It’s simple: Having a search engine marketing strategy (SEM) is essential for any business that wants to be found quickly and visibly online. Even if your website is aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate from a design and user-experience perspective, if potential customers aren’t discovering your site by search, your traffic (and consequently, your sales) will substantially underperform.
A healthy strategy should also include both search engine optimization (SEO) and SEM. The difference between the two is defined by whether you’re getting website traffic organically (not paying for it) or through a paid advertisement (known as PPC ads). SEO is organic and SEM includes paid search.
In an ideal world, a website’s SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns work together to attract new customers, boost revenue and increase leads.
It’s wise to take a comprehensive and multi-channel approach and honor every piece of your company’s digital performance from paid search and SEO to social or remarketing. Each contributes to creating an entry point throughout a customer’s digital journey with a brand.
Here are some of the strategic fundamentals of SEO and SEM every brand should know.
What is SEO?
Search engines have an algorithm in place that ranks web pages according to what they consider most relevant to the user. SEO comes into play when a marketer works hard on the backend to get web traffic as a result of free, organic search results. Because a business can’t pay directly to rank higher in a search result, it has to provide the algorithm with a reason to rank that page higher.
Blog posts and other forms of original content are one way to do this. With this kind of content, you’re essentially providing an entry point to your website, while also providing helpful information using multiple relevant keywords that are attractive to the search engine algorithm. SEO is more than just blogs, though, and involves keyword research and strategic planning.
What is PPC?
PPC can serve as an additional source of digital entry to your site. Users will see an ad for your product or offer on the search results page of the keywords your bid on. If they click on it, your ad accrues a cost. This is a form of paid advertising because you’re paying for traffic to your site.
Each channel has its limitations, but when SEO and PPC work together, it can be an effective digital marketing strategy. Part of running a successful campaign is allowing these various touchpoints to work together and talk to each other. Having a cohesive and consistent message will ensure that each touchpoint supports a bigger goal.
What is the best SEO and SEM Strategy?
How do you get discovered for what you do? Naturally, you want someone who is looking for your product or service to find you. However, we know that the internet is a black hole of websites, so simply existing is obviously not enough. SEO and SEM are all about strategically bolstering your brand’s digital presence so people can find you.
Before you begin creating ads or writing content, it’s essential to take some important steps to ensure that the customer experience is seamless. These include:
- Digital makeover if needed to ensure a flawless website experience
- Get familiar with search engine algorithms and the latest Google updates
- Seek out and implement a data reporting system
- Outline a digital PPC program
- Assemble a team of content creators
- Consider a remarketing campaign
Consistent reporting is a large piece of an SEO strategy. Knowing how to put together and deliver an SEO data report is one thing, but strategically responding to the data will allow your business to lean into improvements and get more meaningful results with each campaign.
While this may seem like an intense process to go through for an SEO and SEM integration, many marketing agencies have already done a lot of this work and can implement a new campaign quickly.
How to Find an SEO Agency
SEO is key for every brand with a digital presence, but some businesses benefit more than others with PPC. An agency can help do an audit of your marketing and determine what the best approach is for your business.
When you’re looking for an SEO/SEM agency, look beyond the case studies and really understand the numbers. You want to see enhanced results from a combined SEO and SEM approach.
Unless you landed on this blog from the Commit Agency website, you probably landed on this article from a Google search—our digital team made that happen! We can make that happen for you too. Just drop us a line!
