SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and it\u2019s a way for you to get free (organic) traffic to your website from search results on search engines.<\/p>\n
All big search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, have search results where web pages and content are ranked based on what the search engine considers to be the most useful, relevant and valuable to a user. You can\u2019t pay a search engine to have your web pages rank highly in organic search results – you have to earn it through SEO.<\/p>\n
If you can get it right, SEO is one of the most cost-effective ways to market your business online in the long term. If you can rank in the top spot for a key term that brings 1000 visitors to your site per month (and you can manage to stay in that top spot), imagine the potential if you\u2019re able to nab the top spot for other popular search terms!<\/p>\n
RELATED: <\/b>9 free SEO tools to simplify your marketing strategy<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n To get SEO right, you generally need to focus on three pillars:<\/p>\n SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, and unlike SEO, it\u2019s mainly the process of gaining traffic through purchasing ad spots on search engines. SEM is often referred to as paid advertising, pay-per-click or \u2018paid search.\u2019<\/p>\n By and large, the most popular paid search platform that is used by search marketers is Google Adwords, but \u2018paid search\u2019 as an umbrella term can also refer to advertising on major social networks such as Facebook or YouTube, or through paid promotion on content distribution platforms like Outbrain or Taboola.<\/p>\n An easy example is when you run a search on Google and see up to four results at the top of the page marked with a small \u2018Ad\u2019 sign. These are the results of paid search, and if you click on one of those links, the company will pay Google for that click.<\/p>\n Customer targeting with paid advertising gets more and more sophisticated by the second, and you\u2019d be absolutely flabbergasted at what you can achieve with a few simple clicks. As Google knows a lot about its audiences through their location, searches, online behaviour, and basic demographic, you can use that knowledge to ensure your ads reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your business.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a mechanic based in Newtown, Sydney, and you want to grow your business. Here are some handy options using SEM.<\/p>\n Target potential customers by location<\/b>. Push ads to people in the Newtown local area so they\u2019re aware of your business, or push ads to people in Sydney\u2019s inner west to capture the attention of an even larger pool.<\/p>\n Target potential customers by behaviour: <\/b>There are a few things you can do here. You can remarket to people who have already visited your website. Perhaps they browsed but were too busy at the time to make an enquiry, so you can remarket to them with advertising to jog their memory.<\/p>\n You can also create audience segments based on your potential customers\u2019 likes and dislikes. As a mechanic, for example, you could create a segment based on personal interests in \u2018cars\u2019 + \u2018Newtown\u2019 or advertise a special introductory offer to an audience segment that likes a competitor of yours.<\/p>\n RELATED: <\/b>Why SEM is vital for small business.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n SEM\u2019s effects are immediate, whereas SEO\u2019s effects can take months. You can jump right in and connect with your audience straight away. This is especially good if you\u2019re running a sale, have a special offer or want to reach a very specific market and don\u2019t have time for SEO to kick in. You can be very precise with terms such as \u2018Red Back Spider removal\u2019 aimed at people in just the southern suburbs of Adelaide.<\/p>\n Google estimates<\/a> that for every $1 businesses spend on paid search, they make $2 in revenue, making SEM an effective and lucrative form of digital marketing.<\/p>\n SEO, on the other hand, is a way for your website to appear organically on a search engine by improving its relevance and authority for the main things your business does. It works off more generic search terms such as \u2018Pest Control Adelaide\u2019.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to put a figure on SEO revenue, as it depends on a range of factors and is less quantifiable, but one study says<\/a> that as much as 33% of website revenue stems from SEO.<\/p>\n Basically, SEO is your long term strategy for helping customers find you all the time, while SEM allows you to have a more agile strategy when trying to attract customers in the short term. Combined, SEO and SEM deliver maximum visibility and greater revenue.<\/p>\nThe three pillars of SEO.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.yellow.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Brainstorm.jpg\")
<\/p>\nStart with these onsite SEO tips below to boost your rankings in Google<\/a>:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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What is SEM?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Use these tips to target potential customers with SEM.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.yellow.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/09\/Combination-of-SEM-and-SEO.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhy should SEO and SEM be combined?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Want more help giving your business the best chance to rank on search engines?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n