Understanding the differences between SEO and SEM is crucial for businesses aiming to build an effective online marketing strategy.
If you’re someone whose focus is on career advancement, you’ll know there’s a couple of things that will get you noticed by those who can help you achieve your aspirations.
A consistent, high-quality of work is essential. So too is the occasional show-stopper like landing that big account, winning that award, or that stellar review by a big client.
The same is absolutely true about digital marketing. A successful marketing strategy must contain elements that achieve results steadily over time, and those that strongly and boldly capture a customer’s attention at particular times.
They’re called SEO and SEM, and in the world of digital marketing, these two acronyms often dominate conversations about improving online visibility.
SEO and SEM serve distinct purposes and require different approaches. Understanding these differences is crucial for businesses aiming to build a comprehensive and effective online marketing strategy.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the term used to describe all the technical things we use on our websites, as well as the content we produce, that ensure they rank highly on search engine result pages, primarily to drive more traffic.
Put simply, SEO helps people find you when they’re searching for what you offer.
What is SEM?
SEM, or search engine marketing, refers to marketing activity on search engine results pages (SERPs), and includes both paid and organic search engine advertising.
Paid search advertising commonly includes ads that appear at the top of and on the side of search engine results pages.
SEO vs SEM: Key differences and similarities
The purpose of both SEO and SEM is to drive traffic to your site, but each provide different opportunities and benefits and are used for a variety of reasons.
SEO is commonly used as part of a long-term marketing strategy, because it takes times to see results, whereas SEM is used for timely or short-term marketing.
A supermarket, for example, might use SEO to target customers looking for fresh produce or culturally specific food items, but then also use SEM to promote events or promotions.
Both SEO and SEM can provide valuable information about the behaviour and needs of your customers, the results of which should feed into future marketing activities.
SEO vs SEM: How to choose your focus
Although SEM and SEO are both usefully elements of every marketing plan, there will be times when you focus more on one than the other, and that depends on your business and its marketing needs.
Here are some aspects to consider when choosing your focus:
Goals
Is your marketing goal to increase sales in a particular area or at a certain time? SEM is for you. Are your marketing goals more about growing brand awareness? Try SEO.
Money
SEO is free, whereas SEM requires a marketing budget. That budget, however, can be managed by strategically conducting SEM at times shown to produce the best results.
Time
SEO is great when you can wait three to six months to start seeing traffic, leads, and online sales. SEM is more effective when you are running a time-sensitive promotion or when you want to see more instant results.
Resources
SEO requires ongoing, proactive management, whereas SEM has a shorter-term human resource requirement.
Competition
If your business sits within a highly competitive market, it can be difficult to stand out using SEO alone, whereas SEM can help you to stand out boldly.
Speak to the advertising experts
The most effective marketing campaigns include a combination of both SEO and SEM – the key is to know when and how to best use them.
Assemblo is a full-service marketing agency based in Melbourne, and we understand how SEO and SEM work individually and together to deliver the best results for businesses.
To find out how we can help your business with branding strategy advice, give us a call on (03) 9079 2555 or send us a note via the contact form below.