The world of websites may have multiple jargons or unfamiliar terms that many of us may not have heard of. However, in the world of digital marketing, it is important to know the acronyms, SEM and SEO. Though both of them may appear similar, not everyone fully understands the difference between the both of them. Read on more to understand the differences and how the search engine strategies go hand in hand.
What is SEM and how does it work?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is when website owners use paid search strategies to gain more brand visibility on the search page to drive traffic to their website. It consists of the use of a budget to pay for advertisements that are related to the searcher’s query. It is thus of utmost importance to select the right keywords that align with the content of the searcher’s query. The key to successful SEM strategy involves testing, analysing and optimising the metrics. To maximise your return of investment (ROI), it is important to measure and track the click-through with the website throughout every stage of the consumer journey map. Check out on how Mashwire assisted local boutique gym Fitness Bravo to generate leads with a SEM strategy.
What is SEO and how does it work?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of increasing traffic through organic search results. In other words, this technique aims to improve your website’s ranking in the search results page. Quality ranking of SEO results by search engines come from creating high-quality and relatable content and identifying keywords with good search potential. Technical specifications such as mobile-friendliness and site speed also play an important role in optimising the website.
How are they complementary?
As mentioned earlier, both strategies rely on the keywords to drive traffic to a website. SEO focuses on optimising for the best organic results, while SEM uses targeted ads to achieve paid results. It can only be complementary when the website’s user interface is SEO-friendly so as to achieve the best SEM results.
Most modern age consumers research online before making a purchase and both techniques should come hand-in-hand to achieve desired visibility in the long run. In some cases, your website may be newly-launched and a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign can thus be suitable if you are looking for short-term promotion or immediate results in a specific area. However, it is also important to ensure that other long-term techniques such as SEO are implemented. There is no one-stop solution but instead, brands have to understand the significance of each technique to craft the right mix to meet your objectives.
Evaluate to achieve better ROI
With SEM focusing to drive new traffic to a website, behavioural marketing derived from campaign data focuses on evaluating the customer’s online behaviours to drive customer loyalty and retention. Having this insight on visitor data into online behaviour helps to ensure that advertising can be targeted more directly. This is achieved by looking into the activities users are keen in so that marketers can retarget to their advertising campaigns.
Hence, there is a clear correlation that both search and behavioural marketing can be used to predict consumer trends and interaction with the website. If you are looking into a new SEM/SEO strategy or a holistic evaluation of consumer’s online behaviour on your website, reach out to us for a chat!
