Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are important marketing strategies for an association looking to drive traffic and bring attention to its website. For many associations a combination of both SEO and SEM is ideal.
But how are they different?
SEO is a long-term investment marketing-wise and focuses primarily on improving the association’s website’s organic rankings over time through tactics like keywords to aid search engines in finding content and ranking websites higher in the search engine results pages (SERPs). It requires an initial investment of time and resources but ultimately leads to sustained visibility and traffic. Costs will depend on whether you do it in-house or through a third-party vendor. SEO utilizes items like keywords to aid search engines in finding content and ranking websites higher in search engine result pages (SERPs). Check out one of my earlier blogs that addresses the importance of SEO for associations.
While SEM focuses on both organic search and paid advertising to attract and drive website traffic. SEM provides quicker and more immediate results versus SEO. Through SEM, the association page will be seen immediately by anyone searching and using its targeted words, whereas it might take months through SEO to get the same results organically.
At the end of the day, choosing between SEO and SEM for associations depends on your goals, budget, and timeline. The following blog examines the pros of each strategy and how it can benefit an association both short-term and long-term.
SEO
Cost-Effective: Once the association’s site ranks well, it’ll continue to receive traffic without paying for each click or impression. This is beneficial for associations with tighter budgets.
Builds Credibility: Builds the association as an industry leader. How? By optimizing content, earning backlinks, improving site performance, and credibility and trust with key audiences, which is crucial to a member-driven organization. Discover from a former colleague’s Strauss blog how content helps to drive SEO.
Content-Driven: SEO requires creating high-quality, relevant content that addresses the needs of the association’s members and prospects. This content can also be used in other marketing channels.
Be Patient! SEO takes time to show results, often several months, so it’s not ideal or realistic to look for immediate visibility or results.
SEM
Quick Hits! SEM, which typically involves paid search advertising (like Google Ads), provides immediate visibility on search engines. An association can appear at the top of search results as soon as its campaign goes live.
Targeted Advertising: *Critical Success Factor* Say that again – Critical Succes Factor to any SEM campaign is to know the targets including demographics. SEM allows you to target specific keywords, demographics, locations, and even times of day, which can be key to promoting events, membership drives, or specific programs. In highly competitive niches, SEM can help an association stand out, especially if organic rankings are difficult to achieve quickly.
Budget Control: Set daily or monthly budgets to keep a firm hand on how much spending is being done. But note – once the budget is spent – the visibility will drop.
Data-Driven: SEM campaigns provide detailed analytics, allowing association’s to track conversions, refine targeting, and optimize ad performance in real-time.
As noted above, a combination of both is ideal for an association. It is recommended to start with SEM for quick wins and immediate visibility while concurrently investing in SEO for sustainable, long-term growth. Both can prove to be a winning combination.