In today’s world, if one has to grow his business with time, he must stay updated with the changing trends and follow them as required. This digital age has made it very essential for businesses to have an online presence to avoid the growing competition in the market. As online is a huge platform, it is a great opportunity for any product/service seller to flourish. Moreover, it is a very convenient way to attract more potential customers to the products/services.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay Per Click (PPC) are two extremely important forms of online marketing that ensure the visibility of any website or business in the search engine result pages or SERPs(eg: Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc) which helps to draw more attention of people and hence more potential customers to the websites of the businesses.
SEM vs PPC
The main difference between SEM and PPC is that SEM incorporates various tools, for example, SEO or Search Engine Optimization which makes the use of appropriate keywords that are searched frequently on search engines to customize the content of a website, to rank the website higher on the search engines while PPC is an advertising model where the business owners advertise their businesses in various search engines and pay when someone clicks on their ads.
The advertisements are displayed on SERPs and on other websites as well and the advertiser has to pay a certain amount of money for every click on the ad.
Comparison Table Between SEM and PPC
| Parameters of Comparison | SEM | PPC |
| Method | Uses keywords that are searched frequently on search engines. | Advertises the products or services on search engine result pages and websites. |
| Difficulty | Requires a lot of research on keywords. | Relatively easier than SEM to gain traffic. |
| Display of the result | Improves the ranking of a website on SERPs. | Makes products/services visible on SERPs through ads. |
| Time | Takes a longer time to show the results. | Shows results quicker as compared to SEM. |
| Impression | Brings long-lasting organic traffic. | Brings traffic until the ads are being run. |
| Cost | Less costly than PPC. | Costlier when compared to SEM |
What is SEM?
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It is one of the important tools of online digital marketing that increases the chances of a website being found by more people. With the help of SEM, one can make a website rank higher on Search Engine Result Pages or SERPs. One has to be up-to-date with the change in algorithms of the different search engines, the popularity of keywords, in order to craft good content with a strong SEM strategy.
SEM mainly uses the Search Engine Optimization tool, which adjusts the content of websites using relevant keywords, so that if someone searches for that keyword on a search engine, they could easily find the website.
There are various platforms where the popularity of a keyword or keyphrase can be tracked. For example, Google Keyword Planner, Moz Keyphrase Explorer, etc.
SEM is usually a cost-effective tool to gain organic traffic but requires a good amount of research. It can have a poor effect on search engine results if not done properly.
What is PPC?
PPC stands for Pay Per Click, also known as CPC or Cost Per Click. This again is an important tool of digital marketing that is used to draw more customers to a website. PPC is an advertising model, which runs ads on SERPs and websites. Here, the advertiser has to pay a certain amount of money each time someone clicks on their ad and goes to their website. So, basically, PPC is a way of buying customer visits to the website rather than earning them organically. The most well-known ad platform is Google Ads. Bing Ads and Yahoo Search Ads are quite popular as well.
The amount that has to be paid by the marketer or the advertiser to the host websites or SERPs, depends on various factors. For example, the popularity of the keyword that is being advertised, the quality of the ad, bidding, etc. The highest bidder for PPC gets to be ranked on top of the search engine listing.
Most of the time, PPC requires a good amount of money for the display of the ads to gain more visibility and impressions. Hence, it may not be a very appropriate or convenient way for small budgeters. There is a possibility that the newbies first go for SEM to gain traffic and gradually include PPC in their marketing strategy.
Main Differences Between SEM and PPC
- SEM is an organic marketing strategy whereas PPC is a paid marketing strategy. Hence, SEM brings traffic to the website naturally while PPC is a method where a business owner needs to pay and boost the visibility of their business online.
- SEM incorporates optimization tools(e.g: SEO) which modifies the architecture of the website whereas PPC is an advertising model.
- PPC is a much easier and quicker way to draw potential customers than SEM.
- SEM can bring long-lasting organic traffic to the website while through PPC, one can build traffic on their website till the ad runs.
- SEM makes a website rank higher on search engines so that it is easily visible to the customers, while PPC makes a service provider or website visible via ads.
Conclusion
SEO and PPC are two essential forms of online marketing. These help a business get a lot of exposure by ranking higher in search engines and being visible to potential consumers through ads.
On comparing the two, SEM is a cost-effective method that naturally provides long-lasting traffic but takes a longer time to achieve the results, and PPC is an easier and quicker way to gain traffic but requires more money.
So, if one is ready to be patient for the traffic to come into his website or app, he can go for SEM and if he has a good budget and wants traffic in no time, then PPC is a better option. A good marketing strategy is absolutely essential to welcome surplus profits.
References
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10919392.2013.808124
- https://journals.co.za/content/journal/10520/EJC-a7c198776?crawler=true&mimetype=application/pdf