What’s the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the process of providing value on one’s website so that it shows up higher in the search engines. SEM on the other hand stands for Search Engine Marketing and is the process of paying the search engines to place your website at the top of the search pack.
Now these two are not necessarily required for one to move the other, however, SEM does influence SEO in that it sends more traffic to the website which helps to increase the SEO. The more traffic a website receives each month and the longer that those visitors stay on the website, the better the Search Engine Optimization is going to be.
With SEM it’s important to have the right demographics locked into the ad so that you’re targeting people in the right ZIP Code and the right age brackets, and other different demographics, so that your ad will be shown to the right people at the right time.
When your website is optimized properly with good SEO, it does influence the cost that you pay for SEM because Google wants to make sure that it’s a good match for the traffic they send your website and will give cheaper ad cost to websites that are well optimized to the keywords. So they both work with each other and play together, but are not a complete requirement to do both.
It’s recommended that working on SEO is something that can pay off for the long-term whereas SEM is always a short term. When you stop paying Google to be listed on the search engines, that’s it and any value for the business stops and there there’s no additional benefit that goes on.
On the other hand when you do SEO you invest in creating good content and good back links that will last for the lifetime of the business. It could be 5, 10, or even 20+ years of value that you get out of your SEO work. That’s why it’s always encouraged to build SEO for a business and and not always just rely on SEM.
If you need help with your SEO or your SEM you can reach out to us, we’re experts in both. We specialize in SEO but we also do SEM and are Google Ad Certified.
If you need help reach out at our contact form located here and we can help you get started today!
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