There’s no denying that the Internet has penetrated nearly every aspect of our lives. “Google” is now the first place most people go for anything they need or want to know. So what does this mean for you and your business? Which is better for your business SEO vs SEM.
Digital marketing continues to be one of the most effective ways to reach online customers and followers. Adapting a thoughtful digital marketing strategy is the key to helping businesses, both small and large, to grow. So finding the most effective way to achieve maximum optimization for your website is what you need to know before you get started.
This is where SEO and SEM come into the picture. So what exactly are SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing)?
Google’s search results are divided into two main categories: the paid search results and organic search results.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is focused on optimizing a website in order to get traffic from organic search results.
On the other hand, the goal of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is to get traffic and visibility from both organic and paid searches. (also known as Pay per Click –PPC)
Before even considering the pros and cons of SEO and SEM, most companies want answers to bigger questions, like “How much does SEM cost?” and “How long does SEO take?”
How much do SEM and SEO cost?
A lot of people think SEO is “free website traffic”. And you don’t have to pay when someone clicks on your site in the organic search results. But that is a mistake: SEO is NOT free.
It takes A LOT of money, time, and effort, and promoting your content (a good content can take anything from 12-20 hours of writing) along with email outreach to get that #1 ranking. Designing a website with illustrations, coding, etc also costs money. In addition, you may have to pay for SEO tools which are an ongoing expense.
Compare that with an SEM approach which is 100% PPC.
In this case, you’re spending cash up-front. But at least you know that you’re going to get some results from that effort. In the short term, PPC is usually cheaper than SEO.
The big issue with PPC is this: When you stop paying, your traffic goes to zero.
But with SEO, once you rank, you’re pretty much set. Your investment is all up-front.
To put it simply, pricing for SEM and SEO depends on several factors, including:
- Aggressiveness
- Scale
- Industry
- Budget
SEO and SEM have their differences when it comes to how long SEO takes and how long SEM takes to affect your turnaround time for results. Your SEM campaign may not deliver results right away. Instead, you may need a few weeks of advertising to improve your visibility and increase your conversion rates.
Which is better, SEM or SEO?
One of the main differences between SEO and SEM is speed. SEO takes time. Especially if, your site is new. On the other hand, if you focus your SEM efforts on PPC, you can start to see results pretty much instantly. SEO and SEM each offer benefits that your business shouldn’t ignore. Ideally, you should use both.
But if you have to choose only one choose SEO.
SEO provides a reliable and effective strategy for earning website traffic, leads, and revenue. Plus, SEO usually turns out to be more cost-effective than SEM, which mostly uses paid advertising.
When should I use SEO or SEM?
You should use SEO when:
- You can afford to wait at least three to six months to start seeing traffic, leads, and online sales.
- You want to use a digital marketing strategy that isn’t totally dependent on having monthly spending on advertisements.
- You have the time and resources to manage SEO proactively.
In comparison, you should use SEM when:
- You need to generate traffic, leads, or sales immediately.
- You want to have a presence in high-competition search results without waiting for too long.
- You have the time, resources, and budget to manage your ads weekly.
Overall, choosing between SEM and SEO depends on what you want and how fast you want it. You can take all the time and resources in the world to maintain a functional and polished website, but without a strong SEO strategy, potential customers may never see it.
Some people mistakenly think SEO is time-consuming, too technical, or not worth the effort. But SEO is one of the most effective long-term strategies for generating highly targeted traffic. SEO is most powerful when you know how to leverage it.
So yeah, when it comes to cost, SEO and SEM both have their pros and cons. This is why most businesses use a marketing strategy that includes a healthy mix of SEO and SEM depending on your business and goal.
