There are two ways to show up on the first page of search results: SEO and SEM. What is the difference between SEO and SEM? It is mostly about the cost.
SEO is organic and can be done for $0 if you are willing to learn, while SEM is paid because you will pay search engines to put you on the first page.
In this article, we will discuss the following:
- What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
- Which should you use between SEO and SEM?
- How to rank articles on search engines?
Let’s get started!
What Is the Difference Between SEO and SEM?
The main difference between SEO and SEM is this: SEO is organic and slow, while SEM is paid and instant.
If you optimize your pages for search engines, that is SEO.
You ensure the keyword is in the right places, and then you mention it throughout the page. That is on-page optimization.
Ensuring your website is fast, responsive to any screen size, and user-friendly is also SEO. More specifically, technical SEO.
Your website’s overall quality is included in Google’s checklist when deciding where to place it in the search engine results pages.
If you get it right and your content is better than your competitors’ pages, you might secure the 1st position — sometime in the future.
It takes months or years to see results with SEO. Good thing, the results last. Or for a longer time than SEM.
If you use SEM alone to rank your blog on search engines, you can be the 1st result if you are the highest bidder in a few hours.
That is an instant success, but the longevity of that success depends on how long you are willing to pay.
Your 1,572 daily page views could instantly drop to 0 the moment you stop paying or being the highest bidder.
It is so expensive to maintain, especially if you have fierce competitors.
SEO vs. SEM: Which Should You Use?
If you want to be on the first page fast, and you want that to last even after your budget runs out, do both SEO and SEM.
This is not an either-or situation. You can totally implement both if you want to get traffic from search engines.
SEO can be 100% free if you do not use paid SEO tools or upgrade to the premium versions of those tools, and you will not hire an SEO professional.
Yes, it can be done by yourself if you are willing to learn. Are you?
SEM costs money because paid ads are part of the strategy. Heard of PPC and CPC? That’s in SEM.
If you want to be the 1st result, you need to be the highest bidder. All the time. That is the only way to stay on top.
How to Rank Articles on Search Engines?
If you don’t have the budget yet to invest in an SEM strategy, then focus on organic SEO. I have written countless articles for search engines.
Based on my experience, you can skip other steps but not the ones below.
1. Do Keyword Research
This might be the 372nd time you encountered “keyword research.” Keyword research is the most important step in SEO because everything depends on it.
Your article must be about that keyword. Your visitors need to be interested in that keyword. And there must be a considerable number of people who search for that keyword for you to have visitors in the first place.
No one stops you from writing just about anything that comes to your mind. But keyword research can help you set reasonable expectations, so do it.
2. Write the Article
When writing the article, make sure you include the keywords you researched — but don’t overdo it. Search engines see over-optimized articles as malicious, and your readers may think you care more about SEO than them.
Write for search engines, but don’t forget the humans who read your content.
A page with poorly written content on it will result in a high bounce rate. While a high bounce rate doesn’t have a direct effect on your rankings, it means you are not making your visitors happy.
You are doing SEO because you want to increase the numbers: the number of your customers, clients, downloads, sales, etc. If people don’t take the time to explore your website, that indicates a bad user experience.
3. Add Images
Images make content more engaging and visually appealing. When visitors enjoy the content, they are more likely to spend more time on the page (reducing bounce rates) and even share it on their pages and profiles.
You are not required to use your own images, taken with your camera. There are lots of website from which you can download stock images: Unsplash, Pexels, Pixabay, and even Canva. You can’t make excuses!
4. Add Internal and External Links
You want your readers to explore your website, right? Then add internal links! The main purpose of internal links is to tell your readers that there are articles on your website that are relevant to what they are currently reading.
If you want to recommend an article on a different website or add credibility to your article, you can add external links, too! External links will take them off your page, but that is a ranking factor, so add at least one.
Conclusion
What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
SEO focuses on optimizing a website to rank higher in organic search engine results using strategies like keyword research, on-page SEO, and off-page SEO. It aims for long-term, unpaid visibility.
Meanwhile, SEM involves paid advertising to increase a website’s search engine visibility. It includes PPC advertising and other paid search initiatives for immediate visibility and traffic generation.
You can do both SEO and SEM if you have the budget to hire SEO professionals and writers as well as subscribe to SEO tools that can ease the process.
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