We’re always getting approached by customers asking us about how to get listed in search engines and what is the difference between the search results that feature on the left hand side, compared with those that feature on the right?
To keep it brief, the results on the left are known as ‘organic’ listings and those on the right are know as ‘paid’. I posted an article on obtaining natural results through seo a few months back, but for the purposes of this post, I’ll discuss how paid advertising or Search Engine Marketing (SEM) works.
How does SEM differ to SEO?
Paid listings through SEM require a fee to display a link alongside the results of a keyword search, known as Pay per Click Advertising (PPC). Organic listings are results gathered by a search engine “crawlers” and ranked according to relevance for a key term. Important to know, is that organic results are clicked around 75%-80% of the time.
Paid listing refer mainly to the text advertisements which appear at the top or on the right hand side of search engine results pages and this advertising links are purchased mainly from Google (Adwords) and Yahoo (Overture)
How do I get my Ad to Number One?
Paid advertising works on a bidding system, and the rankings for Ads is based on two key factors
- Maximum CPC (Cost per click) – how much you are willing to ‘bid’ for a keyword.
- CTR – Click through rate. The more relevant your ad is to the search criteria (i.e. the more people that click on it, the higher your ranking).
Typical Google search showing paid listing results
Back-end interface of Google Adwords system
SEO Vs SEM: The Showdown.. Which one is right for you?
SEM
- SEM can provide instant qualified traffic to your site.
- You set your daily budget and can track number of conversions relating to marketing spend.
- Open to click fraud.
- Can be more costly than SEO in the long-run.
SEO
- Longer term approach, utilising best practice web design standards.
- Aside from developing good rankings, you end up with an excellent website
- Can sometimes mean rebuilding a website from scratch
- Can be less costly than SEM in the long run.
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