SEO vs SEM: Key Differences and Which One You Should Focus On

The question of SEO vs SEM is a common one in digital marketing circles. But the truth of the matter is that the real question you should be asking is this:

Do you want to learn how to improve your visibility on search engines and take your business to the next level? If so, you’ll need to understand both of these two important strategies: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

While these terms might sound similar, they serve different purposes in your digital marketing efforts. SEO focuses on improving your organic (free) search rankings, while SEM includes both organic optimization and paid advertising.

Many businesses struggle to decide which approach will work best for their goals. Should you invest time and resources into long-term SEO? Is paid advertising the faster path to results? Or do you need both?

These SEO vs SEM questions are totally normal and are taking place behind the doors of marketing teams across all industries.

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about the differences between SEO vs SEM. You’ll also figure out the costs involved, and discover which strategy makes the most sense for your business. Plus, you’ll get practical tips for implementing these approaches effectively.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves improving different parts of your website to increase its organic visibility, which in most cases means through Google.

When done right, the goal of SEO helps your content rank in search results when people decide to input search queries about topics related to your business.

How SEO Works

Put plainly, SEO helps search engine algorithms determine if your content deserves to rank in the results for relevant words and phrases by looking at content and context around your site. If you want positive results from SEO, you’ll need to optimize your content around competitive keywords, create high-quality information that helps readers, and build authority through backlinks from other reputable websites.

When done correctly, SEO is the best way to improve your organic traffic. Research shows that, on average, 53% of all website traffic comes from organic search. 

Types of SEO

There are several key areas of SEO you’ll need to focus on if you want to have a well-rounded, successful strategy. Here is a brief overview:

• On-page SEO is about optimizing your site’s content, meta descriptions, URLs, tags, and images. Other focuses include internal linking,
• Off-page SEO focuses on building your site’s authority through places other than your website. This mainly involves earning quality backlinks from publications, managing your online reputation, and partnering with different brands in your industry.
• Technical SEO is all about making sure your site works correctly, which means you’re more likely to rank. This includes technical aspects like improving your site speed, making sure it works well on smartphones, and using schema markup to make your site easier to browse.
• Local SEO helps businesses attract customers in their area. This involves optimizing your Google Business Profile, managing local citations, and creating location-specific content.

How Long Does SEO Take?

The timeline for SEO success varies by industry and how much competition you’re facing. While some businesses might see improvements within a few months, it’s not uncommon to see some websites take a year or more to see significant results.

The actual time is variable, but it’s true that businesses that invest time in creating a solid SEO strategy often see better and faster results as well as sustained growth. The more thought and effort you put into your SEO efforts, the more likely you are to see positive results.

What is SEM?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a broader digital marketing strategy that includes both SEO and paid advertising. Some marketers use SEM and paid advertising interchangeably, but it’s essential to understand that true SEM consists of both organic and paid search efforts.

The ultimate goal of SEM is to create instant visibility and reach a wider audience.

Understanding PPC (Pay-Per-Click Advertising)

PPC is the paid advertising portion of SEM. As the name suggests, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. These are typically the results you see at the top of Google marked with an “Ad” label.

The way PPC works is pretty straightforward: you start by bidding on keywords, then you create search ads targeting those keywords, and compete with other advertisers to get the best ad placement.

Your actual cost per click depends on factors like:

• How much you’re willing to bid
• The quality and relevance of your ads on SERPs
• Your landing page experience
• Competition for your chosen PPC keywords

Platform Options for Paid Search

Most people use Google Ads to improve their organic search rankings, which makes sense when you consider Google holds a whopping 90% of the SEO market share. While Google Ads dominates paid search, it’s not your only option when it comes to major search engines.

Bing Ads can offer lower costs per click due to less competition, and social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn provide their own unique advertising opportunities with different targeting options.

So, if you’re looking to try something new, expanding into these paid networks can be a game-changer for your business.

How Long Does SEM Take to Show Results?

Unlike SEO, paid search can drive traffic to your website almost as soon as you launch your campaign. However, getting cost-effective results typically takes some time and testing.

You might see a decent surge on the first few days of your ads in search, but tweaking them over time with A/B testing can dramatically improve your online visibility and conversions. In fact, research shows that 74% of marketers who try this strategy see noticeable results.

Cost Comparison: SEO vs SEM

Understanding the costs involved with both SEO and SEM can help you make better decisions about where to invest your marketing budget. Let’s look at what you can expect to spend on each approach.

SEO Costs

If you want your SEO strategy to be a success, you’ll need to make a few long-term investments. Here are a few things we believe every brand needs to optimize its search presence.

Tools and Software

Most businesses need specialized SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to help with things like keyword optimization, research, competitor analysis, and current ranking. This is all important because if you can’t measure your results or look for words that resonate with your audience, you will have a tough time appearing in the SERPs.

