If your business has a website (which it should), you’ve probably heard the terms “SEO” and “SEM” thrown around at some point. We know they sound like complicated technical terms, but they’re a lot less intimidating than you think. We’re going to break down SEO and SEM and why you should care about both when it comes to your business.

Let’s start with some basic definitions to get us started. 

SEO is Search Engine Optimization, and SEM is Search Engine Marketing. Both of these fall under the umbrella of Search Marketing, which basically just means getting your business to show up when someone is searching for you.

• SEO uses organic (free) strategies to show your business on a search page.

• SEM uses paid strategies to show your business on a search page.

That’s great to know, but why should you care? Both are important for your business because more web traffic means increased brand awareness and more opportunities for customer conversion.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is focused on optimizing your website to get traffic from search results. If you use a website platform such as Squarespace, there are features built-in to your site you can tweak to increase your SEO. Here’s a few things search engines look for when it comes to the SEO on your website:

• Website keywords

• Meta-tags

• The actual content on your website

• Sites set up to be mobile-friendly

• Security

• Local listings used to confirm your website’s authority/reputation

Why is SEO so important for your business? A statistic from WebFX states more than 40% of online revenue comes from organic search traffic.

That’s SEO in a very brief summary. There’s a ton of great resources out there (us included!), so if you’re interested in learning more about SEO in-depth, send us a note and let’s get nerdy.

Search Engine Marketing

SEM is a broader term that includes any paid tactic that gets more attention on your website and increases your web traffic via search engine.

The nitty-gritty of SEM includes:

• Pay Per Click (PPC) advertisements

• Paid advertisements (such as Google Ads, previously known as Google AdWords)

• Social media marketing (we’re talking paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.)

SEM is essentially paying to reach a potential client/customer in their precise moment of need. 

For example, if you’re a lawn care company and your customer is in need of seasonal lawn care, they may search “spring lawn care services near me”. You would pay to be at or near the top of the search page based on your website’s keywords and geographic location. 
It’s no secret being at the top of a search page is a very good thing when it comes to increasing sales. In fact, the top three paid advertising spots win 46% of the clicks on the page.

SEO and SEM, when used together, can yield significant returns for your business. If all of this seems like information overload, let us help you make sense of it all and how SEO and SEM can look for your business. Get started with a free 30-minute Marketing audit here.