Understanding the Differences Between SEO and SEM

In the world of digital marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing) are two common strategies that can help businesses improve their online visibility and drive traffic to their websites. While both approaches aim to increase visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs), they differ in terms of execution, cost, and speed of results. In this blog post, we’ll explore the differences between SEO and SEM and help you determine which strategy is best suited for your unique needs.

How do SEO and SEM differ?

SEO involves adding, removing, or optimizing your website with the goal of improving its organic ranking on the SERPs. This involves a variety of techniques, such as quality content creation, keyword optimization, implementation of meta tags and descriptions, acquiring high-quality backlinks, and regular analysis and refinement.

SEM refers to the process of promoting your website by paying for ads to appear in SERPs. This makes SEM a viable option for businesses looking to capture immediate attention and compete in crowded markets. These ads typically appear at the top of the results, can serve with extensions that encourage user engagement, and allow a more seamless experience. 

Different industries may require different SEO and SEM strategies. Businesses offering products that people search for daily may benefit from an SEM-heavy approach. By running ads, a company can capture the attention of users actively looking to make a purchase and encourage them to purchase from them instead of a competitor. On the other hand, businesses offering niche services may find greater value in investing more heavily in SEO. By optimizing their websites for specific keywords, the company can attract relevant organic traffic and establish authority in their industry. With SEO, the higher the competition for a particular keyword, the harder it will be to rank. In contrast, with SEM, you can still gain visibility for highly competitive keywords by paying for ads. One of the most significant differences between SEO and SEM is the cost. SEO is more of a long-term investment, and the overall cost of optimizing your website requires UX, Content Writers, and Web Developers. However, SEM offers instant results which can be beneficial to businesses with a limited marketing budget.

Do I need to run SEM if I rank first organically?

The answer will really depend on your marketing goals, search share, marketing mix, amongst other factors. While ranking #1 organically on search engine results pages is a great achievement (and should be a part of every companies digital goals), running SEM  ads alongside your organic ranking can still provide several benefits:

1. Increased visibility: Even if you already rank number 1 organically, running SEM ads can further increase your visibility on the SERPs. With SEM ads, you can have an additional presence at the top of the page, ensuring that your brand is highly visible to users. This can lead to more clicks and traffic to your website.
   
2. Instant results: SEO can take time and won’t always be able to guarantee results. SEM on the other hand allows you to accurately forecast the effectiveness of each dollar and change you make to your campaign.
3. Occupying more screen real estate: By having both an organic listing and a paid ad at the top of the page, you occupy more screen real estate. This creates a strong presence and makes it harder for competitors to gain attention. It also reinforces your brand’s authority and credibility.
4. Brand Protection: If competitors begin to bid on your branded term they will show up before your organic listing. Meaning a percentage of click share will be consumed by the competitor. Running your own SEM campaign around your brand terms will be the best protection against this, also your cost per click for your brand terms should be lower than your competitors cost on your branded terms.
5. Improved reach and targeting: SEM ads provide more control over who sees your ads. You can target specific keywords, demographics, locations, and even devices. This level of targeting allows you to reach a broader audience or focus on specific segments that may not be effectively reached through organic search alone.
6. Generating more clicks: With SEM you can cover a wide range of keywords. Users are more than likely to click an ad according to Larry Kim of WordStream “Clicks on paid search listings beat out organic clicks by nearly a 2:1 margin for keywords with high commercial intent in the US. In other words, 64.6% of people click on Google Ads when they are looking to buy an item online!” It’s important to note that the click-through rate (CTR) for paid ads is typically lower than the CTR for organic results. This is mostly related to the sheer volume of impressions that paid ads generate. This can heavily skew CTR data, for this reason we do not recommend using CTR for a comparison metric for SEM and SEO. Because a paid ad with a CTR of 2% might still generate more clicks than an organic result with a CTR of 10%, simply, because there are more people seeing the paid ad. Because you only pay for the click, the impressions numbers are secondary factors to a good SEM campaign.
7. A/B testing and performance tracking: Running SEM ads alongside your organic ranking allows you to conduct A/B tests and track the performance of your ads. With SEM you can craft ad copy that seamlessly matches what a user searched creating an organic feel to your copy by comparing different ad variations, headlines, landing pages, and calls-to-action, you can gain valuable insights into what resonates most with your target audience. This data helps refine your overall digital marketing strategy.

For example, if your company is educating the market about a product or service or you fall within a competitive vertical you need to ensure you serve in the #1 spot in order to capitalize on the engaged and impressionable users. SEM may be a good way to guarantee you are being seen by these users.

Do I Need To Work On SEO If I Plan To Run SEM?

Yes, If you want to get the most out of your SEM campaigns, you need to have a good foundation in SEO. This is because Google uses SEO signals to determine the ranking of paid ads. There are many ways that SEO can impact SEM: 

1. Landing Page Experience: Ensuring your pages are as relevant to the keywords you bid on is crucial and it’s one of the many ways SEO and SEM teams can work together.  Having a better landing page will impact quality score.
2. User Experience: SEO professionals can ensure that your users get the most out of their visit. Evaluating GA data, heat maps, and conversion rates for different pages will allow them to better understand the pain points that cause users to bounce and the ways they are able to convert.
3. Local Listings: SEM ads can serve the location extension which will pull from Google My business, so ensuring the business hours of operation, phone number and location are accurate is imperative for SEO professionals in order to help SEM teams.

Conclusion

Remember, the best strategy for your business would depend on your goals, budget, and industry-specific factors. Integrating both strategies can lead to a comprehensive digital marketing approach that maximizes online visibility, drives traffic, and ultimately helps businesses achieve success in the competitive digital landscape. Companies of all sizes need to ensure they are being competitive on search regardless if the tactic they decide to take.