When we talk about online marketing there are two concepts that you will have read a lot about: SEO and SEM positioning. But do you really know the difference between SEO and SEM? If you have doubts and want to know a little more about what each of them consists of, keep reading.
Before seeing how SEO and SEM differ, let’s first see what each of these concepts means and how you can apply them in your online marketing strategy.
Definition of SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the set of techniques that are applied on a web page with the aim of improving its position in the search results at the organic level. We could say that SEO is the natural positioning of a web page in search engines.
Definition of SEM
The concept SEM (Search Engine Marketing) refers to the practices that are carried out on a website to obtain the greatest visibility through advertising campaigns in search engines. In other words, we can say that SEM are the payment results of the search engine. That is, the advertiser pays each time a user clicks on the ad in exchange for appearing in the first search positions reserved for this type of campaigns.
So, what is the difference between SEO and SEM?
After what we have just seen, it seems that the difference between SEO and SEM is clear. While SEO focuses on improving visibility at the organic level or naturally in the search results, SEM is based on advertising campaigns through paid ads on the results pages.
Below I show you a real example of the difference between SEO and SEM in search engines. As you can see, the payment results are shown under the label “Sponsored” or “Ad”. On the other hand, in the organic search results there is no label and are shown just after the payment ads.
Cost differences in SEO and SEM
As we have seen, in SEM a certain amount is paid for each time the user clicks on an ad. The more clicks, the higher the cost, but also the greater the chances that your visits will convert on your website.
This payment model is called PPC or cost per click or pay per click. That is, you do not pay for the times the ad is shown, but for the times they click on it.
On the other hand, in SEO we do not have to assume any cost for each visit as in the Google Ads platform, but this does not mean that it is cheaper. The work and time to optimize a website to position it naturally in the search results can be much higher.
In the short term, SEM is more expensive than SEO positioning. In the medium and long term, things change completely.
While it is true that in the short term a SEM campaign can become more expensive since you need an expert in Adwords, in addition to the cost of the campaign itself, in the medium and long term things change.
SEO is not one of those tasks that you perform on your website once and that you can forget about. The generation of content is a task in which you must work constantly to publish it periodically and that it is updated. In addition, the optimization of the website and updates are something you can never leave.
With what strategy do I get better results?
As with the cost or price of SEO or SEM, time plays a decisive role when we talk about results.
In the short term there is no doubt that a SEM campaign can help you boost the sales of your business. Your website will appear in the first search results almost immediately. The results of SEO are not immediate, you will start to reap the rewards in the medium and long term.
In the case of SEO it is different. Although we work on the organic positioning of our website we will not be able to get good results in less than six months. No matter how much you publish content frequently, your website provides a good user experience and is well optimized at the technical level you have to let time pass for Google to know it and start to position it.
This does not mean that SEM is better than SEO, far from it. In fact, once you stop investing you will disappear from the search results immediately. That is why you should not leave aside any of these strategies. It is necessary that you work together on them.
How to combine your SEO and SEM strategy
Both SEO and SEM are two essential strategies in online marketing and you must be able to combine them to achieve optimal results.
When you have just set up your own business it is important that you put your SEO strategy in place as soon as possible. The longer you take to do so, the longer the results will be delayed. Of course, while your page is not yet well positioned in the search results you can combine it with a SEM strategy. Depending on the budget you have, the results will be greater or lesser.
Once your website starts to position itself and gain visibility in the Google SERPs, you can use SEM campaigns as maintenance. In addition, for some keywords it is very difficult to appear in the first results, so if your ads are working well for those keywords you can continue to maintain them.
Can I do without SEO and focus only on SEM?
Although you see SEM as a good substitute for SEO, in no case should you do without the organic positioning of your website.
The conditions of the advertisers’ platform can change from one moment to another and your business can be really affected. Or even if your budget goes down or you have to stop doing SEM campaigns your website will disappear completely from the search results and this is something you should avoid at all costs.
That is why you should never forget the importance of the natural positioning of your website. You are probably not an expert. With the suggestions of keywords or content, the analysis of the SEO or the use of the virtual assistant, everything will be much easier than you thought.
In conclusion
SEO and SEM are two very different online marketing strategies, but using them together will help you optimize your results to the fullest.
It is important to remember that both SEO and SEM are not substitutes and none of these two strategies are dispensable, much less SEO. SEM will help you get good results in the short term, but thinking in the medium or long term, SEO is the only strategy that will help you survive online.
