SEO, SEM, and PPC are key terms in the world of digital marketing. All of these are tactics you can use to promote your business online. One compliments another, and it would be difficult to frame a well-rounded strategy without covering each one of them.
In this post, you will be given a quick walk through the key differences between these three worlds.
SEM versus PPC
First things first, you need to understand that PPC represents “Pay Per Click”. And, it is equivalent to SEM, which is nothing but “Search Engine Marketing”. Both, PPC and SEM are relatively similar. At least, a major portion of the two are alike. However, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is nothing like SEM or PPC.
PPC and SEM are strongly driven by cost-effective marketing. This is much different from the initiatives that Google has created, as a part of identifying sites that are relevant to keyword searches.
PPC is also known as search ads, paid search, and CPC. These follow a strict formula where the price of ads are gauged by advertisers. Whenever a user chooses to click a link, the PPC comes into play. PPC advertisers bid on specific keywords. The rate is governed by multiple factors, ranging from the network, publisher, and role played by the keyword in the business.
In the larger scale, PPC and SEM have the following qualities:
- Both require a sensible amount of budget.
- Both of these strategies are paid initiatives that depend on the business, its goals, and requirements
- Both strategies depend on search engines. Also, they depend on advertising platforms which means a lot of money needs to be invested.
If you take a good look at Wikipedia, you will come across a definition for SEM which means “internet marketing that focuses on the promotion of sites”. The sites need to be promoted to ensure better visibility in the very many search engine results page. On an ideal note, the website has to be displayed on the first page of the search engine results page. Mainly because organic traffic drops by nearly 70 percent when a site moves to the second page of the SERPs.
Differences between SEO and PPC
By now, you should be aware of the fact that SEO is nothing but search engine optimization. Marketers don’t have the liberty of optimizing the search engines. This is why they need to optimize websites, and the content they post. The content they build needs to be optimized, in accordance with the algorithms followed by famous search engines like Google. When optimization takes place, it becomes easier for the search engine to understand, identify, and display the “content” during a user search. This is when a business or post reaches the masses.
Moreover, you need to realize that SEO is open to all marketers, with different levels of expertise, and zero budget. But, SEM (PPC) is meant only for marketers who have access to a good deal of budget. In fact, data that is used as a part of SEM is often limited to certain advertisers, who need to use the right platforms for accessing them.
Why do these terms matter?
One of the reasons why the differences between SEO, SEM, and PPM matter would be “reach”. It is important for the content, and the right strategies to be used in the world of digital marketing. SEO involves plenty of organic efforts. It depends on algorithms that are used by the search engines. And, SEM (along with PPC) are paid efforts that depend on advertising platforms, along with the search engines. It helps in improving a brand’s reach on the internet.
