Because of some similarities, the two concepts are often confused and in this article we want to clarify the difference between two digital marketing activities that run in parallel, but in different ways, to encourage channeling as many users as possible who are interested in the content offered to your website while they browse Search Engines:
✔ definition of SEM;
✔ where text ads are displayed;
✔ placement and structure of text ads;
✔ comparison criteria between SEO and ADS;
✔ SEO or ADS: which is better?
✔ Definition of SEM
With the acronym SEM, Search Engine Marketing, we mean marketing activities aimed at reaching users who are searching on Google and are interested in a specific topic or product.
To avoid confusing it with SEO activities that have the same goal, think of SEM as a paid activity. In other words, you pay for each click the ad gets.
✔ Where are ads displayed?
One factor that creates confusion is that both activities are shown on the same search results page, SERP, Search Engine Results Pages, i.e. the page that appears after typing a word or phrase into the search engine’s search bar.
By default, the SERP displayed is the one related to text search and the suggestions are listed in response to a given query, and it’s good to know how to spot them before clicking, to understand whether it’s an organic result suggested by Google because it meets criteria such as authority, relevance and consistency, or a paid sponsored result with Google ADS.
Right below the search bar there are search filters that allow the user to view content by images, videos, products or maps. Regardless of the order, which may change depending on the type of search, for each Google channel it’s possible to launch paid ad campaigns, each with its own features, including Search Campaigns that use text, Display Campaigns that use images as banners or pop-ups, Video Campaigns to reach users on YouTube, or Shopping Campaigns that use product feed information from e-commerce listings to suggest the best purchase to the user.
✔ Placement and structure of text ads
The first results that Google shows on the classic search results page are the sponsored ones, i.e., paid ads that refer to SEM activity. Regardless of the selected search channel, they are always shown with the small label ‘ad’. The typical structure of ads is made up of 4 elements:
• page title: it is the first text read by the user, with different size and color and it is clickable; that is, it takes the user, when clicking the text, to a destination page, indicated in the small text above the title;
• descriptive text: it is the text that follows the title and persuasively previews the content of a page and is shown only when the descriptive text is relevant to the user’s search.
• destination address: next to the label ‘ad’ you see the address of the web page reached on click, also called Landing Page. We suggest never using a Home Page as a destination page since it is considered a general page that contains multiple topics; instead, it’s better to create a specific destination page, as consistent as possible with the search terms that led the user to see the ad.
• sitelink: these are links to internal pages of the site. They are strategic because they allow the user to make a more specific choice and because they increase the space of the ad itself, consequently pushing other ads further down and making them less visible.
Next in the SERP are the organic, free results, coming from a ranking generated by the site’s traffic and referring to SEO positioning activities. In terms of structure, they are similar to ads, but without the small word ‘ad’ that distinguishes them. If you want to learn more, read the in-depth article: SEO and organic ranking: practical tips.
✔ Comparison criteria between ADS and SEO
• Visibility: Positioning
«Running Google Ads campaigns does not help your SEO rankings»
As clearly stated in Google’s Guide, positioning is separate from the wrong idea «the more I spend, the better I rank». Google answers queries by showing results that are relevant, authoritative and of interest, therefore useful, to the person who searched. It will never place an off-topic ad even if it’s paid!
• Time to results
The results you get are different and equally important for success. It will take a bit more time to see results with SEO activities because they’re influenced by organic, free searches made by users, so you need a long-term strategy.
Ads, instead, aim to achieve results immediately since advertising should be seen as an investment that expects a return, allowing you to optimize the ad budget spent.
• Costs
SEO activities are free and organic, while Google SEM activities are billed with the Pay Per Click method: you will pay Google a certain amount for each user who clicks on your ad.
The Pay per Click billing method, acronym PPC, is an online advertising model in which advertisers publish ads on Google and pay a fee each time someone clicks the ad, unlike Facebook or Instagram advertising where you pay each time the ad is shown (impression), regardless of whether it’s clicked.
The mistake we often see is driving generic traffic to the site because it will be less likely to convert while still paying for the click. Instead, our Digital Team has the skills and experience to know that every click paid to Google must bring you added value, tracked with ROI, Return On Investment: an index that measures the efficiency or profitability of an investment or a benchmark against other activities. In other words, ROI answers the question: «how much do I earn from every euro invested?»
• Numbers compared
With SEO you have a 1.5x higher chance of converting click-throughs from the search engine. With SEM you have an 8.5x higher chance of converting compared to click-throughs from organic results.
Click Through Rate means Click Percentage and indicates the ratio between users who click on a specific link and the total number of users who view a page, an email or an ad. It is commonly used as one of the indicators to understand ad budget performance.
