What is SEM and why do I need it?
SEM - Search Engine Marketing- describes all measures in connection with search engines in order to achieve company goals. Search engines can be common ones such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing. But YouTube and Amazon are also basically search engines, albeit for more specialized content. We deal with the "normal" search engines, especially Google, as this is the industry leader in Germany.
SEM historically consists of the disciplines SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEA (Search Engine Advertising). While SEO deals with organic search results, SEA is concerned with text and display advertising, i.e. paid search results.
The Google search results page currently looks like this:
The picture is similar for Bing:
The red area consists of paid advertisements, the green area below consists of organic results. The orange area contains featured snippets or results from vertical search, provided the search engine can deliver meaningful results for this. The search engines use their algorithms to try to deliver the best result for the searcher's query. As a website operator, you are therefore "forced" to provide content that matches the search engine user's query as closely as possible.
Which is the right approach for me?
Even though both disciplines have to do with the search engine, there are major differences. For one thing, the time factor is very different: while you create an ad via AdWords, for example, it can basically be placed immediately and, if it is really good, will land at the top of the results. This allows you to achieve great success in the short term. With SEO, it sometimes takes weeks, if not months, for optimizations to take effect. However, these are then much more sustainable and, unlike paid advertising snippets, are"free".
Another difference is the control, maintenance and optimization: You can place advertising once. You only pay when a searcher clicks on your ad. If you do not place any ads, you cannot be charged for them. SEO as a sustainable approach, on the other hand, is a continuous process of optimization, monitoring, analysis and further optimization.
Most agencies that offer SEM specialize in one discipline. However, for most companies, a balanced mix of SEO and SEA is ideal. If you would like to know more about which mix of SEO and SEA would be optimal for your company, please call us without obligation or fill out the contact form.
You can find more information about our SEO seminars and workshops here.
The technical terms are a free service of your internet agency arocom from Stuttgart.
Book tips
