SEO vs. SEM: Choosing the Right Strategies for Your Business Growth
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the method to improve the quantity, quality, and visibility of organic traffic for your web page or website in search engines. SEO’s goal is to optimize organic traffic rather than paid traffic. SEO focuses on organic traffic and provides sustainable value, trustworthiness, and cost-effectiveness.
Whereas,
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a process of increasing the website's visibility in search engines through paid advertising. It is working as internet advertising to get organic and paid traffic at the same time. SEM provides quick results, better data, and testable experiences.
The distinct feature between Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Overview for SEO
Search engine optimization is essential for the business to
achieve its targeted goals in the long run. Like;
- Bring
organic traffic
- Increase
Brand Awareness
- Cost-effective
for business
- Ahead
of competition
- Build
trust
Google ranks websites according to different criteria major from
them are; On-page SEO, off-page SEO, user interaction signals, and technical
SEO.
a)
On-page
SEO:
On-page SEO is the process
of optimizing different parts of a website to attract organic traffic. It
includes all the activities that take place internally on website pages for
ranking improvement. Search engines analyze various on-page strategies to
verify whether a certain website is useful for users or has the potential to
fulfill users' search intent demand. Besides, if the search engine finds it
beneficial then the website enjoys top position ranking. Its strategy includes
keyword usage in Meta tags, title tags, and website URLs. It provides benefits
like; cheap and powerful marketing, permanent value, time saving, improved CTR,
page speed, and leveraging long tail keywords.
b)
Off-page SEO:
Off-page SEO is the process of activities that take place
outside the website to improve ranking in search engines. It is considered the
most effective SEO strategy to get the status of expertise, authority, and
trustworthiness (E-A-T) among users. Common off-page SEO activities include
increasing brand search and engagement, building quality backlinks, content
marketing, reviews, and shares on social media platforms. It provides benefits
like; enhanced website exposure, high search engine ranking, multiple domain
referrals, increased visibility, offline relationships, optimized internal
structure, boosted website influence, and engaging visual content.
c)
Technical SEO:
Technical SEO is the process of optimizing page ranking focusing
on the activities through which search engines crawl, index, find, and
understand websites properly. Its main goal is to attain visibility and
higher-ranking positions. Activities may involve SEO-friendly site structure,
providing a sitemap to Google, improving website speed, finding and fixing
duplicate content, and creating a mobile-friendly website. If the content on
the website is not accessible to search engines then it creates difficulty in
ranking whether content is useful or not. Therefore, it results in a smaller
amount of traffic and poor potential revenue for business. For the betterment
of technical SEO strategies, the following factors must be taken into account
JavaScript, XML site maps, site architecture, URL structure, thin and duplicate
content, canonical tags, 404 pages, and 301 redirects.
d)
User Interaction Signals:
User interaction signals are the behavioral patterns of
different users that search engines like Google analyze to rank websites in
search results. Major user signals include click-through rate (CTR) and bounce
rate (BR). CTR is the estimate for how many times different users click on your
website page to appear in SERPs. Websites that have appealing snippet and the
top position in search result have a tendency to grasp more users and with high
click-through rate Google consider website appropriate for user queries and
improve ranking. Bounce rate is the estimate for users that click on website
links that appear in search results and subsequently click back to Google
again. A higher bounce rate implies to search engines that users are not able
to find answers to their specific query hence, resulting in low ranking
positions. A bounce rate high value is sometimes taken as positive so that the
user can find the answer to their query quickly. There is a need to keep on
checking the bouncing rate and its cause to correct timely.
Overview for SEM
SEO comes under the umbrella of SEM therefore, all the features
described above must be fulfilled for SEM as well. Search engine marketing also
includes PPC which has its unique feature that needs to be understood for the
development of successful business growth strategies.
a) Bidding:
Bidding in SEM is the process of setting the minimum price that
you want to pay for every click on your ads. Strategies depend upon the
platform that you want to choose like Bing or Google ads which can be manual,
automated, and controlled depending on various factors like audience, time,
device location, and keywords.
- Manual bidding: It is the bidding that advertiser can set according to
their wish and enable them to change rate at any time depending on
performance and marketing conditions. It is suitable for the advertiser
who wants to have full control and clear about their budget and
goals.
- Enhance cost per click (ECPC): It is bidding that is
semi-automated its rate varies according to conversions. For example, if
it is predicted by a platform that the following ads or keywords increase
sales then the bidding rate increases, and if predicted that ads will not
enhance sales then the bid rate goes down. This strategy is useful for the
advertiser who wants to optimize and wants some control over bids.
- Target cost-per-acquisition (CPA): It is bidding that is fully
automated and sets the bid rate to achieve the average cost for every
conversion. In this CPA rate is decided for conversions and the platform
adjusts bidding according to your budget. This strategy is useful for
advertisers who have a clear conversion goal and want to save time and
effort for bidding.
- Target return on ad spend (ROAS): it is bidding that is fully
automated it sets bid for a particular average return on ads. Specific
ROAS decided for every dollar spent on ads so that the platform adjusts your
bid according to your set budget to maximize profits. It is suitable for
the advertiser who has consistent revenue-generating goals and wants to
raise bids for profitability.
- Maximize click: It is the strategy that sets bids to attain the
maximum number of clicks possible under a set budget. It is suitable for
advertisers who want to increase brand awareness and traffic without
having a goal to generate revenue.
b)
Quality score:
Quality score is the measure of Google ads used to identify the
usefulness and relevancy of keywords and website landing pages to capture
higher rank, return on investment, and cost-per-click. It is the way Google
figures out that an ad is a good match for user searches. A combination of
click-through rate and lending page quality is considered by Google to
calculate the quality score. With higher quality scores ads discount are given
on each click. The quality score also improved with the optimization of SEM
bidding strategies that must align with the goal and budget of the campaign.
