Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are totally different from each other but they share a similarity which is they both belong to digital marketing technique. Both of the techniques are different from each other but people do debate about it, some say SEO is better as it does involve money and some say SEM is better because it drives fast results.
Search engine optimization is free, it does not involve any cost doing it, it is also known as the organic search results. SEO deals with the optimization of the website in respect to the search engine. Websites are optimized according to the search engine algorithm, the very primary objective in SEO is to rank the page higher in search engine result page.
SEO includes many of its own techniques like on page optimization and off page optimization to better rank the web pages. Whereas SEM is paying money to the google to shoot up your webpage and can generate more traffic.
Here are the differences which will better define which one is better-
- Cost – SEO works on the search engine and it demands the only optimization which do not require and cost while doing it, it is the skill which one should have whereas on the other hand, SEM involves the cost to shoot your ad, more will be the cost, higher will be the ranking. It includes budget, bidding, and cost to optimize.
- Time span – talking about the time, SEO takes more time as compare to the SEM as SEO is a time taking the process and it takes at least 3 to 6 months to rank a page whereas in SEM it do takes more time even it instantly ranks on the SERP as soon as the campaign is set.
- Feasibility – it cannot say that one of them is feasible for everyone, it depends on the business and its nature if you want to have a fast and quick result and you have a big budget to spend then you should definitely go for SEM strategy as it is quite fast and drives more business. Whereas in SEO it is time taking and requires a lot of efforts to complete a page.
- Keyword Research – In both of the techniques it requires keyword research as both works on the search queries. SEO and results both are shown on a similar page, ads are above the organic results and
- Algorithm – SEO works on search engine algorithm, pages are optimized according to the requirements of search engine whereas in SEM ads are optimized according to the relevancy and quality score matters.
- Reporting – You will get to see reporting in both the techniques, you can measure all your work and everything. Google ads gives you the opportunity to track user behavior on every page and track even your conversions whereas in SEO you can track through search console and google analytics what traffic you are getting through SEO activities.
- Traffic duration- Organic traffic from SEO is continuous due to brand loyalty that developed once but traffic from PPC is for short duration you get more clicks only when you pay more, and when your ad budget finish your ad will also be removed.PPC can bring faster results but only when you pay more once you stopped paying, results also stopped which is not in case of SEO although it is time-consuming but once you optimize your site on Google’s first page it will give traffic for a longer duration
These are the few points which one should consider in context of choosing the right strategy for their products. Both of them are good and have their own sets of profit. If we talk about long term results then SEO is the best way to target your customer but if you want a fast result then you should go SEM.
SEO is permanent and SEM is temporary, it is also been observed that most of the people do not click on the ads and they only click on the organic results. This is a major problem with the ads.
In many terms SEO is better than SEM for example you don’t have to spend any money while doing SEO all the thing you need that is skill and that all, you are ready to rank on search engine. SEO takes time but they stands longer in search results.