If you’re looking for a marketable skill for an online job, SEO is highly in demand in most businesses today.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, where you employ SEO strategies to rank relevant keywords in search engines.
Why is it important for a business? It’s because greater visibility on a search results page drives more website traffic, improving the chances of selling products or services.
However, SEO is often confused with SEM (Search Engine Marketing), which is two different practices (but with similar goals).
So, what’s the difference between Search Engine Optimization versus Search Engine Marketing? Let’s take a look.
Paid vs Organic
SEM drives traffic with paid ads using pay-per-click schemes.
Typically, you are “bidding” on a specific keyword – like an auction where advertisers compete for their ads to appear in search engine results. If you’re the highest bidder, your ads show up.
On the other hand, SEO targets organic traffic by optimizing content to match their potential customers.
It aims to attract leads who are actively searching for specific information, products, or services.
Visibility in Search Results
Highly ranked SEO and SEM keywords show differently in search results.
For SEM, your ads will show up at the top of the search results with a “Sponsored” or “Ad” tag.
Some also opt to show their products in the “shopping ads” leading to a direct landing page on their website.
As for SEO, the search engine displays highly ranked articles after the sponsored ones.
Time Frame of Results
The next difference is the timeframe of results.
In an effective SEM campaign, your website will be shown at the top of the search results almost immediately.
However, in SEO, it takes time to see results since it involves optimizing elements for higher organic rankings.
Effort and Time Requirement
Lastly, both SEM and SEO require a certain level of mastery for successful campaigns.
However, SEO is a long-term strategy that requires continuous effort and time to rank on the search engine results page/s. Some strategies even take months to produce significant results.
This can require publishing articles consistently and tweaking on-page optimizations (e.g. UI/UX ease of use, page load speeds, etc.).
On the other hand, expert Search Engine Marketers can produce results faster, which is great in the short term.
However, the results will only last as long as the ads are running.
With SEO efforts, effects can last longer, even without any cash outlay.
So now that we’ve established the key differences, which is a more profitable skill? Search Engine Optimization Skills or Search Engine Marketing Expertise?
Learning both is advisable as they complement each other to foster short-term and long-term growth.
Plus, having both skills can make you more marketable to clients in the long run.
However, if you’re still looking for an online job, you can sign up with Remote Staff for the best remote working opportunities for Filipinos.
We offer long-term contracts and competitive rates for talented SEO and SEM specialists of varying skill levels and experience.
Register today!
