I was asked to break down Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization for a friend of mine interested in developing her small eCommerce website. I’ve mentored and taught a few marketing interns on the matter in the past, but as you know, the world of the internet is vastly changing and the importance for SEO and SEM is growing. Here is my take on the difference between the two and which is better for your brand and why.
First thing’s first. What is search marketing? It is related to any tactic that helps a brands website or content get attention by appearing on search engine result pages, think Google or Bing, other wise known as search engine results pages or SERPs.
Why is that beneficial? In layman’s terms, the better or more strategic your SEO or SEM tactics are, the more likely you appear as a higher rank via search pages for your services or products. Think the first page of a search result.
The average web user won’t go past the first five listings on a search engine results page (SERP). - Leverage Marketing
Having a higher rank allows for an increase in search visibility that leads to the potential to drive more traffic to your website and or specific content ultimately leading to conversions.
The two categories within search marketing, you guessed it, are SEO and SEM.
SEM – uses paid strategies to appear in search.
SEO – uses organic strategies to appear in search.
SEM: Search Engine Marketing
Think Paid behind visibility. From the set up of an ad to the optimization behind it. A marketer is behind the scenes bidding on key words, phrases, placements etc. You’ve might of heard the phrase, “pay-per-click” or PPC, SEM is where that stems from.
I was first introduced to SEM via Google Ads / Google Ad-words and building out campaigns for a business that offered services. To accomplish SEM - brands develop keywords and phrases around their content, services, industry, product etc. and place them behind an ad. When someone Googles or Bings something and then clicks on a piece of sponsored content, the brand is then charged for that ad click interaction.
My friend’s profile:
Chicago based, graphic designer selling prints of her digital art.
View her site here: http://www.whitneyleebell.com/
This is what we pull up when we search for a Chicago graphic designer selling prints via Bing.
You can tell which sites are using SEM behind their websites as the search results with paid behind them show up with the little “ad” icon next to their website link.
As you might be able to tell from the example above, it looks like the three companies who pulled in first are most likely bidding on the keywords , “graphic designer,” which is probably a common word combination for targeting creatives - which I take they pay a pretty penny competing for that space.
Note: Just because they showed up in my search for Chicago graphic designer selling prints, doesn’t mean they are the only companies bidding on the word combination. It’s luck of the draw, I’m sure if I were to do a search again, the websites would change to other bidders that are trying to get my attention. What you don’t see is websites all bidding for the spot to appear in my search engine in hopes I convert into an action or buy.
SEO: Search Engine optimization
Think organic behind visibility. Meaning no paid “ad” icon next to your content.
It might look something like this on Google. Notice the no “ad” icon, but they are on the top of the search query or located just under the 3 ads.
A great way to look at this is that these companies earned this position / rank. Think about the blood, sweat and tears that go into creating your content. With SEO, your brand doesn’t have to pay per click, but earned a high ranking that SERPs then place you near the top of a search.
You can develop your SEO in three ways.
On-page SEO: Optimize each individual page of your website to be search engine friendly and appeal to search engines. Accomplish this by using specific keywords within copy, titles of posts, and naming content correctly. On-page optimization helps search engines understand a page of content and then ranks it against other pages.
For example: Your website domain could be MoviesTheaters.com, but the pages of your website are selling feminist inspired pastel prints, like my designer friend. With the correct SEO around those prints via her website, Google or Bing will know her content isn’t for movie theaters, instead the SERPs suggests her page when a user searches for those particular styled prints.
Technical SEO: optimizes the non-content elements of a website. Think Speed of a page load, friendliness of a site or overall website security. The more user friendly an experience a site provides a customer or search crawler, the higher the rank. Selling merch? Make sure you are using a reliable eCommerce platform with a track record for security measures. Optimize speed of a sight with correct sizing of pictures and or videos.
39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load
Off-page SEO: Think building a reputation. By linking other high-quality sites via your pages / content, search engines pick up on your website as being trustworthy and reliable as well as reputable. With a lovely combination of all of those, your site ranking via search increases.
In all honesty, SEM and SEO are really similar in what they accomplish with driving website traffic. Both require a brand to know their audience, develop key words and require continuous optimization.
So which is right for your brand?
Ideally, one day you, you will do both. But my advice for small growing businesses, is start with what is in your control, a.k.a SEO.
Optimize your time with your website. Create keyword lists and phrases you believe represent your website, products or service.
Next - start small, re-name image files to represent the content it is supporting, add ALT text within the image codes (a great place to hide keywords). Make sure titles are in text form and not just within an image. Don’t just depend on imagery. Link and give credit to other sites often. Share your content off your website and maximize your social media network. Start a blog and keep new content flowing that is related to your service. Why? Because blogs can hold a lot of supporting content that interests your target market.
Once you have a good handle on the content you’ve worked so hard to create, then move towards SEM. Create a Google Adwords account / Microsoft Ads Account formally known as Bing Ads. Be unique and specific enough with your keywords / phrases. Look at your potential return on investment and decide how much you are willing to spend on a click and a conversion. What is the average of each buy or click worth to you? If you’re selling a product for $30 and the CPC is $11, it’s probably not worth the cost. Create a budget and commit to building out a few different campaigns that will speak to your target market. Maximize the analytics you are pulling from social and your website. When are users on your site? Then schedule your campaigns to go out accordingly. What is the most popular content? Add paid behind its visibility to maximize efforts. A/B test your ads and always keep an eye on those bidding numbers.
In summary, SEM is in the wallet, SEO is in the daily routine. Together they can make the dream team for any e-commerce business. I hope you found the above information valuable! Have some SEO or SEM hacks you want to share? Comment below.
As always, thanks for reading!