SEO and SEM: How They Work, Their Differences, & What to Use

If you are a business owner, it is a must for you to adapt to the recent digital market. Moreover, almost 94% of Americans have access to the internet until today and the country become the third nation with the third most internet users globally.

It means that this is your chance to expand your business digitally where people are mostly active there. If you want to target them, especially the search engine users, SEO and SEM can be your aces. 

To learn how SEO and SEM help your business grow in the digital market and the difference between both, read the explanation below!

What Is SEM?

Search engine marketing or SEM is a tactic to optimize your website for search engines using paid and organic strategies. To get website traffic, you use Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) for paid results and SEO for organic results. 

You can blindly differentiate paid content from organic one in search results since paid ads are labeled “Sponsored” or “Ad” and organic content is placed under the paid ads without labels. 

The results can be instant and longer depending on what tactic you are focusing on. If you focus on PPC, the result will be faster since Google will immediately begin displaying your ad to searchers. Thus, you can begin increasing traffic in a matter of minutes.

However, if you focus on SEO, the process might take more time. In reality, out of 2 million keywords, only 22% of the top 10 pages were published in a year. But, it does not mean that you cannot rank faster because in some cases, you can rank under a year of publication. To open a wider and faster chance of ranking, you can target low-volume keywords. 

How Does SEM Work?

In general, SEM works in five strategies, which are PPC, local SEO, display ads, remarketing, and product or shopping advertising. It also runs in some strategies, such as:

1. Account Structure

Your company may better plan your advertising strategy and maximize your ad spend by using your account structure, which flows from account to campaign to promotion group to ad. 

2. Keyword Research

Keyword research involves finding keywords that are pertinent to your company and in line with your campaign objectives. You can make sure your advertisements are seen by the appropriate people by concentrating on the appropriate keywords and targeting parameters.

3. Bidding

What sets SEO and SEM apart is bidding. You bid how much you are willing to pay for an ad click when using PPC.

To optimize your return on investment (ROI), bid management entails carefully determining this amount. It involves striking a balance between making sure you do not overspend and having your ad show up high in the search results. 

4. Quality Score

Quality Score, a metric unique to Google, indicates the level and pertinence of your advertisement. A higher Quality Score results in better ad placements and a reduced cost-per-click (CPC).

5. Audience Targeting

Audience targeting is important to determine the specific characteristics of your target audience. That way, your ads can show up for the right audience effectively and you will not waste your budget on irrelevant ads. 

6. Ad Creation

Now that you already planned everything, you can begin creating the ads by producing relevant descriptions, catchy headlines, and vivid calls to action. You can also add ad assets that provide more information to users, such as copy and images. 

You can raise your company's chances of providing relevant ads that raise your click-through rate (CTR) by optimizing your ad assets.

What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization or SEO is the practice of enhancing your website ranking and visibility on search results organically. As mentioned before, SEO is a subset of SEM which focuses on organic strategy and results. 

SEO typically works to optimize a site based on users’ intention of searching for specific queries. 

The top few organic search results are more likely to be pages with the most useful and pertinent material and these are the initial results that users see. Not only satisfy human users, but your site must also satisfy crawlers to be indexed and ranked by the search engine. 

Some common ranking factors by Google are relevance, quality, and good user experience. Therefore, you must create relevant content that is also high quality for users and make sure that your site is navigable and accessible. 

How Does SEO Work?

Broadly, there are three key focuses in SEO, which are on-page, off-page, and technical SEO. Below is the detailed information:

1. On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing website content for users and search engines. Some common practices of on-page SEO are:

• Creating high-quality and valuable content based on E-E-A-T.
• Optimizing for relevant keywords. 
• Optimizing title tags and meta descriptions.
• Leveraging internal links. 
• Creating descriptive and clear URLs.

2. Off-Page SEO

Off-page SEO is all of the actions you do independently of your website to increase its exposure and search engine rankings. Some activities you can do are:

• Link building.
• Local SEO.
• Guest blogging.
• Brand mentions.
• Influencer marketing.
• Content marketing.
• Email marketing.
• Social media marketing.

3. Technical SEO

Technical SEO focuses on enhancing your site performance for a better user experience. To find issues on your website, you can do a site audit using tools like Site Audit by Sequence. Other than that, you can maximize the performance by doing as follows:

• Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly.
• Create a clear XML sitemap. 
• Utilize HTTPS to protect site and user data.
• Optimizing Core Web Vitals.
• Address issues and fix them immediately.
• Set up proper redirects. 

SEO vs. SEM, What Are the Difefrences?

You should be aware of the various distinctions between SEO and SEM before choosing between paid advertisements and search engine optimization. Some of the differences are listed below:

1. Cost

SEO eliminates the need for direct spending to attract visitors to your website. Instead, you can focus on optimizing your site for search engines, which can result in higher visibility. In contrast, paid ads require ongoing payments each time someone clicks on the ad, meaning you have to continually spend to maintain traffic.

2. Audience Trust

Many users trust SEO more than SEM, as they recognize that ads are paid placements, which can sometimes lead to skepticism. In addition, Google’s labeling of paid results with a “Sponsored” or “Ad” tag makes it easier for users to distinguish between organic SEO results and paid ads.

3. Target Audience

SEO tends to reach a broader audience, even if your business has a defined niche, as your content can attract diverse groups. On the other hand, SEM allows for more precise audience targeting, including specifics like age, location, and other demographic factors.

4. Click-Through Rate (CTR) Potential 

SEO often leads to higher CTR compared to SEM. Research from Advanced Web Ranking indicates that websites ranking in the top three search results generally see better performance through SEO. SEM can boost CTR, but only if your site is ranked highly enough rather than on the second or lower.

5. Duration

SEM can drive traffic quickly since ads are instantly visible to users who click on them. On the other hand, SEO takes longer to show results, as it is a gradual process of building organic traffic, leads, and conversions.

6. Sustainability  

SEO offers long-term benefits, as optimized content can maintain a strong presence on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for years, continuing to generate traffic with minimal ongoing costs. Yet, SEM is temporary because once the ad campaign stops, traffic and leads also stop, which can disrupt a business’s flow of transactions.

Which One You Should Go First, SEO or SEM?

Now that you understand how both strategies work and their differences, you may be wondering which one should go first. Ultimately, the choice depends on your specific needs and preferences.

If you need quick results in terms of leads, traffic, or visibility, SEM is the way to go. It is particularly useful if you want to boost your online presence immediately, especially in highly competitive search results.

However, SEM requires ongoing spending for paid ads, which might be a concern if you have tight budgets or are just starting. 

As an alternative, you could start with SEO and then incorporate SEM later. This approach allows you to avoid relying too heavily on paid ads while keeping costs lower. Since SEO takes time to show results, you can focus on generating organic traffic, leads, or sales naturally if you have the time and resources to manage the process.

Conclusion

Overall, it can be said that your objectives and timescale will determine whether you choose SEO or SEM. Even though SEM yields quicker results, it is not a sustainable company strategy because it will cease operations if financing is discontinued.

In addition, if you want a long-lasting and sustainable result, SEO can be your best option, even if you will have to wait months to see any noticeable changes. However, accomplishing both requires having the appropriate resources, including strategy, people, and budget.

You do not have to worry about the resources if you work with SEO Service by cmlabs. We will assist you in doing on-page, off-page, and technical SEO based on your niche, preferences, and needs. Discuss your needs with us now for free!