It’s difficult to keep track of all the acronyms with so many. SEM, PPC, SEO, SERPs, and CPC are all terms used in Search Marketing.
For the time being, we’ll merely compare SEM and SEO.
What Is SEM?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) stands for Search Engine Optimization. Paid search is also known as Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. Let’s toss in Cost Per Click (CPC) and Cost Per Impression (CPI) for good measure.
When a user pays a company to broadcast their ad, this is known as search engine marketing. Google Ads, formerly known as Google Adwords, is the most popular kind of SEM. And not to be confused with Google Adsense, which is a completely other beast and the subject of a separate blog post.
Here are the main advantages of SEM marketing for Google Ads.
- It’s not difficult to set up.
- You can target a particular demographic.
- Results are visible very immediately.
- For A/B testing, it’s ideal.
- You have complete control over how users perceive your product or service.
- You can get your ad on Google’s first page with a few modest changes. Let’s face it, the loser in second place is the loser in first place.
- Even if the consumer does not click on your ad, they are likely to have seen it, which indicates strong brand awareness.
- By placing your ad on the first page, you free up room on the second page for your competitor’s organic listing.
Let’s take a look at some of the disadvantages of SEO.
- It is not free! You must pay every time a user clicks on your ad, whether or not it results in a conversion. This might significantly increase the marketing spend. Most small business owners are excellent at what they do, but SEM may not be the most cutting-edge tool in their arsenal, which is fine. This is something you might simply outsource as a small business owner.
- If you stop paying, your advertising will cease to appear almost immediately.
- Let’s face it, when was the last time you ran a search and clicked on an ad? Most people skip the advertising and go straight to the organic results (more on that later). As a result, there is a reduced click-through rate.
A screenshot of a Google list of sunglasses adverts is shown below. Advertisers pay to have their ads shown at the top of the search results page.
So, what exactly is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is the abbreviation for “search engine optimization.” The name itself is a little perplexing. We’re not “Optimizing” the search engine at all. Google does not require our assistance in doing so. Instead, we’re optimizing our own websites to rank higher on the Search Engines. So something like, “Website Optimizing For Search Engines” or WOFSE would be more accurate. Now you know why I don’t get to name things…
Every website owner aspires to be at the top of the search results page, so they invest a significant amount of time and effort into researching the best keywords or phrases they believe will get them there. There are a range of research tools available, some of which are free and others which need payment. In either case, these techniques are essential if you want to be on the top page.
Some of the most important advantages of SEO are as follows:
- SEO drives organic (free) traffic to your website. Who doesn’t like anything for nothing? It costs you nothing to have a user click on your listing all day.
- It lasts a long time and delivers value. All of that hard effort to get to the top will last longer than if it were just a sponsored advertisement.
- The rate of click-through is substantially higher. The majority of people, like myself, skip over the advertising and go right to the organic results.
So, what are the disadvantages of SEO?
While we frequently refer to it as “free listings,” researching all of the correct keywords and determining where the ideal spot to post them on your site may be time-consuming. Someone is going to have to pay for all of that time. If you’re a small business owner looking to save money by doing everything yourself, consider all the things you could be doing for your company instead.
It is not suitable for testing. You can see your results right away with sponsored ads, but SEO testing takes weeks or months to see results. Remember that your competitors are all attempting to achieve the same goal.
A screenshot of the organic listings for a search on sunglasses is shown below.
So, SEM or SEO, which is better for a small business owner? The solution is Both!