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The Difference Between SEO and SEM
Although SEO and SEM are essentially two sides of the same coin, they are made up of completely diverse acts and pertain to various facets of marketing. It can be perplexing for those of us who are less familiar with this environment when the two terms are used at times to refer to a comparable set of activities.
What distinguishes search engine optimization (SEO) from search engine marketing (SEM) then? How do the two relate to one another and collaborate?
What is SEO and How Does it Work?
No matter what aspect of digital marketing you specialise in, SEO is a crucial component that you should understand.
According to NetMarketShare, Google reportedly captured more than 79% of all global search traffic as of 2017, with the other major search engines trailing behind at 7% or less apiece. Hence, Google is the primary subject of discussion when discussing search engines in the context of SEO, but it’s important to keep in mind that Bing, Baidu, and Yahoo are still contenders (but barely)
According to Internet Live Data, Google receives more than 66,000 queries per second on a daily basis. (Note: If you visit the link, you’ll probably find that this figure was obtained at the time of writing.
How SEO Works
The technique through which search engines “scan” information to determine how well it will draw traffic is known as search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines will evaluate a website’s content (including keywords, tags, and link titles) and assign it a ranking based on how well it can draw in organic traffic from a variety of sources.
Some things that crawlers look for include:
Quality Content: Having great quality content sends a message to search engines that your website and business is delivering a legitimate good or service. Part of the way they assess you is via link building and keywords.
User Experience: Is your website designed for users to have a frictionless experience? Is it fast and easy to navigate? Can users meet their end goals (e.g.: making a purchase) with ease?
Link Patterns: Are you backlinking to authority sites? Where are your inbound links coming from?
Anyone can learn the basics of SEO and incorporate it into their digital sales, marketing and content strategy. And when you learn how to do it well, it’s bound to bring in more traffic. But learning the ins and outs takes some time and technical knowledge – for the most part, it’s a good idea to consider hiring an SEO expert if you’re looking to really make your website bring in conversions.
You should also note that it takes a bit of time for Google to recognize and reward your site – if your site is brand new, it probably won’t get “noticed” by Google for quite a while.
What is SEM and How Does it Work?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a descriptor that incorporates various types of paid search advertising. This is the type of thing that you’ll see as a Google ad and usually ends up on the top of a page list. Usually, this has to do with keyword placement and usage and that’s one way why doing it well can require some extra knowledge and strategy.
SEM is great for brand recognition as it means that you’ll be at the top of the list every time someone searches. It’s also a great way to bring in targeted traffic to your website. And because it has to do with paid ads, it’s easy to understand your ROI in a direct way – you are using paid ads and will be able to monitor the traffic on those and then create campaigns based on this information.
Drawbacks of SEM are that it does require some extra special knowledge and tools (like Google AdSense). If you’re not well versed in the area, you’ll probably want to hire someone with a significant amount of expertise like Bharat Go Digital SEO expert in Bangalore in web marketing and ad campaigns to handle this end of things and make it worth your while.