Here are some points that need to be considered while developing bidding
strategies;
- Select the correct bidding strategy: Google ads offer different
bidding strategies Businesses have to choose the one that is best to
define their goals and budget
- Modify bids according to the performance: once the bidding strategy is
defined, it should be monitored regularly to identify its performance and
amend if needed according to set objectives and budget
- Choose smart bidding structures: Google ads provide the option
to choose a smart bidding structure that uses machine learning to automate
the bidding process. It assists in increasing quality score by identifying
the optimal bid that represents users' intent
- Align bidding with budget: it is the other aspect of
increasing quality score. With a low budget, ads are not shown frequently
and a high budget is a waste of money. There is a need to choose that
bidding strategy wisely to attain optimal budget efficiently
- Optimize and test the lending page: landing pages are essential
for quality scores. They must be fulfill the needs of users and smart to
use. Google offers different tools to test landing pages like Google
Optimize, Google Page Speed, and Google Analytics.
c)
Ad copy:
Ad copy is the text advertisement that is shown on the search
result page, written to sponsor products and services and encourage users to
take call-to-action by ticking on the ad to visit the advertiser site. It
should be well written and compelling to attract users to visit the site because
upright ad copy increases CTR which means a great quality score and paying less
for more clicks. To develop great SEM ad copy following features must be
considered;
·
Use intentional Language:
® Use rich keyword
headlines
® Write to search
query
® Use strong calls to
action
® Use numbers and
statistics
® Build a sense of
urgency
·
Build site optimization:
® Compose for users, not
for search engines
® Define unique selling
preposition
® Improve lending page
® Use callout extensions
®
Use site links
- Construct
external resources:
®
Analyze competition
® Identify search
results
®
Use Google ad preview
How to Choose Between SEO, PPC and Both (SEM)
Choose SEO When;
- Have
Limited Budget: If
the business is a new startup or on a small scale and does not have the
budget for marketing then must be focused on SEO only. Although SEO takes
time to rank it’s better to not spend extra on ads that run only for few
times.
- Rank
for Informational Keywords: If you want to work with keywords that focus on
information like what is Y? Or how is Y? Then should focus on SEO because
informational keywords have high search volume.
- Worth
waiting: Content
marketing and SEO take time to join the competition, if you can wait six
to twelve months to get organic traffic then SEO is considered the best
choice for business.
- Ability
to Develop Worthy Link Building: Creating quality content is essential for ranking in
Google but ranking requires much more like building good links on other
reputed websites to lock website trustworthiness among users and search
engines.
Choose PPC when;
- Have a
consistent ads budget: PPC provides the privilege to set a consistent budget
for ads. Search engines optimize the best strategies to attain goals under
a defined budget. This means it requires a budget every period to identify
the best combination of keywords, landing page, and ad copy that is best
for you.
- Management
of AdWords Account: PPC feels very simple to process, only by bidding
on keywords to get traffic. But it is not as simple as much, managing a
Google ad account is art. To get maximum from ads many features need to be
considered like targeting keywords, return on investment, quality score,
and conversion rates.
- The
ability to test and launch a landing page: PPC required target landing
pages for every ad to provide optimal results. Therefore, more lending
pages should be launched quickly to get more, and a testing process must
be done to analyze the performance of different website pages.
Choose SEM when;
- Have
the ability to perform SEO and PPC: If can perform SEO and PPC at
the same time like developing content and running ads successfully then
choose to get the best from SEM strategies.
- Have
more budget: when
you have a huge budget then you can hire a team to manage both strategies
successfully and manage things more easily and quickly.
- Competitive
keywords: working
in a competitive environment creates the need for SEM approaches because
several rivals use the same keywords and chances to rank become high.
- Brand
Awareness: To
promote a new brand SEM is the best practice to utilize that ensure brand
awareness among people.
- Offer
product and services for a specific period: If a brand offer some
commodities for a certain period then promotion through SEM is great
because users want to take advantage of the products that are offered for
some period to avoid future regrets.
Benefits of hiring SEM professionals:
SEM services utilize organic search and paid search to develop
result-driven methodologies that enhance visibility among website traffic and
famous search engines. A strong digital marketing key component is SEM
services. Organic and paid search approaches when utilized together provided
meaningful business benefits and sustainable digital development. For an
enormous and growing business fruitful SEM strategy requires a refined strategy
and custom alignment to optimize ROI and expansion in digital presentation. The
following points must be considered for the development of SEM methods;
- Website
structure must be optimized for seamless trail to conversions, captivating
call to action and attractive Meta ads are essential to improve SEM
outcomes
- Comprehensive
analysis encourages to understand market trends and people's behavior
- Use
worthwhile keywords that have great volume and potential
- Strong
content must be develop
Integrated IT Solutions offers robust SEM services for diverse
industries. Our professionals develop verified SEM formulas combined with
quality content, site structure optimization, and in-depth keyword research to
achieve significant results for businesses. Integrated IT Solutions,
delivers the following SEM services;
ü Understand clients,
resources, and challenges to develop a campaign match with expectations
ü Provide professional
and experienced team services
ü Provide customized SEM
approaches
ü Keyword research
ü Campaign management
ü Ads designing
ü Reporting
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