When to opt for SEM and when to persist with SEO?

Two of the most widely used methods to drive traffic, these days, are SEO and SEM. The only similarity between these two tools is the fact that both revolve around keywords.

First of all, let us understand the meaning of SEO and SEM.

Search Engine Optimization:

It involves all the link building and on-page optimization activities the purpose of which is to achieve good rankings in organic search.

Search Engine Marketing:

This is a form of Internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in SERPs. In other words, it involves everything else you pay for like pay per click traffic.

What works better- SEO or SEM?

Answering one of the most frequently asked questions- You should opt for SEO when your keywords, particularly the long-tailed keywords are less competitive and when you either don’t have the money to opt for SEM or when you don’t want to spend your hard-earned bucks. Most of the people, across the world, have a tendency to click on organic results than on the paid listings because they consider organic results to be more authentic than the paid listings.

SEM is preferred over SEO when one needs a huge amount of traffic in a short period of time. The paid listings are placed above the organic results in order to attract huge traffic. SEM ensures better exposure of the concerned website. Free SEO and paid SEM complement each other well but on an individual level, both these tools have their advantages as well as shortcomings.

For best results, it is highly recommended to use both SEO and SEM. But still, if you want to know exactly when to use what then all you need to do is decide that in which of these two categories you fall:

If you are looking for instant results and can spend a huge amount of money, you should opt for SEM.
If you have all the time in the world, then persisting with SEO will suffice.