Both Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) & Search Engine Marketing (SEM) have a place within your overall digital marketing strategy, for different reasons.
Each can be run independently of the other, or at the same time. Ideally, a good digital strategy will utilise both forms of marketing, however, your industry and e-commerce capability may lean your strategy one way or another.
We have compiled below a brief description of what each strategy is, and some of the pros & cons of each method. For small to medium businesses (SMB), we believe that a website should have a strong SEO presence to provide a good base within Google and utilise SEM for short term boosts in traffic.
SEO focuses on achieving ‘Organic’ search results from Google. This means focusing and acting upon factors that will help your website rank higher in search results for given keywords, then result in click-through activity by end consumers. The ultimate goal is to get more website traffic across a range of pages on your website. This is a long-term strategy, as building a strong digital reputation takes time.
Pros of SEO
Cons of SEO
When to use SEO
When a website is first established, it is a good idea to perform at least 12 months of SEO activity both on and off-page in order to let Google know who you are at what you offer.
keyword indexing and Google search algorithms change over time, so additional SEO activity for sustained periods is also recommended thereafter.
Greater than 80% of buyers perform their product & service research online. Ranking well and being front of mind during the research and buying cycle improves your authority in your industry and your chance for more leads.
Organic Search visitor traffic are of a better quantity, quality, and have more relevance to your brand. They are more likely convert to a sale than obtaining from other markets such as PPC or Social channels.
Organic Search visitor traffic are of a better quantity, quality, and have more relevance to your brand. They are more likely convert to a sale than obtaining from other markets such as PPC or Social channels.
Keyword research and analytics can sometimes uncover new markets for your business that you hadn’t considered exploring prior.
Every element of an SEO campaign can be measured, evaluated and tuned to further improve performance. By constantly monitoring activity, your effective ROI can be determined over time.
Google Ads focuses on achieving search visibility by paying for ad placement atop of Google search results. This can be a highly targeted activity, thereby getting your product/service in front of motivated purchasers. The ultimate goal here is to get more website traffic to nominated pages on your site. These Ads can be switched on and off as required and is deemed more of a short term strategy.
Pros of SEM
Cons of SEM
When to use SEM
We suggest using Google Ads to boost traffic to your site during particular marketing campaigns or seasonal times of the year to suit your business industry. This is also useful when just starting out with a site to get some instant traffic, particularly for e-commerce sites.
As soon as a campaign is launched your ads start showing. Over time the ads can be finely tuned to your market. You can turn ads on at any time to increase visibility, or turn them off when you become too busy.
Google Ads allow you to reach potential customers at the exact moment that they are looking. This means you’re getting your content and ads in front of a highly engaged target audience, who are actively looking for offers like yours.
Reach the consumers that want exactly what you have right now. Google Ads can be highly targeted by keyword, time of day, day of the week, geography, language, device and audiences based on previous visits
Google Ads offers an incredible amount of control. You can control which keywords trigger your ad, the physical location of the searcher, time of day, day of the week and even the device type the user.
Google Ads is one of the most measurable channels you can get. An accurate picture can be derived of the incremental users visiting your site, along with the sales and revenue generated as a result of your campaign.
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