By: Mandeep

There are two main forms of SEM that can be used, they are Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). People are often unsure as to which type of SEM to choose when promoting their business.

When you purchase visitors or “clicks” from a search engine, this is called “pay-per-click” (PPC) search engine advertising (or PPCSE). Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Advertising allows you to quickly get top search engine placement by “bidding” (paying) for keywords related to your product or service.

“Organic” or “Natural” search engine optimization (SEO) is accomplished by optimizing your web pages and by increasing your “link popularity” by acquiring or paying for links that point to your web site. This gives you high rankings at the Search Engines for your chosen search terms.

Pay-Per-Click Advantages:

• Fast to implement & in most cases the web site does not need to be changed at all.
• Highly targeted traffic on your search terms on the major search engines.
• You can often start seeing results within hours of activating a campaign.
• You only pay for users that click through your listing and arrive at your site.
• You can pick which keywords to bid on and no limit to the number of keywords.
• Complete control of budget - decide how much you want to bid for a keyword. You can rank highly for any keyword if your budget is large enough.
• The results can be tracked allowing continual improvements.
• Complete control of what text the listing shows - as long as it meets the engines copy and relevancy specifications.
• It is possible to target specific countries and regions.
• This is an immediate start and stoppage activity.
• Easy to implement and measure.

Disadvantages:

• PPC costs ongoing and increase over time - once you stop spending, your adverts stop showing.
• Quality score rules for landing pages are making it more difficult or expensive to gain a good position on PPC.
• Visitors may perceive less credibility than organic listings.
• Click fraud, while the PPC search engines constantly battle against this it does happen.
• An expertise is required to efficiently run a cost effective campaign.
• Only certain engines accept PPC advertising.

Search Engine Optimisation Advantages:

• Changes in search engine algorithms can wipe out good SEO position.
• SEO costs decrease over time.Visitors from search engine results do not cost you a penny.
• Usually users prefer to click on organic search results than “Sponsored Results”.
• Improvements to your website made from a search engine perspective usually result in a more user-friendly website.
• The rankings a web site achieves through SEO can continue for a long time after the work has been done.
• A well optimised website can appear across multiple search engines and search markets, at no extra cost.
• Over the long term SEO can be more cost effective than PPC.
• Visitors are more likely to trust a site they find in the rankings.

Disadvantages:

• Website need changes according to requirements.
• Will take time to see results. It can take months for your listings to move up the rankings.
• An ongoing process rather than ‘quick fix’.
• Search engines do not index forms or content inside forms.
• Limitation on number of keywords to optimise for.
• Can be difficult to implement for dynamic web sites.

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