How SEO and SEM Work Together to Drive Results
Scott MorrisSolutions Engineer
Having been with 4mation since inception in 2001 while completing a Computer Science degree at UTS, Scott has played a variety of roles within the business through its almost 20 years of growth.
As a Certified AWS Solutions Architect, Scott has a strong ability to bridge the gap between the technical and business/user world. Scott has a deep understanding of the service we provide our clients having spent years as a Developer, Business Analyst, Team Lead, and Head of Delivery.
His focus now is heading up 4mation’s Internal Operations to make our work and suite of digital tools as efficient and effective as possible.
SEO and SEM may seem like industry buzzwords that were created to squeeze more money out of your marketing budget.
However, search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) provide vastly different benefits for your website.
When used correctly in conjunction with one another, they can result in a massive increase to your website traffic and conversion and deliver the results you really want to see.
We’ve put together some tips on how to best use SEO and SEM together to drive traffic more efficiently and effectively.
Search Engine Optimisation
SEO drives organic traffic to your website, meaning whenever someone searches for words or phrases (known as ‘search terms’) in a search engine like Google search, the results displayed are the most relevant and valid based on their context and those websites which have been indexed (or analyzed) by the search engine.
Ranking highly in organic search engine search results can be very difficult, especially if your business’ keywords are very common, or highly sought after, for example, ‘technology’. Being seen by your customers when you have so much competition for the top spots in the results page can be challenging, but not impossible.
This is where good quality content comes in. In order to be seen as a ‘valuable’ site in a search engine’s eyes, you must regularly publish content which matches what your audience is looking for.
However, sometimes there is too much other noise and you just can’t compete in the space you are in. That’s where SEM can make the most impact.
Search Engine Marketing
SEM, also known as Search Engine Advertising (SEA) allows you to market your quality content to your targeted audience through paid advertising. There are many different forms of online advertising, such as Google Adwords and social media sponsored posts. Google Adwords campaigns are generally based off a Pay-per-Click (PPC) pricing model, which means that you will only pay when a user clicks on your ad.
With a small amount of budget, your ad can shoot to the top of your audience’s search, resulting in a higher click-through rate to your website.
How they work together
Once you have implemented both successfully, SEO and SEM will work together to boost your results. SEO will deliver ‘free’ traffic to your website, and SEM will ‘buy’ targeted traffic for those pages which don’t naturally rank quite as high. When used strategically, SEO and SEM bring in more traffic than individually.
Furthermore, it is important to note that rolling out SEO strategies is the best way to reach long-term visibility on search engines. SEM however will help you generate traffic instantly, but this will generally stop once you stop spending budget on Adwords.
The most important fact to remember is that without good quality content and a website which your audience loves, your SEO and SEM efforts will be futile, resulting in a waste of resources and a lack of results. These should all be considered as part of a wider online marketing strategy.
Need advice? Contact 4mation now on 02 9213 1300.
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