SEO versus SEM: What’s the Difference?

By Al Sefati Jul. 22, 2021

In this article we dive into the differences between SEO and SEM and how both benefit your business in different ways. Our team of Digital Marketing experts use SEO and SEM best practices and data analytics to help you grow your bottom line. Ready to learn more?

SEO versus SEM: What’s the Difference?

If you’re reading this post you probably know what SEO and SEM stand for, but just in case, let’s review both terms quickly. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the process of optimizing your website so that search engines rank it higher in search results. Meanwhile, SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is the implementation of paid ads you see in the search engine results which often appear above the organic listings.

Google Ads is Google’s bread and butter, so Google puts heavy focus on it and give it preference by giving it more visibility.

Type of Google Ads

There are a few different types of Google ads:
1. Google Search Ads
2. Google Shopping Ads for eCommerce
3. Google Local Ads
4. Google Local Services Ads
5. Google Display ads

In future posts, we’ll go into each of these in greater detail, but for now, we’ll stick to the topic of SEO vs. SEM.

SEO and SEM can require different mindsets

Traditionally, SEO and SEM require at least two different types of experts. SEO experts often focus on optimizing a website and its content in order to grow the website’s organic traffic from search engines. On the other hand, SEM experts focus on creating compelling ads for Google and other major search engines, such as Bing.

SEO or SEM: Which is better for your business?

It can be hard to say which of SEO or SEM is better for your business, especially if you are a small company with a minimal advertising budget. In that case, emphasizing SEO may make more sense, but the challenge is that it may take a long time before you see any noticeable increases in traffic and business, especially if you are a start-up.

For most businesses, however, we generally recommend you use both SEO and SEM, as the combination provides better results than either option separately. This is because many users respond better to advertisements, especially those lower in the funnel, which means they are ready to buy or become customers. But there are also other sets of users who like to do more research, which means they bypass the ads and look at the organic results. For many businesses, especially eCommerce, organic traffic from search engines remains the most critical. Therefore, SEO campaigns should not be neglected.

There are other benefits of running SEO and SEM together:

● SEM can provide you with insights on what keywords to use, which also can be used to optimize SEO. You can see which keywords are performing better for your business by looking at metrics such as clicks, click-through rates, and conversions.

● If you are optimized for SEO, your SEM conversion rates also will improve if you rank organically for target keywords. This is because customers will have more confidence in your brand by seeing your organic results, even if they click on advertisements.

● While SEM can bring you immediate traffic, conversions, and sales, SEO may take longer. Still, once you rank for SEO, you will bring in conversions, leads and revenue with much cheaper traffic, since you will not need to spend additional money on advertising.

There are many other benefits of having SEO and SEM simultaneously, but in general, it is a better and more strategic move to have both.

Work with The Gig Agency

When you work with The Gig Agency, we will maximize the results for your SEO and SEM campaigns. We are staffed with experienced industry experts who use SEO and SEM best practices and data analytics to help you grow your bottom line. Contact us to learn more about our SEO and SEM services as well as other digital marketing opportunities.

Written By

Al Sefati

Head of Digital Marketing

SEM

SEO

SEO versus SEM: What’s the Difference?

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SEO versus SEM: What’s the Difference?