When attempting to dominate rankings on search engines, SEO and SEM are equally crucial. People may use these terms interchangeably, but there are some differences to keep in mind. While search engine optimization (SEO) focuses on organic optimization to increase rankings in search results, search engine marketing (SEM) uses paid advertising to achieve the same goal.
Using SEO and SEM together can help you stay on top of search engine results pages (SERPs). If you're not sure how to approach these strategies, the following are some steps to take to help you make full use of both.
Set Clear Goals
To get the best results from your SEO and SEM efforts, you must have some specific and attainable goals in place to guide your campaigns. The goals you set will determine the path to take to achieve them and the metrics to measure performance.
The goals you set could revolve around web traffic, lead generation, improving conversion rates, or others. These goals will give your strategy a real focus and fuel your business growth.
Keyword Search
With your goals in place, you can begin conducting keyword research to build your campaigns. Using tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and Semrush, you can identify highly relevant and high-volume keywords worth targeting.
The best keywords to target are those with the combination of high volume and moderate competition, but you can also look for other valuable opportunities when appropriate. These keywords will form the foundation of your SEO and SEM campaigns.
On-page Optimization
Another area of focus for SEO and SEM is on-page optimization, which involves making the on-page elements of your website more search engine-friendly. Part of this process involves naturally incorporating keywords into elements like your web pages' titles, title tags, meta descriptions, headings and subheadings, and body content.
Just remember, it's not about keyword stuffing, as this can harm your website's performance. Instead, focus on creating high-quality, fresh, and informative content that helps and engages users based on their intent. Catering to users through content is key for boosting search engine rankings, as it signals to search engines that your content brings real value to your website visitors.
Technical SEO
In addition to on-page optimization, you must focus on technical SEO elements. These aspects of your website will affect search engines' ability to crawl and index your website while providing data that further helps with rankings.
When optimizing technical SEO, some items to consider include robots.txt files, mobile responsiveness, site speed, sitemaps, and fixing broken links. Addressing each of these elements will enable search engines to scan and understand your site, supplementing your on-page and off-site efforts more easily.
Content Marketing
As mentioned, optimization isn't all about using keywords. You must also create great content that differentiates you from competitors to rise in the rankings.
Focus on developing valuable and relevant content that meets your target audiences' needs. In the process, you can create all types of content to reach your audiences, including blog posts, infographics, articles, videos, images, ebooks, and more. This content will help attract more organic traffic, encourage others to link back to your site to build your backlink network, and establish your business as an industry authority.
Link Building
One of the most important aspects of any search engine optimization strategy is link building. This process entails getting other authoritative websites to link back to yours, constructing a web of high-quality links.
Having many relevant and naturally integrated backlinks signal to search engines that people find your content valuable and worth mentioning. In turn, search engines will find your website worth ranking higher.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
When it comes to the SEM side of things, PPC advertising is crucial. Targeted PPC ad campaigns require you to bid on relevant keyword terms that help you achieve your business goals.
Each of your ads should contain high-quality ad copy and link to relevant landing pages, which will go a long way in boosting conversion rates. You can then make any necessary adjustments to your campaigns as you monitor their performance.
Display Advertising and Remarketing
You can also use display ads to supplement other PPC ads. Display ads reach broader audiences and follow people across many websites with appealing visuals, which can lead to higher click-through rates than text ads.
Display ads are also ideal for remarketing campaigns that re-engage people who have visited your website without converting. Keeping your brand in the forefront will help ensure you don't lose people's attention, which will help move them along the customer journey.
Customize your display ads based on user behaviors and interests, which will help get your ads in front of the right people at the right time.
Analyze and Optimize
To get the results you want with your SEO and SEM efforts, you must regularly analyze these campaigns' performance. Doing so will give you clear insights into what's working and what needs some more work.
There are plenty of tools you can use to monitor and analyze your campaigns, including Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Using these and other tools, you can look at relevant metrics like website traffic, bounce rates, conversion rates, and keyword rankings. You can then use this data to determine how to further optimize your campaigns and boost performance to meet your goals.
Stay Updated and Adapt
Keep in mind that the digital marketing landscape is always evolving. New trends develop and search engines are always updating their algorithms to enforce new rules that can affect rankings.
As such, it's necessary to remain up-to-date with the latest SEO and SEM trends, algorithm changes, and best practices in the industry. You will then be able to use this knowledge to adapt your strategies and keep your campaigns afloat in the ever-changing online marketplace.
Get the Most from SEO and SEM With Mid-West Family
Like every other marketing effort, SEO and SEM are ongoing processes that require some diligence and patience. Over time, you can see significant results, but you must practice consistency and take a data-driven approach to get the results you want.
If SEO and SEM optimization seem like overwhelming concepts, consider getting some help from the SEO and SEM experts at Mid-West Family Eau Claire. We can help you build your strategies to get the best results and incorporate them into the rest of your advertising strategy. Contact us today to learn how to get started with Mid-West Family.
