Studies indicate that as many as 70% of search engine users don’t bother to click past the first page of results. Do you know what that means? You’re going to need to do whatever you can to appear on that first page of search results. Well-constructed Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plans are designed to drive traffic and visibility through organic and paid search. You may already be familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which focuses on optimizing website content to drive traffic organically. SEMRush is a common tool to help with this.
What’s the Difference Between SEO and SEM?
It can be confusing because the two acronyms SEO and SEM are often used interchangeably, even though they mean different things. They are both strategies to drive customers to your brand’s website, so what’s the difference?
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is used to increase the number of visits to your website with content instead of ads. To attract more customers to your site, you need to understand what they are looking for in the first place. What are the keywords or combinations of keywords they’re typing into the search bar to find you? What are your competitors using? Understanding your customer and the competitive landscape can help you maximize your visibility. And you don’t just want to drive up the numbers of visitors; you want to find quality leads that are likely to buy your products.
Here’s how it works. Type your question or request in the search bar of your preferred provider like Google or Bing, and they reply with a long list of links to web pages that could potentially answer your question. You may get hundreds, even millions of replies with links to what the algorithm deems to be appropriate websites. Vague or common questions can generate responses that are all over the map. The more specific you make the query, the more targeted the answers will be.
Here’s where the data you collect is helpful in developing content based on the keywords you’re guessing that your customer is likely to use in their query. There’s a lot of trial and error involved in this process, and it’s likely an endeavor that will pay off over a period of weeks or months. With your keywords ranking high in organic, also called natural, results make it more likely that you’ll land on that coveted first page.
SEO best practices are never set in stone since Google makes periodic changes to its algorithm, but a few standard techniques seem to remain constant.
- Incorporating selective keywords into HTML elements that specify titles (title tags) and summarize the content of specific web pages (meta descriptions). Title tags are displayed on search engine results pages (SERP) as the clickable headline for a given result and are essential for usability, SEO, and social sharing.
- Well-written blog posts and page copy that include business-relevant keywords.
- Page URLs are a complete web address used to find a particular web page.
- Optimized page load speeds. (Customers quickly abandon sites that are slow to load.)
Search engine marketing or SEM uses paid advertising to give your site higher rankings in search engine result pages (SERP) and increased visibility. A popular example is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, where an advertiser pays every time a user clicks on their ad.
To be effective, SEM should work in tandem with your SEO strategy. Using your SEO strategy will provide the appropriate keywords that you need to include in your SEM ads. Using the right keywords gives you a much better chance to connect with your audience’s interests.
Drive traffic and boost conversions by creating content that your target is likely to discover in their search results. With SEM, you can compete for organic bumps in your rankings while paying for ads that will appear at the top of the SERP page.
SEM is not just about paid search that can raise your ranking in the battle for views. Pay-per-click ads combined with a sound SEO strategy can give you an advantage as long as you optimize your ad content with relevant keywords. In addition, while SEO tends to work as a long-term strategy, SEM can drive immediate results as long as your ads are live.
When well-planned and carefully executed, SEO and SEM used together can:
- Target and optimize keywords to improve the visibility of your website on the most popular search engines.
- Drive quality traffic by encouraging likely buyers to click through to your site.
- Give you a deeper understanding of your audience and their buying behaviors.
- Discover and target the relevant keywords that will help your business keep pace with your competition.
- Deliver positive ROI with continuous monitoring and revisions that respond to changing market trends.
Who is Semrush?
Semrush is an all-in-one tool suite for improving online visibility and discovering marketing insights. Comprehensive tools and reports can help marketers with SEO, PPC, Social Media Marketing (SSM), Keyword Research, and Competitive Research.
In 2008, Semrush started as a small group of SEO and IT professionals working together to make online competition fair and transparent for all users. In just 12 years, the company has grown into one of the world’s leading authorities in online competitive research.
Semrush software helps companies of all sizes— in a variety of industries— optimize their visibility across key channels by creating engaging content, streamlining workflow, and tracking test results. Improve your online visibility and performance with over 50 products, tools, and add-ons that help with market research and content development. Let’s look at some Semrush numbers:
- 800 million unique domains monitored
- Over 41 trillion backlinks
- Over 20 billion keywords
- 7 million users
An easy-to-use dashboard gives you a snapshot of domain analytics, showing current keywords and traffic coming from organic and paid sources. In addition, widgets provide a clear picture of your most recent SEO projects. Use Semrush tools for position tracking, periodic site audits, backlink audits, brand monitoring, and social listening.
How can Semrush Help Drive Traffic to my website?
In 2020, we saw unprecedented growth in the online marketplace as the pandemic forced consumers to turn to ecommerce for some of their most basic needs, a trend that shows no signs of slowing in 2021. As a result, businesses now have a more significant incentive than ever before to move online or enhance their existing online visibility to vie for the attention of new and existing consumers.
To increase market share and win more customers, you’ll need to analyze and understand market trends to drive traffic that can be converted into buyers. Successful online marketers know that a few targeted visitors are worth more than hundreds of visits from an audience that doesn’t quite fit the profile of your most likely buyers. Semrush gives you the tools and support you need to craft a realistic strategy to generate traffic that can be converted into buyers.
Semrush Pricing Plans
Check out the Semrush pricing plans, and don’t forget you can save up to 17% by paying annually.
Pro (For marketing newbies and small in-house teams.)
$119.95/month
- 5 Projects
- 500 Keywords to track (with daily updates)
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
Guru (For SMEs, growing agencies, and marketing consultants.)
$229.95/month
- 15 Projects
- 500 Keywords to track (with daily updates)
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
- Historical data
- Content Marketing platform
- Google Data Studio integration
Business (For large agencies and enterprises.)
$449.95/month
- 40 Projects
- 1500 Keywords to track (with daily updates)
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
- Historical data
- Content Marketing platform
- Google Data Studio integration
- Share of voice metric
- API access
Additional users
Add additional users with unique login credentials under your account to
organize teamwork in Semrush.
- Pro Plan +$45/mo per user
- Guru Plan +$80/mo per user
- Business Plan +$100/mo per user
Semrush Trends
Add $200/month to any plan to access traffic analytics and market explorer tools.
Agency Growth Kit
Add $100/month to automate important agency workflows to boost revenue growth.
If you haven’t found a plan covering everything you need, contact Semrush to discuss developing a custom plan that works for your business.
The Payline Solution
With Semrush to help you drive all the traffic you can handle, you’re going to need payment processing solutions that are simple, secure, and easy to set up, integrate, and use. Payline Data offers affordable payment processing options for businesses of all sizes. Here are a few of the benefits that Payline provides:
- Affordable, transparent, interchange-plus pricing with no hidden fees.
- Payment gateways that protect your customer’s valuable personal data.
- Easy integration with existing shopping carts and accounting software
- Virtual terminals to securely handle all your card-not-present transactions
- Fraud protection and chargeback prevention
- Best-in-class customer service
- Business loans
- Help with high-risk accounts
- A dedicated account representative
Payline offers all this and more with affordable and transparent pricing. Easy plugins connect to new or existing POS systems, shopping Carts, Quickbooks, and the card reader of your choice. Your first month with Payline is FREE, with no risk, no upfront fees, and no long-term contracts or cancelation fees. Use our cost calculator to see your savings before you speak to a sales rep.
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