategy. SEO is the process of optimizing your website for the purpose of getting free traffic from search engines.
Broadly speaking, there are 2 types of SEO:
- On-Page SEO
- Off-Page SEO.
What is On-Page SEO
On-page SEO refers to the factors you can control on your own website.
It refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized.
On-Page SEO Activities : includes
- Keyword research and placement
- Content creation and optimization
- Header tags, optimize title tags, meta description tags
- Images and ALT text
- URL structure
- Conversion optimization
- User experience
- And so much more!
What is Off-Page SEO
Efforts taken outside of a website to improve search engine rankings of website & gaining natural back-links from other websites
Examples of Off-Page SEO Activities:
- Link building
- Sharing your content on social media
- Increasing traffic from social media and other channels to your website
- Social BookMarking
- Business Listing
- Guest posting
- Classified Posting
- Press releases
- And so much more!
Which Is Better, SEO or SEM?
There are many differences between SEO and SEM, but the most effective way to grow a company’s online presence is with a strategic approach that includes both.
However, If your website is new, and you want to get traffic fast then you can prioritize your PPC campaign first as it can take a while for SEO rankings to become established, but don’t ignore your SEO during this process because organic SEO is generally the best marketing tactic for long-lasting results.
High-quality SEO is a foundation for high-quality SEM. Both have extreme value and should be part of your B2B inbound marketing strategy.