A search engine is a tool that helps users search the internet for content or queries in its database using keywords. The results of those queries are listed according to algorithms and then shown on a search engine page (SERP).
A search engine page or a SERP is the page of results a user finds when searching for a keyword. Users usually click the top results, that’s why SEO is essential to rank websites at the top.
Search engines work in 3 ways: crawling, indexing, and ranking.
Crawling
Like spiders, crawlers are bots that crawl the internet searching for fresh content. This is the discovery phase when webpages, images, videos, or any content is found.
When a crawler finds a new URL through a webpage, it adds it to the search engine’s index for processing.
Indexing
After the crawlers find content, they store the URLs in an index, which is a huge database, such as Google’s Caffeine index. That’s why the crawler has to understand the content of the webpage to make it appear with relevant search keywords.
Ranking
This is the final step when bots decide to show information based on their relevance to the user’s query. This is done using search algorithms.
Search engine algorithms are the factors bots use to analyze and rank pages that respond to the user’s query. Some of those factors include:
Freshness of content
Technical page usability such as page speed
Relevance of the page to the query
Quality of backlinks
So, what are the top search engines?
Google, with over 70% of the market share
Bing, Google’s competitor with a 13% market share
Baidu, China’s top pick with 75% of China’s search market
Yahoo, powered by Bing with a 2% of the market share
DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn’t track you
It stands for search engine optimization, which is the process of optimizing websites to get organic free traffic or natural ranking in search engines. Since people usually pick the top results, SEO is important to list websites high.
SEO tactics
SEO tactics can be categorized into 3 pillars:
This is the technical strategy you decide to improve your website’s SEO. It happens backend and is not related to content.
This is the part that’s related to content to ensure it’s relevant to users’ search inquiries. This usually includes targeted keywords that help the website’s content rank higher.
This is a part that’s driven by backlinks to increase the visibility of your website. Marketers usually perform activities outside the website to boost the website’s ranking.
Many factors affect on-page and off-page search engine optimization. Those factors include content marketing, so quality engaging content is essential. It also includes the website’s HTML, such as title tags, meta descriptions, and sub-headings. And lastly, it includes how trustworthy is your website, how you avoid spamming sites with your links, and how your content is shared on social media.
1- Boosting sales and generating leads
Since search engines are the main sources of website traffic, and people are constantly searching for similar products and services to what you offer, optimizing your website will make you ahead of the competition and will generate more leads.
2- Boosting credibility
Again, as we said, people usually click the first option in a SERP, so having your website at the top creates a sense of credibility that your business is the pioneer in the industry. And on the other hand, if your business appears at the end of the page, it will create a sense that your products are untrustworthy. Plus, people will be less likely to check your website if it appears at the end of the search page.
3- Improving user experience
SEO helps improve user experience through content quality, easy-to-navigate websites, mobile-friendliness, and website speed. A great user experience affects their buying decisions and results in higher conversion rates.
4- SEO is not paid
If you optimize your website well enough, you won’t have to pay to advertise for it. Creating an effective SEO strategy will not only increase your website’s traffic but will also make you save money.
SEO is not paid, but its peer SEM is paid, so let’s talk a bit about SEM
SEO best practise needs digital marketing agency to enhance the content creation, off page and on page links building know more about top digital marketing agencies that will help you to enhance your SEO from this link
Unlike SEO, search engine marketing uses paid strategies to rank websites higher and increase their visibility on SERPs. Businesses pay for ads to make their websites appear when a user searches for a relevant keyword. Those websites appear at the top of the page with the word “ad”, and businesses are only charged when users click on them.
But not only do websites appear with SEM, but products can also be listed as carousels, which is another form of paid search ads.
Another term that accompanies SEM is PPC or pay-per-click marketing. This means charging websites each time a user clicks on their ad. But PPC is not limited to SEM, PPC can also be used with promoted posts on social media such as Facebook or Instagram.
To understand which one is better, let’s take a look at a comparison between them.
Price
Since SEO is not paid, it requires harder work than SEM to see great results. But on the other hand, SEM is more targeted. Since you pay per click, your budget can be defined beforehand and it’s guaranteed there’s no waste of money.
Time
SEO takes 3 to 6 months to appear on the first page of search results, while SEM offers immediate fast results.
Keyword research
While both need the same keyword research, long-tail keywords are more used in SEO. Also, SEM is concerned more with the price of keywords since some keywords are more competitive than others, they can be expensive.
Testing
SEM is great for A/B testing and tracking campaign results, while SEO requires monitoring in the long term and is not easy to track the results.
So when should you use SEO and when should you use SEM?
If you’re looking for fast results, budget allocation, and testing how effective some keywords are, then SEM is the answer. But if you’re patient, have time, looking to build a strong online presence and reputation, or looking for long-term investments to keep your page at a high ranking, then your choice should be SEO.
Working in a 360 digital marketing strategy including SEM , Social Media advertising and SEO will definitely make a difference
SEO is essential to make your business more visible, and SEM is important to accelerate this process. And while there are many search engines out there, Google makes the top of this list.
3-6 months with intensive SEO work.
© Entasher Ltd. 2020