While free tools exist, your best bet is to invest in pro-level tools, which offer deeper insights that will help you improve your optimization efforts over time.

The cost will vary depending on which tools align with your business objectives, including how many seats your team needs to be efficient.

Content Creation and Optimization

High-quality content is non-negotiable for good SEO, and creating it requires an initial investment. You’ll need resources for:

• Researching topics, search intent, and organic keywords
• Writing high-quality content that serves your audience
• Creating engaging visuals and media
• Regularly updating existing content
• Optimizing content for search engines

Whether you handle content creation in-house or work with freelancers, this ongoing investment is crucial for getting your site to rank. The good news is some of these features may be available in your SEO tool, and many content marketing tools combine these different elements – for example, content calendar tools for streamlining and scheduling across platforms, or an AI proofreader for enhanced readability and clarity.

Link Building and Authority Development

Building site authority through quality backlinks is often the most expensive part of SEO. We suggest investing in at least two of these strategies when you’re starting out:

• Creating valuable, linkable content, like research, studies, and free tools
• PR campaigns to earn media coverage
• Building relationships with other brands in your industry
• Guest posting on relevant websites

Your best bet is to start by creating linkable content since this is also partially covered by your content marketing costs. Below is an example of a free tool that’s designed to attract organic traffic and help people with a specific problem.  

It’s also a good idea to start building rapport since this often leads to guest posting opportunities, which is one the best ways to build high-quality backlinks.

SEM Costs

For SEM, there are several different cost factors you’ll need to consider. As a general rule, you’ll need to prepare for ongoing costs since you’ll be paying to get ads in search results.

Ad Budget

The foundation of any PPC campaign is the ad budget. Your expenses can vary significantly depending on industry, competition levels, and marketing goals. Typically, more competitive industries face higher costs per click, while niche markets might offer more affordable rates.

It’s a good idea to start with a test budget. As you gather insights and results, scale up accordingly to find new ways to optimize your performance.

It’s also worth mentioning that paid search actually accounts for a majority of most paid advertising budgets:

Campaign Management

If you’re not diligently managing your SEO campaigns, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on opportunities to connect with your audience. Here are a few suggestions for keeping your campaigns running smoothly:

• Conduct SEO keyword research so you can identify new opportunities and refine existing campaigns.
• Create and test multiple ad variations to discover what resonates best with your audience.
• Design and optimize landing pages regularly to ensure they convert visitors into leads or sales efficiently.
• Monitor and adjust bids in response to shifts in competition and based on data from previous campaigns.

The bottom line here is if you want your SEM strategy to improve over time, campaign management is something you’ll want to make a regular part of your workflow.

Ad Copy and Landing Page Optimization

Much like creating good content is crucial for SEO, optimizing ad copy and landing pages is pivotal to your SEM campaigns.

You’ll want to start by crafting compelling ad copy that draws attention and motivates your audience to click. You can do this by making sure your ad directly addresses the goals, pain points, or needs of your audience. Testing multiple versions will help identify which messages work best.

Then, you’ll want to design conversion-focused landing pages that match the message shown initially in your ads. This is crucial. Missing this step could harm your brand reputation, which makes it much harder to build a loyal audience.

Before you hit publish, optimize for both mobile devices and desktops so everyone has a high-quality, memorable experience.

Finally, track the results of your landing page conversion rates. Make adjustments to campaigns, and you’ll gradually improve your conversion rate. Some of the factors you might want to tweak include your call-to-action, internal links, ad copy, and social signals.

Which One Should You Focus On? (SEO, SEM, or Both?)

When deciding if you should focus on SEO, SEM, or a combination, it’s important to consider your business goals, budget, and ideal timeline for results.

Here’s a quick breakdown so you can figure out what might work best for you.

When to Focus on SEO

Consider focusing on SEO if you’re working within a limited budget and aiming for sustainable, long-term growth.

SEO is particularly beneficial if you create valuable content that is designed to educate your audience and help them resolve. If you can afford to wait a few months for significant results and seek to establish industry authority, SEO might be what you need.

When to Focus on SEM

If immediate traffic and leads are your goals and you have dedicated monthly budgets, SEM (or PPC) might offer quicker returns.

It’s also great if you’re targeting users ready to buy, especially if you use relevant keywords like “buy now” or “best price.” Having precise control over who views your ads is one of the best ways to see success if you’re launching new products or hoping to target specific demographics and locations.

When to Use Both

The truth is, that many businesses see the value in leveraging both SEO and SEM, as this approach yields both immediate and long-term results.

PPC can provide valuable data to inform your SEO strategy, which can actually help you rank in the search results for paid and organic listings, which is essentially the best of both worlds.

