SEO and SEA: What is the difference and what are the advantages of both?

When we talk about digital marketing, we often hear the terms SEO and SEA. But what do these terms mean, and how can you use these digital marketing techniques for your business? In this article, we’ll dive deeper into these two digital marketing strategies to help you make the right decision for your business.

SEO includes all the activities you will implement to make your website score higher in the organic results of search engines like Google.

SEA stands for , also known as PPC or Pay-Per-Click. It is the process of advertising directly on Google and other similar search engines. When you use SEA, search engines display your business’s ads in search results above the organic results.

In the image below you can see how Google displays search engine ads (1) and organic results (2) using the query “real estate agency nyon”.

 

SEO vs. SEA

Both forms of digital marketing aim to attract more traffic to your website.
For SEA, you have to pay advertising fees, usually in the form of pay-per-click. SEA gives immediate results, but the results only exist as long as you pay for the ads.

In the case of SEO, website traffic is generated organically. This means that traffic from search engine searches is free and does not require a per-click fee, as is the case with search engine advertising. However, developing organic visibility takes time and effort (including investment in content and backlinking). You will most likely need to outsource this SEO work to a specialized agency that can help you achieve higher rankings and improve your organic online presence.

In many cases, SEO and SEA work best when integrated together and strategically aligned to cover both short and long term goals.

Difference between SEA and SEO

There are some important differences between SEA and SEO, here they are:

• Getting a good ranking in Google’s organic search results pages (SEO) can take several months, while search engine ads (SEA) are immediately visible at the top of the search results. Search engine ads therefore offer instant results in terms of website traffic. With SEO, this can take some time.

Think about things like the contacts’ relevancy to your target market, the data’s quality, and the list provider’s reputation when industry email list choosing an industry email list for your company. To make sure you are investing in a trustworthy and trusted source, it is imperative that you conduct due diligence and read user evaluations.

• Google offers less visibility with organic search results. For example, you cannot see with which keyword the visitor of your website ended up on your site. With search engine advertising, Google provides you with this information. With conversion tracking and the Google Ads system, you can determine which keywords are converted and at what price.

A user will always see the paid searches

• Paid search results in Google are mostly found at the top of the page. Typically, four ads are displayed on desktop and three on mobile. , even if they scroll down. Unpaid search results are sometimes not even visible without scrolling down the page.
• Unlike search engine ads, organic visibility and traffic don’t dry up when you stop paying. Efforts to build organic traffic and visibility are more sustainable than ads in the long run. SEO requires constant investment.

• With paid advertising, you can control your budget very easily.  It is important not to exceed your limit, because paid advertising budgets can armenia mobile number database quickly take over! We suggest you outsource your search engine advertising because an experienced professional will help you optimize your campaigns with a lower budget, allowing you to save money! Outsourcing your Google ads is often not only more effective, but also cheaper.
• With paid ads, you can target specific keywords which is also the case with SEO. However, ads also allow you to target locations, languages, devices, specific audiences based on previous website visits, and audiences categorized by interest e.g. “People actively searching for a product or service.”
• With paid search ads, you have more control and space to spread your business message. Ads allow you to highlight additional information such as: your phone number, business hours, business location, unique selling points (USPs) and more. As you can see in the example below.

Ideally, we recommend our clients to invest in both SEO and Google advertising (SEA), as both tactics have their pros and cons. An optimal online marketing strategy will benefit from both methods as they will complement and support each other perfectly.

• SEA gives you direct feedback on the keywords you are advertising on, so you learn what the intent is of people searching for a specific term. This intelligence can be used for organic search engine marketing (SEO) to improve results.
• You can test your keyword strategy in Google Ads, if it works you can use it for long term SEO strategy.
• You can use SEA A/B testing data in your SEO strategy. For example, you will find out which ad copy works best based on clicks in SEA.

You can use this in your meta descriptions.

• You increase trust and awareness among potential customers when you are visible both organically and through paid ads, so your website will appear twice in searches.

In other words, a unified search engine marketing strategy with both SEO and SEA is an optimal approach to improve short- and long-term results. Of course, every market is different and a tailor-made online marketing strategy, tailored to your business’s specific needs, will bring you the most benefits.

The two terms are often used interchangeably, which makes things even more difficult to understand.

It is important to understand the difference between the two terms and realize that they are different.

In this article, I will help you clarify this question with some frequently asked questions from some of our users.

What is SEM?

SEM, or search engine marketing, is a marketing tactic where a marketer optimizes and advertises their website to appear higher in search results.

According to Wikipedia ‘s definition , ” Search engine marketing is the process of increasing the visibility of a site on search engines, either by optimizing the site for specific keywords or by purchasing sponsored links on search engine results pages.”

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of increasing the number of visitors to a website by making the site appear at the top of the “organic” results returned by a search engine. SEM is considered an internet marketing action that increases the visibility of a site through organic search engine results and advertising. SEM therefore includes SEO as well as other search marketing tactics.

What is the interest of SEM?

While SEO is about optimizing your website to have a better chance of appearing at the top of search results, Google Ads advertising allows you to send adb directory promotional content to the target audience of your choice based on interest in a product or service (search terms e.g. “buy covid 19 surgical masks”). SEM allows you to have it both ways with content that is both optimized for better search engine rankings and demonstrates your offer in a simple and effective way. Your content is offered to audiences who are most likely to convert on your page (e.g. fill out a contact form).

Are sponsored links (Google Ads) the same as SEM?

You may be wondering, “If I can pay to have my website appear higher in search results, how is SEM different from sponsored links?” Well is a major aspect of SEM and refers specifically to pay-per-click (PPC) ads. However, the two strategies are a bit different.

The main distinction is that SEM is a broader strategy that combines paid search and SEO tactics. So, if you only consider SEA

 

Google Ads) and implement PPC advertising, but do not take steps to optimize the website for search terms, you are in a standard use of sponsored links. In short, if you optimize your site and its content for search with relevant keywords and then invest budget to make it appear on the search results of the targeted audience, you are engaging in SEM.

What are the components of SEM?

As stated above, apart from search engine optimization, SEM includes the use of paid search. Such as pay-per-click (PPC) ads and listings. Most of the time, SEM strictly includes PPC campaigns and activities, but if you are using SEO and paid search, it falls under SEM efforts.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

SEO is essentially a component of the broader category, SEM. According to  search engine optimization is “Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It also known as organic SEO, is the set of techniques that aim to optimize the positioning of a page.”