This article, part of a simplified series, aims to demystify Digital Marketing and technical terms used by marketing agencies. It is, by design, a shallow primer, basic introduction. Learn more: Ande Digital: Search Marketing support.
Once apon a time, SEM and SEO were thought of as separate disciplines. SEO was about bringing your site to the (positive) attention of Search Engines. SEM was about getting the attention of humans. Potential customers. In truth, if done well, they worked in tandem.
The Internet, being fluid, is constantly changing. When Google, upgraded it's hitherto stupid robots to think like humans in search, marketers were then forced to rethink and also treat both SEO and SEM from the customer perspective.
2016 Ande Digital began calling SEO Search EXPERIENCE Optimisation because a superior user search experience is what robots are looking for. A good experience for their search customers. IE: you and I.
SEO: science of preparing (Optimising) a web page to attract search robots and rank higher.
SEM: strategy of refining a business' online presence, usually through Internet advertising whilst providing business with strategic data on how people interact with the page
Today SEO and SEM combine to refine and maximise the business' web presence so it attracts high quality visitors predisposed to purchase. SEO /SEM now called Search Marketing. However, modern marketers are also incorporating GEO in their mix
We see S.E.O. (Search Experience Optimisation) as the first step in SEM. (Search Engine Marketing)
It's like building a house:You can't put up the roof without walls. Walls need a solid foundation.
Looking at it another way. You may have built up your brick and mortar business, offer an excellent product, superb customer service so you expand with an on line presence. But, if you site is slow to open, complex, difficult to navigate, disorganised and crashes or freezes regularly, your hard earnt reputation in in jeopardy.
SEO / EM are no longer separate disciplines, one is interdependent on the other.
SEO is technical site optimisation - health examination - maximising its "Search Engine friendliness" helping it rank above your competitor. Our view is: if you are spending money on SEM, you'd want your site ranking as high as possible. At the very least, higher than the opposition.
A common question. Technically yes - but given the money invested in SEM, that isn’t something we recommend if you are expecting a good return. Which you should be.
However, being honest, you are likely to get mixed replies to that question - which doesn't really help. We know of brands that have done SEM without SEO and everything worked fine. We can't really say they were lucky - luck doesn't really amount to much when your dealing with a Robot. More likely is that their site was, perhaps, relatively new and had been well designed from the get go. Kudos to them for that.
We mentioned new because as pages age, they become modified, updated. Small, unnoticed errors slip in - these small oversights can - sometimes - cause big issues with Robots. Even penalties. Duplicate content is a common - unintentional - problem.
So again, yes, you can, but unless your website is newish, and you KNOW beyond any shadow of doubt that it is clean and tight - it's not really worth the the risk. Sure, having an SEO check adds to the cost, but ask anyone who's had one and they will tell you, sorting out a Google etal penalty is many times more time consuming. And time, is money. Big money in Tech.
Our suggestion is, at the very least, ask for an SEO analysis - that way you can be sure.
Having said that, to protect our reputation, Ande Digital does not generally accept SEM without SEO. In the extremely unlikely chance we were to do so we would require a legally binding agreement from you that you have waived SEO and are proceeding against our advice.
For more information or free analysis relative to your company and the China Market we invite you to meet us personally or - E-mail / Telephone