Using both also helps reach customers at various stages of their journey, and you can employ audience targeting to re-engage people who have visited your site but decided to leave without taking action.

How to Use SEO and SEM Together

Now that we’ve established that many business leaders and marketers have decided to use both SEO and SEM together for a balanced approach, let’s look at a few quick tips for getting the most value out of this duo.

Start with PPC to Get Quick Insights

PPC campaigns can give you valuable data while you’re building your online presence. Running paid ads helps you quickly discover which keywords drive conversions and what messaging connects with your audience.

You can then extract these high-converting keywords and use them in your SEO, which can help drive high-quality traffic to your website and typically translates to more sales.

Make Your Landing Pages Work Double Duty

When you create landing pages for PPC campaigns, make them work for organic search, too.

Include a couple of extra relevant keywords naturally in your content, and focus on creating helpful, comprehensive information. When done right, you can actually funnel in potential customers from all across the internet.  

A word of advice: don’t forget the basics like optimizing meta titles, URLs, and descriptions, and ensure your pages load quickly on mobile because this could have a serious impact on your organic ranking.

Retarget Your Organic Visitors

We mentioned this earlier, but using both together can help you reach people who’ve already visited your site, but didn’t sign up or make a purchase.

After they organically find your site, you can use remarketing campaigns to show folks relevant offers based on the pages they visited and bring them back to your site when they’re ready to take action.

This combination of organic search and targeted advertising helps you build familiarity with your target audience, which keeps your brand top of mind while they’re ready to buy.

Future Trends in SEO & SEM

The world of search marketing keeps evolving, and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. Staying ahead means understanding where things are heading and what you can do to adapt.

Here are some key trends shaping the future of SEO and SEM we think all marketers should consider.

AI’s Growing Impact on Search

Artificial intelligence is changing how people search and how search engines deliver results. For context, 84% of bloggers and SEO specialists say AI has affected their work in some way.

Google’s AI features are already changing the game. They now show detailed answers right in the search results, which leads to zero-click searches because people can see the answer they’re looking for right on the front page. 

You can see here the kind of impact this is having:

This trend means you’ll need to think about how to capture attention and provide value even when users don’t visit your website. With this in mind, consider creating more visual content and ranking for featured snippets since this is another viable way to get your site in front of people.

This also means focusing more on comprehensive, expert content that answers specific questions. When people see a glimpse of content with this kind of depth and care, they’re more likely to click through.

Luckily, the tools we use for search are evolving along with the rest of the industry. There are now plenty of AI SEO tools that can help you leverage this technology to make artificial intelligence work for your search strategy. 

The Evolution of Voice Search

As more people use voice assistants, the way they search is becoming more conversational. In other words, people are searching the way they speak.

This shift means thinking about natural language patterns and long-tail keywords. Your content needs to answer questions directly and clearly and, if possible, should include the question.

If you want to know specifically what kind of impact voice search is having on search engine rankings across the board, here are some statistics that highlight some noteworthy takeaways:

Mobile-First Indexing and Core Web Vitals

If you want to appear in the search results, both organic and paid, you need a solid mobile optimization strategy. Google’s focus on Core Web Vitals and mobile-first indexing means your site needs to perform flawlessly on smartphones.

Speed, responsiveness, and user experience matter more than ever. If someone visits your site for the first time and it doesn’t load or look good on their phone, they’ll leave, and they probably won’t be back. If this keeps happening, your bounce rate will increase, which sends a negative signal to Google, which can harm your organic ranking.

Our advice is to make testing new pages a priority before you hit publish. You’ll also want to test your whole site on a consistent schedule to ensure there are no glitches or anything else getting in the way of people finding and enjoying your website.

The Trust Factor

Google’s emphasis on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) was a major SEO disruptor, and that remains true today.

People value content where other people speak from experience to their audience. They feel that these brands understand their goals, know their pain points, and want to do everything in their power to help.

Of course, it makes sense that people are more likely to trust your brand if they know you want to help them find success. So when you’re creating content for your site or working on your next ad, demonstrate real expertise and experience, so people know you’re the source to go to if they have questions in the future.

Making SEO and SEM Work for Your Business

It’s clear now that both SEO and SEM are powerful tools for digital marketers across all industries. How effective they are for you ultimately depends on your business goals, resources, budget, and timeline.

SEO marketing can help you achieve long-term organic growth. However, if you’re looking for quick visibility and leads, SEM is your best bet.

The reality is that most successful brands use a combination of SEO and SEM. This allows them to leverage PPC for instant results while investing in SEO for sustainable growth.

Now that you understand what these strategies are and how they complement each other, you can take the first steps to improve your search engine visibility and create a long-term strategy that delivers results.