SEM, SEO, and PPC The Differences, Definitions & More

Search engines are powerful game players in any digital marketing strategy, and choosing the best SEM, SEO, and PPC strategy for your business is essential.

Although Google is the strongest search engine on the worldwide level, yet different search engines are also popular in different countries, thus, considering this factor next to the targeted market and audience is a huge factor in choosing the best strategy for your marketing plan among SEM, SEO, and PPC practices.

Moreover, decide whether you should count on all these practices, or whether a well-planned one will be enough to achieve your goals.

In this amazing blog we are going to guide you through clear definitions of these SEM, SEO, and PPC strategies and differences, and help you to choose the best for your business marketing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The famous SEO strategy that is required for any digital marketing strategy success, could be defined as the done practice to optimize the website pages according to the search engine rules to rank high on SERPs and gain organic traffic.

What is SEO ?

SEO is important as the organic traffic will lead to effective brand awareness and exposure, which will lead to more sales hence more revenue and business success.

Search engine optimization practices are regularly updated, especially by Google algorithm, thus your strategy should also be updated to reach the desired results, however, keep in mind that although SEO work aims to win search engines, yet it also should be humanized.

Particularly after Google’s last algorithm update that highlights content that is written by people for people, thus build your strategy for people and optimize it by search engine rules.

·        SEO Included Practices:

Many practices are included to guarantee the SEO practice success and effective results:

• On-site SEO.
• Off-page SEO.
• Technical SEO.
• Local SEO.

·        SEO Pros:

The sure thing is that you need to benefit from SEO work and all its great benefits that only work to empower your other digital marketing efforts:

• Increase your brand awareness and exposure.
• Generate organic traffic through your website.
• Help you reach people that are interested in what you are offering.
• Empower your online existence by ranking you high on result pages.
• Boost your brand sales and revenues.
• Great return on investment value.
• Long-lasting marketing results.

·        SEO Cons:

Yes, sadly this great process also has its own cons that will affect the process itself not the results you wish to achieve:

• The SEO strategy takes time and a long one too, approximately between 3 to 6 months to start showing results.
• High competition is a big disadvantage in SEO as all websites are trying to rank high on results pages.
• Although it is a cost-effective process, yet you will need to hire a company, or specialist, or even outsource to an SEO agency.
• You always need to update your SEO strategy due to the latest algorithms and rules.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

What is PPC ?

The pay-per-click is an attached term used in both Google Ads campaign and powerful social media ads, as a way to describe an advertising technique where the advertiser place his/her ad on social media platforms, result pages, or website pages and then only pay when the ad is clicked.

This PPC practice is highly important due to the fact that these ads will reach your potential clients who are actually searching for what you are offering, and ready to take the action and buy.

A successful pay-per-click campaign is attached to the right setting as you need to set the right campaign information to reach your targeted audience at the right time, by setting the location, demographics, language, gender, business category, and any other thing you find related to your targeted audience.

·        PPC Included Practices:

There are clear required practices or components that make a Google Ads pay-per-click or social media ads campaign a successful one that drives results and increases revenue:

• Available campaign budget.
• Using the right keywords.
• The chosen bidding strategy.
• The PPC ads type (display, search, remarketing, local, social, TrueView ads on YouTube, or Google shopping ads).
• Monitor your clicks to protect your budget from fake clicks.

·        PPC Pros:

PPC campaign got distinguished by its amazing advantages that add up to any business marketing strategy when its setting is done correctly:

• Fast and immediate results.
• You will reach your targeted audience at the right time when they are ready to take the action.
• Cost-effective as you will only pay when your ad is clicked.
• Full control of all the related details.
• Actual brand awareness among targeted audiences.
• You can measure your results and adjust your setting based on your campaign’s goals.

·        PPC Cons:

A PPC strategy actually has a lot of things that could go wrong when not done by a Google Ads or Social Media Ads PPC professional and specialist:

• No further results once the PPC campaign is ended.
• Need a specialist agency to drive results.
• The PPC world is a very competitive one, and many competitors may focus on ruining others’ campaigns.
• Continuous observation is required to guarantee effective results.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

What is SEM ?

