Welcome to the SEO Universe
If search engines interests you, this guide will establish all the basics of performing search engine optimization.
This guide is designed to describe all major facets of SEO, finding and finalizing optimal keywords that will drive qualified traffic to your web asset, optimizing your website for search engine friendliness and painstakingly building a network of links and establish the popularity of your website.
SEO universe is complex and continuously evolving, the basics of search technology is easy enough to understand and there is a world of information, tips, lessons and courses available online to learn more.
The entire world uses search engines to find information on products, services, courses and just about everything.
Alternatively, you can pay bucketloads of money on various channels like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads, etc, to direct users to your website or use SEO to bring in the right audience- organically at that.
With strong SEO tactics, it is possible to attract organic traffic to website who are genuinely interested in your offering.
Different components of SEO :
SEO is built around strategies. If you have a presence on the Internet, it is impossible to be successful at it without SEO. These are the components that make up a good SEO strategy.
1. Keywords :
The first step to a successful SEO strategy is keyword optimization. Understanding how people search for your business is the foundation behind a good SEO campaign. Knowing the right keywords helps you drive targeted traffic.
2. Meta Tags :
You would have noticed text that describes a page’s content in your Google search results? That’s meta tag. It tells the Google and Bings of the world what your website is all about. In other words, it helps the search engine understand the page’s content.
3. Content :
Search engines are drawn to good content- like a moth to a flame. Creating high-quality content is not only good for you to delight your potential customers, but it also helps in SEO.
4. Backlinks :
Backlinks are quality links that point back to your site. Why is it relevant? When other websites direct their visitors to your site, the search engine algorithm thinks that the content is good. It inadvertently tries to push you on top of the search engine results. When you create great content, others will link your content.
5. Social Media :
It has completely changed the way that each one of us interact with each other. Even businesses use it to gain relevance with search engines.
If you manage to optimize these five components of SEO, analyze your competitors, invest time on on-page and off-page optimization, then you will be winning with SEO.
What is SEM?
Search Engine Marketing refers to paid activities that businesses do to stay relevant in the online space. There was a time when SEM was referred to as a combination of SEO and paid activities, not anymore.
Components of SEM :
SEM is all about paid ads and PPC campaigns. PPC stands for Pay Per Click where the advertiser pays the search engine for each click that links back to their website.
Difference between SEO and SEM :
With both the terms being used interchangeably, it can get confusing for a search engine novice. Let’s keep the explanation as simple as possible. When you invest money on getting on top of the search engine result with ads, you are doing SEM. When you increase the number of visitors to your website by optimizing keywords, creating relevant content, and using meta tags, you are doing SEO.
|
SEO |
SEM |
|
Your best bet for organic results |
Your best bet for immediate results |
|
Get evergreen results |
Once the paid campaign stops, expect no traffic |
|
Takes a lot of time for the results to reflect |
Get immediate visitors with PPC |
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Long-term strategy |
Short-term strategy |
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Zero feedback |
Get immediate feedback for your campaigns. Tweak them to get better results |
SEO :
Pros :
If your SEO tactics are on point, then you can expect a continuous flow of free and targeted traffic. More than 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine. It pays to be good at SEO. It gives a higher conversion rate and builds credibility due to the wide array of content you publish.
Cons :
The fact that SEO takes a lot of time to show results is a big disadvantage. It isn’t helpful if you are looking for a quick fix. You are at the mercy of algorithms that is unpredictable. Worst case, your website might even be penalized (only if you indulge).
SEM :
Pros :
There are tonnes of statistics that validate the ROI you get from paid ads. It is your sure shot way to get visitors to your website in a short period of time. With detailed targeting options available, you never have to worry about shooting in the dark.
Cons :
Unless you have a paid ads expert on your rolls, you will struggle without knowing the right optimization strategies. If your niche has intense competition, a rival with more money in the bank will take over dominant advert positions and you will be at a disadvantage even if you are willing to spend money.
Which marketing tactic is better?
This is a debate that will go on for aeons. While both of them are mutually exclusive (if you don’t consider SEO as a part of SEM), the content that you create for SEO can be used as a landing page too when directing visitors through paid ads.
SEM aka Paid ads are highly effective when you want relevant customers to your site for a launch or if you are looking to get immediate visibility.
While SEO takes longer to produce results, it will help you in the long run. When you create different types of content based on the customer journey, you will get the customer deeper into the sales funnel by building credibility.
SEO or SEM : Which one to choose?
The marketing tactic that you need to use predominantly depends on the kind of audience you have. Ask yourself this-” What are my business’ marketing goals?”.
If your business is in a highly competitive space, then paid ads would be the best option to generate immediate attention. If you are in a space where you want to create credibility in the minds of your prospective customers, then SEO is the best method in your arsenal.
Your SEO efforts should complement the shortcomings of paid ads and vice versa. When you have a marketing strategy that lets you get the best of both worlds, you can strike gold.
Conclusion :
If your business wants to be the best in the market, you need to invest both in paid ads as well as content that helps you get organic visits. You should have solid search engine processes that follow the right framework. SEO and SEM should work in tandem. While there is no excuse for not taking the time to devise a proper SEO strategy, even if you are on a low budget, we would still suggest you experiment with paid ads.