Online Marketing

What Is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

August 2021
Go Back

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are two perfect examples that although they sound alike, they solve different problems. But together, they can unlock greater visibility of your business in search results.

Before going any further, it’s important to remember that 81% of consumers now search online before deciding on making a purchase. Equally, they will turn to a search engine if they are looking to solve their problem in both their work and home life. When your target audience is performing those searches, does your business appear in the search results?

We know that 70% of consumers using a laptop or desktop computer, and an incredible 93% of mobile users use the Google search engine. When your customers are searching for solutions to problems that your business can solve, it’s crucial that your website appears on the first page of results. But how do you get there?

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING VS. SEO

Ultimately, SEO consists of optimizing your website and improving your keywords to generate organic results in search engines. By contrast, SEM provides businesses with an opportunity to launch a paid strategy and digital campaigns to promote your content in search results.

The ads that you typically see at the top or right of Google are the result of SEM. The strategy enables you to target audiences with ad campaigns and relevant ad copy that contains your carefully selected keywords. SEO is primarily focussed on elevating the position of your website through continually optimizing metadata, keywords along with building high-quality inbound links and backlinks,

Individually, SEO and SEM play a critical role in delivering value to your business. However, they share a mutual goal to drive traffic to your website. The desired outcome is capturing the attention of customers at the precise moment they’re looking to make a purchase or searching for service as quickly as possible.

DO WE NEED SEM AND SEO?

SEM and SEO should be seen as a dynamic duo that works better when they are used together. No matter how much money you throw at SEM, it will be the quality of your SEO strategy that will affect its performance. Your ads must align with the search queries and keywords of your targeted customers.

SEO is your solid foundation for building relevant content aimed at your target audience who are searching for products or services from businesses like yours. Remember, organic traffic is free, and the best way to determine what does and what doesn’t resonate with your audience. These insights will enable you to level up and confidently run your SEM campaigns.

Although there is an argument that you don’t need both SEM and SEO, you will undoubtedly secure more attention, leads, and sales if you successfully implement both. The ability to extend your reach to a global audience and increase your brand’s visibility to connect with your perfect customers cannot be ignored.

BETTER TOGETHER

Together, SEO and SEM will give you more bang for your buck while also dramatically increasing your brand’s visibility. As time progresses, free traffic from SEO will help you rise up the rankings with keywords in your niche. Paid SEM searches can then be used to supplement SEO traffic and boost lower-ranking pages on your site.

A combination of SEO and SEM will also help you control the messages that your potential new customers will receive. Paid ads can provide a perfectly timed boost for promotions, while SEO content can attract customers who are actively searching for your brand online.

If you take a step back from the buzzwords, it’s merely about meeting your customers online and providing them with the information they need at the exact moment that they need it. Together SEM and SEO will help new customers build a relationship with your brand.

SEO will consume large amounts of your time and patience, while SEM could hurt your wallet. But if you get the balance right, both will complement each other and transform your digital marketing campaigns.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN LAUNCH YOUR OWN SEM CAMPAIGNS BUT UNSURE WHERE TO START? CLICK HERE TO CONTACT…

Got a project in mind? we’d love to hear from you

Let's chat