SEO or SEM? The best way to land search results

Odds are you’ve heard of search engine optimization (SEO) and its importance for growing and maintaining your brand’s presence online. Strong SEO is crucial for visibility on search engines, putting your products or services in front of consumers who need them. Less commonly discussed but perhaps equally important is search engine marketing (SEM). Like SEO, SEM strategy is a key driver of web traffic.

What are the differences between SEO and SEM, and how can each help your brand stand out online? Keep reading to learn more.

SEO and SEM are all about boosting your page’s visibility online. When used properly, each of these strategies will increase the likelihood that your website will appear in search results when users enter specific keywords. So what’s the difference between SEO and SEM? SEO has to do with steering users to your site organically, while SEM uses paid marketing methods to drive traffic.

Start with SEO

SEO or SEM? The right strategy will help your brand shine online.

Anyone can use an SEO-driven strategy to get attention for their brand online without spending a single marketing dollar. From optimizing the technical layout of your site, choosing the right keywords and creating detailed metadata descriptions, the tactics to help your site stand out are numerous—and free! Though every brand should

work to establish a strong SEO strategy, organic methods do have their limits.

To learn more about the basics of a successful SEO strategy, view our previous blog on the subject here.

Paid reach through SEM

Employing SEM strategies in addition to traditional SEO will give your site its best chance to stand out. Instead of relying solely on organic reach, use SEM to boost your profile through paid promotion. This typically means investing in paid ads. Some effective SEM tactics include search ads and display ads, as well as ads on some of the popular platforms such as YouTube and Google. These campaigns should begin with an optimized keyword search to suit your topic and help reach your target audience.

SEO vs. SEM: Pros and Cons

Though SEO tactics are free to deploy, they often take some time to yield results. An SEM-based strategy yields quick short-term results, but each click of an ad translates directly to marketing dollars spent. SEO is great for casting a wide net to capture the attention of a broad audience. Meanwhile, SEM gives you the tools to target the potential customers most likely to engage meaningfully with your brand.

Rather than viewing SEO and SEM as opposing tactics, a comprehensive online marketing strategy employs both to achieve maximum results. If you have questions about putting these tools to work for your brand, the digital marketing experts at TriAd are here to help. We offer robust SEO and SEM services that help our clients make a splash online and turn clicks into leads. Contact us today to get started.