SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SMM (Social Media Marketing) are essential part of digital marketing and both are aimed to increase the traffic of a given website. The major difference between SEO and SMM is the platform which they use for their services. SEO uses search engine like Google, Yahoo, etc., while SMM uses different social media such as Face book, Twitter, and Instagram.
Search Engine Optimization: SEO technique provides high-quality traffic to specific websites and indexes them at the top of the search engine results. It also helps to improve Search Engine Result Page (SERP).There are two types of SEO techniques: On-page and Off-Page.
On-Page technique presents friendly navigation, fast loading of a page, mobile friendly pages, and high-quality content.
Top On-page Elements in SEO
- Headings: Heading should reflect accurate page content of any website.
- URL structure: A well-crafted URL provides search engine and customer’s better understanding of destination page. Human-readable and semantically accurate URL will improve the user experience.
- Page load time: For better user experience, search engine needs minimum page loading time. Thus page should be optimized in order to rank higher in search engine results.
- Page content: Page content should be useful to the users so that they can receive specific data through the website.
- Internal linking and ALT text for images: Internally linking websites with other pages might help visitors as well as search engine. Including ALT text to images helps blind people to understand the content of the images.
Off-page SEO increases the domain authority of a website by getting links from other websites. The more links your website has, the higher your pages rank.
Top Off-page Elements in SEO
- Back links: If the other websites find content effective, they provide back link to that particular website which increases the search engine ranking.
- Social media: In order to develop online reputation, advertise or market, it is necessary to be a part of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. For that, websites need to create their own profile through which they can interact with people and advertise their brands.
- Social bookmarking: To promote the website, social bookmarking websites like Reddit, StumbleUpon are beneficial because the content on these sites are updated frequently.
- Review websites: Writing reviews on others businesses and getting reviews on your brands in review sites like RateitAll, Kaboodle will improve the websites ranking.
Social Media Marketing: If a company or brand is on social media, it gains more visibility and becomes easier to find. Nowadays brands are interacting with customers on social media in order to achieve their marketing and branding goals. Social media involves videos and image update to engage the customer. Social media marketing functions on social media optimization principle which means improvement of company image on social networks. There are two types of Social Media Marketing promotion:
- Active SMM promotion: Active promotion refers to the link addition of any website or brand to the social network.
- Passive SMM promotion: Promoting activities like status, blog, article, images or tweets on social media is called Passive SMM promotion, and user experience is considered to resolve problem or dissatisfaction, so that brand quality can improve.
Social media marketing helps websites and brands in these aspects:
- Increasing website traffic.
- Building conversions.
- Raising brand awareness.
- Creating a brand identity and positive brand association.
- Improving communication and interaction with prospective audiences.
Social media traffic differs from SEO-driven natural traffic
- Search engines are used for researches and finding some significant or particular information about a service or a product. But social media is quite different from this as people do not search for any specific information on social media. Generally people are mostly engaged in socializing or entertainment on social media. So traffic coming from social media is quick interest in particular content.
- Social media visitors need to invest more in particular topic due to personalization or generalization of a social media while search engine traffic is dedicated to specifics. Decision making will be easier through search engine rather than social media. People will only get personalized information about any product in social media while search engines will provide information based upon the reviews of that particular product.
- Search engine has to provide more information about business to the traffic and takes more time to result into conversion. At the same time traffic that comes from social media is already connected with brand or business that do not need any introduction about the product or services and will translate into conversion quickly.
SEO is a time-consuming process which includes all search engine updates. On the other hand SMM uses social media for promotion which is growing rapidly. SMM is comparatively easier than SEO because creating good content and presenting to the right customers on social media can help get more business.
Digital Catalyst Group provides excellent SEO services to companies who are operating from Dallas, Texas! Get in touch with us if you require Search Engine Optimization & would like to be prominently visible over the internet.
Difference between SEO and SMM FAQs
What are the main goals of SEO?
The main goals of SEO are to –
- Improve a website’s visibility in search engines
- Increase organic traffic
- Attract relevant visitors who are searching for the products, and services for a business
What are the main goals of SMM?
The main goals of SMM are to –
- Build brand awareness
- Increase social media following
- Engage with the target audience
- Drive website traffic
- Generate leads or sales
How long does it take to see results with SEO?
The time required to see SEO results varies and is based on various factors that include but is not limited to –
- Competitiveness of the keywords
- Quality of optimization efforts
- Authority of the website
It takes 3 months to 1 year to see noticeable improvements and significant results.
How quickly can I expect results with SMM?
SMM can generate quick results when compared to SEO. You can start seeing engagement, increased followers, and website traffic within a week to 1 month. At times it can come within days.