• Control and monitoring
With SEO you don’t have direct control over organic visibility in search results. SEM, instead, lets you know in real time the performance of your ad investment: reports, metrics and percentages that suggest to professionals how to fix flaws to improve performance in order to generate profit, also helped by the lower cost you pay per click.
In addition, PPC-paid Ads allow exceptional targeting depth, meaning you can optimize ad spend by showing ads to those who:
• fall within certain geographic areas;
• fall within certain age ranges;
• use certain devices, desktop or mobile;
• show a clear search intent related to the sponsored business or products.
✔ Better SEO or ADS?
«Is SEO better, or is SEM better? Often, both are better!».
Team Flazio
We don’t believe that SEO alone is better than SEM activities.
Just as we don’t believe that SEM alone is better than SEO activities.
We believe it’s better to use both, knowingly, at specific times in your digital strategy, limiting improvisation and relying on a digital professional. Let’s look at a few scenarios:
• SEO helps Google DSA
SEO helps SEM when DSA campaigns are used, Dynamic Search Ads, which are automated and simplified campaigns shown in response to a search made by the user.
Precisely because of their simplified nature, you don’t have to set keywords and search terms as in other campaign types; in fact, Google detects them automatically by scanning the site’s content. So, if the site has been optimized from an SEO standpoint, Google will automatically find the most appropriate words; but on the other hand, if there has been no SEO optimization, it’s pointless to choose DSA Campaigns because they will most likely fail.
• SEM helps SEO
To explain how SEM can help SEO, it’s first necessary to introduce the concept of Keyword Scouting, which is the most important preliminary activity, both for SEO and SEM, and consists of researching and selecting keywords related to your business for which you hope to be shown.
In this scenario Google Ads helps SEO because it lets you know, in addition to keywords, also the search terms report that shows a list of search terms actually used by users, so you can step in to refine ad delivery by matching increasingly relevant keywords and search terms; and on the SEO side, it helps improve your site’s content.
• SEO helps Shopping Campaigns
The Shopping Network is Google’s channel dedicated to e-commerce. In fact, through Google Merchant Center, online shops can show their product catalog complete with all the information a user needs when about to make a decision, such as description, price, image, availability, promotions, etc..
If product pages are optimized from an SEO standpoint, Google will be able to read all product information and present them on the Shopping channel for a specific search made by the user, increasing interest and, consequently, the chances that the product will be purchased.
In general for e-commerce, it’s good practice to fill in product pages in your catalog with as much information as possible, especially if you launch Shopping campaigns that draw from the same information found in product pages; otherwise it’s better not to opt for ads of this type.
• Ads hinder organic clicks
This is a plausible scenario, but it’s a lesser evil. Given the structure of the SERP, ads are shown before organic results and this takes away a share of clicks from organic traffic, but it is not penalizing in any way for organic ranking.
• SEO affects the Ads Quality Score
Quality Score means the Quality Rating with which Google evaluates the quality of your ad compared to other advertisers.
Ad quality is measured on a scale from 1 to 10 based on keywords. A high score indicates that the ad and landing page are more consistent and relevant, therefore more useful to the user, than ads from other advertisers.
In short, the score is calculated by looking at factors such as:
• CTR: the percentage ratio between how many times the ad was shown and how many actual clicks it received;
• Ad relevance to the user’s search by using words and search terms related to what the user is interested in;
• Relevance and usefulness of the landing page: and this is where SEO helps the Quality Score because the landing page must provide consistent content. In other words, if you want to sell a product like a ‘soccer ball’ the landing page should be indexed on the SEO side with the keyword ‘soccer ball’ and not ‘sports store’ or multiple types of balls that drift away from the customer’s search.
Not least, a high Quality Score lets you save on cost per click.
✔ Why have the sponsored ads managed by Flazio’s Digital Team?
Because even though SEM activities are considered paid, it’s good to remember they don’t follow the idea “the more I spend, the more I get”: if the spend is misplaced, you won’t get results!
To get results with Google Ads campaigns, you need professional skills focused on optimizing ad spend, taking care of every aspect around launching and managing a sponsored ad:
• analysis of your industry and your competitors;
• keyword analysis, including competitors’ ones;
• ad setup by defining the goal, audience, bid and budget;
• creation of a landing page;
• performance monitoring;
• campaign optimization.
If you are a Flazio PRO user and want to launch your first Google Ads advertising campaign, contact Flazio’s Digital Team, who have reserved an amazing offer for you: we give you 2 months of professional management of your campaigns, so the entire €800 budget goes to advertising.
