What is SEO and How Does it Work?
Before we dive into SEO vs SEM and which one is right for your small business, here is a scenario and question for you: When you use your preferred Search Engine to ask a question, how often do you check pages 4, 5, or 12 of the results? Would you click on one of those links feeling more confident the website is a better option than what you’ve skipped over in the first few results? Or how many times do you find yourself rephrasing a question into the search bar before you find the specific answer you’re looking for? Organic results from any search can provide dozens, thousands, or even millions of websites to choose from in under 1 second. Understanding how these results appear, how they are ranked, and how to better improve the likelihood of your website consistently appearing is really what SEO is all about.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to a series of ongoing activities that helps improve the overall search visibility of a website across Search Engines such as Google. There are numerous activities and opportunities available but these are never one-size-fits-all solutions. Yes, some fundamental elements can apply to any website, but the techniques and approach should always vary. On vs Off-Page SEO, Local SEO, Technical SEO and the various details of each are just some of the starting points for any SEO strategy and corresponding efforts that take place. These activities may include but are not limited to:
- Content writing & structuring of new or existing webpages
- Expanding the digital footprint by creating a network of quality backlinks
- Page and site performance enhancements for each device type
- Keyword research and positional monitoring of short & longtail terms
- Sitemap creation, review, and behavioural user flow
- Ratings, reviews, and overall online brand engagement
SEO is a long-term, ongoing process which focuses on both proactive & reactive efforts to increase the amount of traffic to a website for the search terms most relevant to the business. The results from any SEO campaign are not immediate. SEO is not something to set a defined start & end date and is not something which can be fast-tracked. It is never advisable to “just do SEO for a couple of months” as Search Engines are constantly evolving, technology is constantly changing, and what may have been a best practice last year is suddenly obsolete. Results do take a while to fully see the benefits and even then updates are never truly finished. SEO is meant to be ongoing, not a project, to help drive consistent traffic.
So if being discoverable for a wide range of search terms, sustained results positioning your website ahead of your competition, and providing the best user experience for new and existing customers sounds like something your business could benefit from, SEO is right for you. As long as your business has the time, resources, and patience to invest in this essential part of any digital strategy.
What is SEM and Why is it Important?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is about getting results fast. Advertising for a business is among the fastest ways to increase the amount of traffic to a website, encourage phone calls, generate form fills or emails, and even grow the amount of Social Media following a page has. It’s a pay-to-play space that can be highly competitive, however, outbidding the competition all but guarantees your brand will be seen online by the right people. There are a handful of ways to advertise online which can include:
- Google Search Ads
- Google Display Ads
- Non-Google Search or Display
- Social Media Likes/Follows
- Social Media Website Links
- Hyper-targeted or contextually relevant ad placements
SEM can have a defined start date and an end date either determined by the calendar or with a budget. Advertising on platforms such as Google will have your website appearing as one of the first results for any number of keywords being bid on. This will instantly leapfrog the competition and position your website at the top of the Search Engine Results Page. You can even run campaigns where a person doesn’t have to make it to the website and can instantly click a number or get in touch with your business with a single click. What you put into the campaign can be measured with direct ROI results detailing what was spent and how it performed, while offering real-time adjustments to maximize campaign performance.
So if your business has products to sell, appointment availability to fill, or information to share especially if time is important, then an SEM campaign is right for you. As long as you have the budget to compete alongside others within your industry and don’t mind results that are directly related to the campaign budget itself. SEM is meant to be a one-time or ongoing project to serve an immediate need to support traffic and conversions.
SEO vs SEM. How Do They Work Together?
SEO and SEM are fundamentally different in many ways. However, they complement one another in many ways as well. There may be opportunities where SEO is more important for one business to invest in whereas SEM is just a better idea depending on the vertical or market. There is never a clear cut one is better than the other in all circumstances with the exception of a few industries or extreme examples we can explore below:
- An Emergency Plumber utilizing SEM may make more sense than SEO
- Seldom would a person be conducting a Google search for an emergency toilet repair just out of curiosity. This is usually a real-time need requiring an immediate solution. If your website is Organically on Page 6 for “emergency plumber Hamilton”, you could invest in SEO, sure, but you are losing business to at least 50+ other website results ranking ahead of you. Use SEM and outbid them to get yourself among the top results
- For this particular example, if the emergency plumber provided non-emergency services such as repair, replacement, or sell parts through an eComm store, SEO would be a great investment for those secondary keywords without the urgency
- A Health Practioner investing in SEO may make more sense than SEM
- Many people prefer to read reviews, compare prices, understand the location, and get a better sense of what the business is like including its full range of services before booking an appointment. True, every dentist offers the same or very similar services as each would be equally qualified to do so. However, the personality of the individual practitioner, the range of services a Physiotherapist provides, or the reviews one family doctor has compared to another might make the difference in who someone books with. SEO helps ensure all of the different digital touchpoints are working together and a website can be found for a variety of search terms
- For this particular example, SEM absolutely would still benefit individual service practitioners. However, there are several reasons and ways someone might be looking for “back pain treatment” so bidding on this term can be an unnecessary expense whereas SEO provides several possible answers to a wide variety of questions
Having a strong organic presence online means your business is already generating consistent website traffic from a variety of keywords. Search Engines and people know who you are, trust your website, and you already provide quality answers to ongoing search queries. If you did want to advertise your website online, the cost to do so may be lower as there is already an established, trusted presence with directly relevant content and ways to convert. You may not even need to advertise for certain terms as your organic visibility is already strong enough thus creating more budget flexibility to bid on search terms you may not be as strong in.
Having a weaker organic presence, a product with defined seasonality, or a highly competitive space where consumers just want to make a purchase and move on, is a great opportunity for SEM. By increasing the traffic to the website, you unlock more data insights about your business and thus can get a better understanding of how people find the website when they arrive, and what they do (or don’t do) upon arriving on the site including the typical behaviour of a person between their point of entry and exit. This information can be achieved through Organic methods but is fast-tracked through Paid efforts which can then lend themselves to finding ways to improve the visibility and functionality of your website.
If you have any questions or want to get started on an SEO or SEM campaign (or both!), feel free to contact us today. Let’s find a way to work together to grow your business online!
