Francesca shares details about SEO &SEM – What they are, the key differences and how they work together.
Video Transcript
Hello my name is Francesca. Thanks so much for joining me for another quick marketing tip. Are you looking to improve your website’s performance on search engines but still don’t know the difference between SEO and SEM? Let’s break it down.
SEO is an acronym which stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of improving your site’s organic traffic to improve your rankings on search engines like Google. SEM, or search engine marketing, also often referred to as pay-per-click ads is the process of using a paid budget to increase your website visibility on search engines. While the two can work hand in hand, there are a few key differences that I think it’s important to identify to help you understand.
The first is paid budget. SEM does rely on a paid budget in order to see results, while SEO is a more organic approach to optimizing the content on your website to increase your organic rankings. A second difference is that SEM relies on third-party tools like Google Ads. For example, while SEO relies on your website and the content that exists within your website, a third key difference is that SEO is continuing to work 24/7 and it’s always evolving, while SEM relies on an ad budget in order to run. A fourth difference and this is a big one is that SEM can deliver results right away, while SEO can sometimes take three to six months to begin to see increases in your rankings for different keywords. And a fifth and final difference is that SEO allows you to build trust and establish credibility for your brand that’s not possible alone with SEM.
Many people ask if SEO and SEM work well together, or if you should just focus on one instead of the other, and the answer is they work beautifully together. For example, a key part of SEO is to make sure that your website is fast and user-friendly. You’ll need those for SEM as well, and if you don’t you’ll waste money on that click. Secondly, SEO is a long game that’s always evolving, but as you focus on keywords and continue to improve your organic rankings for those keywords you then can change some of your efforts on SEM to expand your reach and have a paid budget dedicated to things you’re not currently getting found for organically.
Thanks so much for joining me for another quick marketing tip. Be sure to check back soon.