Search marketing combines SEO and PPC to create a holistic internet marketing strategy. But is today’s SEM really just PPC? Read on.
SEM stands for “search engine marketing.” It is the process of combining SEO and PPC strategies to create a holistic internet marketing strategy that drives traffic and visibility through search engines based on a user’s search query.
Originally called “search engine marketing,” the shorter phrase “search marketing” is often used as the umbrella term for SEO and PPC.
But today, much of our industry defines SEM as digital advertising strategies where you pay to have your website featured on the search engine result pages (SERPs).
SEO and PPC are both forms of marketing on search engines. Organic search marketing and paid search marketing are different channels, but the goals and platforms are ultimately the same.
To attract the right visitors to your website so they can purchase, sign up for a service, or find an answer they are looking for.
For those who want to learn more about either SEO or PPC, see our guides below:
SEM is important because it is a data-driven approach to targeting your audience across all online channels and touchpoints.
Search marketing is an effort on any search engine. This means you should care about “other” search engines, from YouTube to TikTok to Amazon to Apple to Yelp.
Anything that can be searched for can be optimized. If it’s a platform that lets users search, and there’s advertising on it – that’s SEM.
When marketers combine SEO and PPC, it creates an all-inclusive integrated approach to internet marketing that drives results.
Just let the data show you.
Auberge Resorts saw over a 126% return on investment from PPC and an 86% increase in organic traffic when merging SEO and PPC into one strategy.
An energy supplier increased website traffic by 71% and received 86% more leads in Google Ads when pairing SEO and PPC together.
Coney Island Picnic needed a new website with ecommerce capability. With a new website redesign, the website ranked for over 775 keywords and went from 0 organic traffic sessions to 2,500 organic sessions per month in the first six months.
On the paid side, the highest ROAS of 22.68x came from branded search campaigns, sparking increased brand awareness.
Combining SEO and PPC is like adding fuel to the fire of your SEM strategy. You gain better insights into conversion rates, keyword performance and estimated traffic.
Seven types of SEM
When SEM originated in the early 2000s, SEM = PPC + SEO.
Today, SEO and PPC have matured and grown into subsets of strategies.
Now, there are seven types of search engine marketing – organic, paid, local, voice, image, shop, and social search.
And there are eight types of PPC ads – paid search, display, remarketing, video, social, shopping, Gmail, and Amazon advertising.
SEO
SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO is the method used to improve the overall quality of a web page to search engines. You’re earning traffic through unpaid or free search engine results.
SEO is just limited to search engines like Bing and Google. SEO is for all search engines like YouTube, Pinterest, Amazon, TikTok, etc.
PPC
PPC, pay-per-click, is when an advertiser pays each time a user clicks on their ad. You’re buying traffic through paid search listings.
Search engines can range from Google and Bing to Amazon to TikTok or YouTube.
What is the difference between SEM vs. SEO vs. PPC?
If we’re considering the original description of SEM, SEM is an internet marketing strategy combining both paid and organic tactics to increase your website’s visibility in search engines.
SEO is the “organic” part of SEM. SEO is sometimes called “free” traffic driven by relevant content and healthy website performance.