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Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to organic traffic, while SEM refers to paid traffic.
Organic search results are those which come from the algorithm used by the search engine; paid results come from advertising dollars being spent to place them on the results page. Paid results are usually marked as “sponsored content” or set apart with a shaded box, or even placed into an area of their own, such as a sidebar (Epperson, 2013).
The pro of organic search results is that they can rank even after you produce the content. Organic means not paying for ads for the website. It relies on a number of variables that help a web page rank higher for various search terms. Organic search is unpaid and ranked base on relevance and reputability. A web page should be optimized for the content being presented. The con is that it takes longer than paid traffic and may be expensive.
The pro of paid search is that it usually shows up first with an ad indicator. Paid search can get you in front of new audiences quickly, while organic search is vastly preferred by customers and draws in the majority of clicks (Biggart, 2018). SEM incorporates SEO and pay-per-click marketing. You can serve ads inside the search engines and it requires very little time. Using Google AdWords, a search engine marketer may put together a list of keywords and bid on those words. A con of paid search strategies is that paid ads stop displaying as soon as you stop paying (Epperson, 2013). Also, people usually prefer to click on websites that appear organically.
Recommendations to increase organic site traffic are to use blogging, longtail keywords and internal and external links. When you do blogging, you can connect with your target audience. The longtail keywords are even more specific for what your audience may be searching for and the internal and external links are a way to continue get more clicks. You need to remember that the content of your web page should be focused for your audience. Organic results take time and may be measured through Google Analytics to see the success of an advertising campaign. Then, recommendations for paid traffic are diverse. First, choose keywords to target by considering cost, relevance, and return on investment. Then, new companies or companies changing their target market can use paid ads as an easy way to reach the intended target segment. In this way, SEM can help you determine the most successful keywords to use for SEO. Then, you can stop paying for SEM once your website ranks high organically.
References
Biggart, Amy (2018). Paid vs. Organic Search: The Story. Conductor Blog.
Epperson, Andrew (2013). Paid vs. Organic Search: What’s the difference? Lieberman
Technologies. Retrieved from:
https://www.ltnow.com/paid-vs-organic-search-whats-the-difference/
EK Marketing Blog by Ericka Koehler 