SEM could be considered a mixed practice between SEO and PPC and this term represent the practice of increasing your website visibility with an advantage to rank higher from other organic results on the SERPs.

If you noticed a result page with a green ad word written, then you must have noticed an SEM campaign, where this campaign is targeting the same keywords you are searching for, but getting placed above other organic results to reach you faster.

However, many people mix SEO practice with SEM practice, but we can say that they are two separate practices as SEO targets organic traffic and SEM targets paid traffic.

·        SEM Included Practices:

After illustrating that SEM has some kind of similarities with SEO and PPC, then it is normal to share similar practices:

• Use SEO-friendly content, with a clear structure.
• Target the important keywords.
• A/B Testing to find the best choice for your campaign.
• Include the same message on the ads and the pages.
• Edit your campaign setting based on your targeted market indicators.

·        SEM Pros:

SEM practice has a direct and impressive impact on your digital marketing strategy, which will empower your efforts and fasten your results:

• Boost your online existence and exposure.
• Clear campaign indicators that allow you to follow your results and adjust.
• Improve your website bounce rate.
• A customizable budget that allows you to spend as you can afford to place your ad high on the result pages.
• Quick and effective results once the campaign started.
• Good return on investment as you will gain what you paid for.

·        SEM Cons:

The SEM, SEO, and PPC tactics share many disadvantages with each other, as they have similar working techniques too:

• SEM practice has a fewer click rate just because some people do not like to click an ad on the SERPs, or even use an ads blocker.
• A highly competitive practice as you have to pay more to be shown first.
• The SEM process needs time to be effective and the results will stop once the campaign is stopped.
• A costly process depending on the industry you are competing in.

 

Does SEM include the Same SEO and PPC practices?

This is a big question that needs a clear answer, especially since this answer has changed since the start of this practice usage, however, now things changed, and SEM is not considered a PPC + SEO practice.

However, you need to keep in mind that when you are doing a Google SEM campaign then you are by default doing some type of PPC and SEO work, but, when you are doing SEO or PPC you are not obligated to do SEM.

·        Differences Between SEM and SEO:

Ok, now let us compare, as SEM and SEO are two similar practices from the perspective that both of them take action on the search engines and Google results pages, and count on mutual practices to gain search engine ranking.

However, the main SEO and SEM difference are:

• SEO relies on different white hat techniques and practices to rank on SERPs and cause organic traffic through the website.
• Meanwhile, SEM relies on paid ads to rank high on SERPs, reach the targeted audience, and generate visits to the website page.

·        Differences Between SEM and PPC:

The paid ads strategies in the digital marketing world as when thinking about SEM vs. PPC you will be thinking about which is the most cost-effective payment you should consider.

Although both are effective, yet your targeted market and audience are what really should affect your decision:

• SEM mainly appears on the result pages of search engines, thus will appear only for people browsing to find details about your targeted keywords, moreover, SEO work must be included to run a winning campaign.
  Thus, SEM will target people who are browsing and ready to buy.
• PPC can be displayed on different websites and social media platforms, hence you will have a wider audience, but, these people could be browsing for many reasons other than to buy.
  Hence PPC will increase your brand awareness but not by default cause a sale.

 

SEO vs. SEM: Which One You Should Choose?

We are going to answer this question, but with Google studies and statics.

As the latest statics show that people are more likely to click an organic displayed website on the result pages than an ad.

Thus, it is more effective to work on your SEO strategy with keyword research and different requirement, as SEO work will last with you and get you good organic traffic.

On the other hand, SEM is effective for speeding your brand awareness, but for a while and its impact will stop once the campaign is ended.

 

To sum up,

SEM, SEO, and PPC are all good components of your digital marketing strategy when done correctly and with the help of our pros.

Do not wait any longer and contact us now to start the best campaign for your business.