Many people often used the terms SEM and SEO interchangeably thinking that the two are the same. Although SEM and SEO are closely related, each differs in principles, methods and applications. To understand SEM and SEO better, take a closer look and find out how your online business can benefit from using either of the two or both.
SEM101
SEM or Search Engine Marketing involves a combination of free website submissions and paid search engine listings to ensure that your website reaches your targeted audience who are using search engines to buy products or avail services.
93% of internet users do not look further than the first 2 pages of search engine results and 33% of that percentage believes that a company found in the top search results are major brand in their specific product or service category. If your website is not found on search engines top ranking results, you will likely to lose a prospective sale or client.
Thus, SEM raises your online profile and builds brand awareness. SEM has also been proven to yield higher Return of Investment in terms of generating traffic to your website, qualified sales leads and customer acquisitions than any other marketing channel.
SEO Basics
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a cost-effective marketing strategy which typically includes keyword research and development, backend coding optimization, competitive analysis and industry benchmarking, website submissions and results reporting.
It uses specific techniques to ensure your website is found at the top of the ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ search results. By using relevant keywords, your website will rank higher on the leading search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Thus, Search Engine Optimization can enhance the visibility of your websites, attract more potential clients, target market audience, increase website traffic, maximize earning potential by turning leads into sales and achieve higher return of investments. These benefits can be achieved with lesser expenses over traditional media advertisements.
At the recent CeBit conference in Sydney, new e-marketing data was presented which showed that searchers are more likely to click on natural results. They trust the search engine to do the work to give them the most relevant results and they have less trust for companies that have paid to get to the top. This could only mean that, that websites with successful SEO are more appealing to the online community.
Nevertheless, SEM should not be considered as an opposition to SEO since both SEM and SEO can help your website maximize its performance. A carefully considered combination of the two is your best strategy in achieving optimum visitor traffic and online visibility.