Anyone who has a website for any reason - whether business, personal, or charitable - is probably well aware that drawing viewers to it can be challenging. There are many different methods to do this, including the well-known search engine optimization or SEO; this is a popular term although not clearly understood how it differs from search engine marketing (SEM). Well, they do work together; however, they are two separate processes that must be learned and recognized in order to achieve the best results.
Search Engine Optimization
The basis behind search engine optimization is creating a website that is easily used by site visitors by providing value and is also easily indexed by the internet spiders. When all of these requirements have been fulfilled, optimization will be accomplished because these exact qualities are known to improve traffic. Pages that are found to provide good information and are easy to use get more repeat visitors, many of whom share such information with others. Along with other ways to increase publicity and traffic such as using social media, all of these factors combine to produce better optimization and better search engine results ranking. From there, things are cyclical; better optimization means more traffic, more back links, and more recognition in general; it all becomes a productive cycle that ultimately leads to better branding and sales.
Search Engine Marketing
On the other hand, search engine marketing is more well-known as a marketing technique as opposed to SEO, which it is definitely not. SEO is involves the creation of a website in a certain way to enhance optimization efforts. Marketing is essentially advertising and promotion with ads that are seen on search results and other web pages. Text ads like AdSense and other paid advertising like PPC or Pay Per Click as well as banner ads placed on pages that include similar information as the topic of that website - these are all SEM.
Working Together
While both of these methods can be used by themselves, there is much more to gain by using them together. Of course, SEM is usually paid advertising of some sort, while SEO is usually free. Free is always good; however, there are times when SEO may need a boost, especially with a newer website or an under-performing one.
The way in which this combined process works is actually fairly simple. It starts with a well-made, optimized website and then text ads can be purchased so that website can be immediately seen by viewers who are searching for the same or similar keywords. There is complete control over where the ads are seen through keywords, location, and other demographics, which makes this kind of advertising very affordable.
Once ads are initiated, traffic starts to slowly increase to the website, which in turn helps optimization. It is important to note that the idea behind this type of combined effort is to jump-start incoming traffic while using other publicity and optimization so that ranking in the search engines can more rapidly increase. Once ranking increases, traffic should also increase, at which point it is certainly possible to discontinue paid advertising and concentrate on working with that new traffic, increasing SEO efforts in a more natural and organic fashion.
Basically, both SEO and SEM can work by themselves to create and increase incoming traffic; however, a joint effort works better until the paid marketing is no longer required. For those with new websites - and particularly new domain names - that want to quickly increase ranking as well as websites that require specialized work on keyword usage and other demographics, SEM is a great option to include in any website marketing plan!
Chris Hunter is an expert in Web Design and Search Engine Marketing. To find out more about SEO in Houston, go to the main website at: http://www.webunlimited.com/.
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