Whether your goal is to increase your search engine visibility by getting more paid traffic (Paid search advertising) or free traffic (SEO), both will benefit if Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or widely known as Search Marketing is used.

Although there are four different categories of Internet Marketing that you can use to increase web site’s traffic i.e. Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Mobile Markets, and Mobile, SEO Orange County and SEM are most effective when it comes to ranking your website. We will discuss the difference between SEO and SEM here.

SEO vs. SEM

Search Engine Optimization

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a subset of your Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
  2. SEO focuses on optimizing your website to improve better search engine rankings based on the relevance of the search terms on online searches.
  3. A good SEO approach involves good content for your website; drive more free traffic to your website to gain more customers and make sales.

Search Engine Marketing

  1. SEM involves other methods to get more visibility like Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising to serve millions of online users daily.
  2. SEM helps you target users of search engines through paid traffic or links.
  3. Clicks on a website from search results or an ad will more likely convert making SEM more valuable than any other sources.

Choosing between organic or paid ads can be a very tough decision for a website owner. SEM is very useful and best recommended if you are going to start a new business to help you drive immediate result because your paid ad will appear at the very top and bottom of the searches. SEO for a website is the best strategy for a long-time business. Web site with strong SEO strategies can definitely bring in a much higher Return on Investment (ROI).

Although both SEO and SEM aim to increase visibility in search engines and drive significant traffic gains, one thing to take a look is the huge difference in click-through rates between paid ads and organic searches.

Grow your local business online! For SEO Orange County and other online marketing strategies needed to drive search engine traffic, call us at 1 (888) 375 3058.