In the world of digital marketing, you will frequently come across the acronyms SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing). While both refer to how to get your business to appear more prominently in search engine results, they are different strategies. In this post, we’ll go over the distinct nuances of both SEO and SEM and how you can use them together to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO improves a website’s visibility to drive organic traffic, while SEM combines SEO with paid ads like PPC to attract visitors. Both strategies help promote your business on search engines, but SEO focuses on organic growth, and SEM leverages paid advertising for quicker results. Together, they enhance your online presence.
Picture a Google search results page (SERP) as a layered cake: the organic results make up the foundation, while the paid ads (PPC) are the sweet frosting on top. SEM combines both layers—blending SEO’s organic strategies with PPC’s paid reach—to drive traffic, creating a perfectly balanced dessert for your audience.
*Thank you, Backlinko, for the only good mock search result example I could find to use in this poorly done cake rendering; I am not a graphic designer. I just work here.
How Does SEO Work?
I am sure the majority of folks perusing this blog know the basics of SEO, which is the practice of regularly optimizing a website to rank better in non-paid, organic search results. Google, one of the biggest and most familiar search engines in the US, uses well over 200 ranking signals in its spiderweb of an algorithm, so SEO can be broken into four categories: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, and user interaction signals.
On-Page SEO
As the name suggests, on-page SEO involves optimizing your website around keywords your target audience searches for on Google and other search engines. A very common on-page SEO practice is to include your target keyword in your URL's title tag and meta description. For example, if you're looking to rank better for “vegan carrot cake recipe,” including this keyword in the page title and meta description, as Love and Lemons does, would help you get higher in search results:
Off-Page SEO
Off-page efforts are more about gaining trust and authority signals from other websites and through your social media efforts. The best way to boost your online credibility is through Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T). This includes attracting high-quality backlinks and customer reviews, increasing engagement on your social platforms, engaging in guest posting, and participating in interviews or podcasts. As Marie Antoinette (allegedly but probably never) said, “Let them E-E-A-T cake.”
Technical SEO
This is where you ensure that Google and other search engines can crawl your website efficiently and that there are no obstacles to page indexing. Technical SEO also includes making sure your website loads quickly, adapts to mobile devices and has optimized website architecture. The easier it is for Google to go through your website, the better.
User Interaction Signals
How people interact with your website helps search engines decide how helpful your pages are when matched with specific queries. For example, if your web page has low engagement metrics, that is a strong signal that it may not be functioning properly, providing the right answer to a query (or not providing the answer quickly enough), or is missing the intent or goal of the user in some other way. If Google considers your web page a poor fit for a certain keyword, they will drop you in rankings or move you off the first page entirely.
How Does SEM Work?
Keep in mind: SEM is the big-picture term that includes SEO and takes it a step further by incorporating PPC. Everything we’ve covered about SEO so far fits under the SEM umbrella, but PPC adds a unique flavor to the cake with its own strategies, features, and best practices. With paid advertising, you can achieve faster, more targeted results than SEO alone, but it requires careful planning, ad design, and budget allocation to ensure success.
Some examples of SEM-based advertising include:
- PPC
- Display ads
- Video as
- Local service ads
- Social media ads
- Responsive search ads
- Voice search ads
- Geotargeting and location-based ads
Key SEM Features
Search Engine Marketing has several elements that make it very powerful alongside SEO baking efforts.
Keyword Targeting: Select and bid on relevant keywords, using match types (broad, phrase, exact) to refine your audience.
Bidding: Optimize bids for specific goals like lead generation to appear in sponsored search results.
Ad Creation: Craft engaging ad copy with strong headlines, descriptions, and calls to action.
Budget Control: Set daily or monthly budgets and adjust bids at the keyword or ad group level to manage spending effectively.
Audience Targeting: Focus on specific demographics, behaviors, or interests to reach the right audience.
Analytics and Reporting: Leverage tools like Google Analytics for detailed performance metrics and custom reporting.
Negative Keywords: Exclude irrelevant terms to improve targeting and maximize your budget.
Mixing and matching these SEM ingredients will create advertising campaigns that are as targeted, measurable, and cost-effective as a perfectly baked double chocolate cake. Plus, you can keep tweaking the recipe to sweeten your results over time!
How SEO & SEM Can Be Used Together
Both sections above mentioned one critical aspect of both SEO and SEM: keywords. SEO and SEM depend on keywords to steer website traffic, but the big difference is that SEM brings paid ads into the mix. So, when diving into SEM, you'll need to factor in those budget-friendly bids and ad strategies!
According to Statista, global online retail sales are projected to soar past $8 billion by 2027. With most shoppers turning to search engines before buying, building a strong online presence is more important than ever.
SEO and SEM are like the ultimate tag team, working together to drive traffic from both organic and paid channels. Think of PPC campaign data as breadcrumbs leading you to smarter SEO keywords, while SEO insights can sharpen your PPC game.
When these two strategies join forces, you’re better equipped to snag high-quality traffic and convert clicks into customers. With a site that’s optimized for search and ads that use the right keywords, you’ll have a better shot at dominating those search results. Just remember, SEO isn’t only about keywords—it’s about showing Google you’re the real deal.
Bake the Right SERP Cake with Beyond Blue Media
When deciding between SEO and paid advertising or a combination of both, many factors must be considered, including audience, budget, and your business goals. It can be overwhelming, and that is where we can step in. Beyond Blue Media has been concocting unique recipes for our client's marketing needs in Fort Collins, northern Colorado, and across the country since 2017, and we’ve got the ingredients to get you to blue ribbon status with users and search engines. To learn more about our SEO or SEM services, reach out to our team of experts today. We’ve got the oven preheated.
