In the field of Digital Marketing, SEO and SEM are two different scenarios of internet marketing strategies. SEO utilizes efforts like availability of a creative and unique content and various other impacts of Search Engine Optimization whereas in SEM or PPC, within the SEO, some amount of money is involved to create an ad for a particular keyword, further increase ranking in Search Engine.
When the subject of SEO vs. SEM arises, some experts may argue that SEO is the best way to provide high quality leads at affordable prices compared to SEO. However, this is not so easy. Every business is different and its unique need. For example, your small business may not have a large advertising budget and it may also lack the resources needed to do effective SEO.
To achieve clearly what your business should choose and why you have to focus on creating a solid online marketing strategy that is in line with you. Because when you have the right marketing strategy, you will know what your target customer is looking for and also knows the best way to reach them.
It does not matter how big or small it is, or how old or new your business is. Finally, the important thing is to see what kind of viewers you are going and how you have reached them.
So let’s go ahead and look at the pros and cons of both SEO and SEM. Since this will give us a better idea of what to expect, and the channel you want to search for your business.
SEO Versus SEM
SEO is reasonably well-known, it is the ability to persuade the search engine algorithm that indexes your website and tell them that your webpage is most relevant to the keywords to be searched. For years, strong SEO is going to be the biggest strategy of each and every market man. But whenever you have become more efficient, search engines have become increasingly complex. These days, you just cannot customize and sit back.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Keep ads appearing above search results-that is already relevant to a specific keyword. This is more valuable as because sites like Google provide in-depth data about the performance of your ads. If you are not already using SEM, then consider making this a part of future marketing campaigns. Why here?
- SEO is unpredictable: The primary function of SEO is to increase your site’s ranking in the “Internet Search” results, hence, it is not ideal for lead generation. SEO or search engine optimization is somehow unpredictable – the placement of your website is largely out of your hands. You can work on SEO for a lot of time, and your site still may not get enough “real search” traffic. Search engines like Google and Bing should continuously change your algorithm to check that search results are not being determined or that sensible marketers are being tampered with, which makes SEO a little of cat-and-mouse games. But SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is firmly under your hands. Because you are shortlisting specific keywords and paying money for your ads.
- Leads via SEO aren’t clear-cut: SEO is problematic to measure as a lead-generation device because you are not able to ensure how many leads have come from your SEO efforts. For example, let’s think that someone visits your website and signs up as a lead. How do you tell that the person has found you specific related to their query on a search engine, or if he has searched for your site after hearing about your company from a friend? Perhaps the combination of these factors led the person to visit your site. On the other hand, measuring the number of leads obtained from the SEM is simpler.
- Being on Second is fine with SEM: SEM is one of the few areas where completion of second place or even third place can be advantageous as before ending. For example, let’s assume you have created an ad on Google. After one week, when using the keywords you choose, your ad is constantly showing in the second or third position in search results. If so, you can be forced to bid extra money to get that top spot. The fact is, search engine users will often consider clicking ads in second or third positions in search results because they will consider pre-placement ads.
- With SEM, the best Ads win: An SEM advertisement, more or less, depends on how well it’s described. Other factors include the offer or call-to-action to a customer looking for that product or service. You can tweak all those things that you want the customer to fit, and then change it on the basis of the lead you get. With utilizing the efforts of traditional SEO you get more control and more options.
The Advantage Of SEM Over SEO
For any new business or startup, PPC or SEM seems more supportive in appearing on the first page of search results with lower costs and reasonable ROI. If the competition is very low, then it can be very easy and relatively cheap to appear in the top of some advertisements, which increases the likelihood of viewing the consumers and can be clicked on those links instead of the organic ones.
Even SEM advertising for established business can still prove to be very beneficial. Unlike organic results, PPC can add some stability; to ensure that the companies are receiving a steady flow of visitors and are regularly appearing on the front page.
One of the major benefits of Search Engine Marketing is that the results are immediate. As soon as ads are clicked to go live, they can run qualified traffic on your website. If you are looking for your company to speed up the number of leads and sales, then SEM is a good choice.
It bring instant traffic even to a new website thus helps in its SEO also. PPC impact SEO in a positive way by bringing traffic from campaigns. Whereas SEO is unpredictable, No one knows when it starts getting traffic and when that traffic started getting converted.
Finally, even for the highest ranking companies, SEM can be beneficial due to its low cost and higher levels of exposure. Overall, SEM is a good investment for businesses as it has the ability to help ease, low cost, high ROI and businesses that have not yet been exposed to organic search results. Combined with SEO to create an SEM, it can increase the visibility of your website anywhere that SEO alone can do.