Although SEO is a part of SEM, the difference between SEO and SEM is that the SEO aims to optimize a website to get organic traffic through search results where SEM focuses on getting traffic from both paid and organic search.
SEO is all about optimizing your site so that it can get a higher rank on search results. On the other hand, SEM involves other ways like Pay-Per-Click (PPC) to get search engine traffic.
If you want to increase your business’s visibility with an effective strategy, you have to have a clear understanding of how to compare SEO vs SEM and which is right for your business.
Key Difference Between SEO and SEM
- “Ad” Designation: The search result of SEO and SEM differ on SERPs. SEM searches include an “Ad” designation that SEO does not. Also, SEM results are shown on the top of organic search results.
- Payment: You need to pay search engines each time when a user clicks on your SEM. On the other hand, clicking one SEO result help you pay nothing. So, SEM requires a budget to show SEM ads on top of the results.
- Target Audience: You can target a specific audience based on location, age, habit, income, and more through SEM, On the flip side, SEO itself is not able to choose a target audience in search results.
- Impact: SEO is a process to be acquired over time. It may take months to implement a strategy to rank on search results. For SEM ads you can put your presence on the search results with just a number of clicks. In SEM, you’re in control. You can turn on your ad for more visibility and you can turn it off to stop showing your ad on social media.
- Testing: For testing purposes, SEM is better than SEO. How? Well, as said before you can turn SEM ads on and off that can be a great strategy for testing. This is how you can change landing pages, re-select the target audience, and revise the ad copy to test different tactics. On the other hand, making changes and keeping track of SEO changes take too much time.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): When it comes to CTR, SEO wins over the SEM. A few of the first search results get the highest CTRs. So, getting to the top can perform better than SEM ads. But when you’re not on the first page of the results, SEM can be the savior.
- Value Over Time: SEM remains active as long as you pay. As soon as you turn off the ads, the strategy is over. On the other hand, SEO strategy grows over time and provides a longer-lasting result.
SEO vs SEM: Which Is Right for Your Business?
Cost
If you want a long-lasting result, SEO can be the best marketing tactic. You can ensure organic traffic 24/7 if your website is in the higher rank of organic search results. All the benefits of SEO can be enjoyed in this way!
On the other hand, PPC can generate targeted traffic but you have to make a budget for it. And, the traffic disappears as you stop the campaign. Please note that- SEO is considered to be free but the time and effort it takes to get on top can cost an ample amount of money.
No fear! You can reduce the cost by hiring a professional digital marketing third party to get all the tasks done for you. Remember- getting a higher rank on search results is highly competitive and you have to invest in high-quality content consistently to secure your position.
So which one is the best? SEO or SEM? Although SEO demands the initial cost, once you get to a higher rank on your business-related keywords, you will be getting free traffic without spending on advertising.
Time
One of the major difference between SEO and SEM is the time they take! SEO takes a bit of time to generate results where SEM is an instant process.
So, when it comes to the fact- time, the better depends on your goal. If you want rapid trafficking your website, start with the paid campaigns. Don’t forget to start working parallel on search engine optimization because for long-lasting online success, you’ll have to rely on SEO, not SEM. Faster is not always the better but the better is that lasts longer!
Risk
Both SEO and SEM have risks. If you entirely depend on SEM, SEO and PPC can be the risks you have to stay alert on.
When it comes to SEO, Google Algorithm Update is the biggest risk. Several times each year Google updates their algorithm that affects organic search results. You can lose or gain rank during the updates.
If you gain rank, you’re lucky. If you lose, it will take an ample amount of time to find out what went wrong and how to get rid!
Advertising cost is the biggest risk for PPC. The CPC is increasing every year. So, if you become dependent on paid campaigns, your advertisement cost can cross the acceptable levels that can affect your sales and profit.
Hopefully, the giveaway has helped you learn the difference between SEO and SEM. After all, we’d like to state that SEO is a must even when you’re spending money on paid campaigns. You need both for longer success. Consulting an SEO expert before getting started is recommended.