SEO and SEM: what are the differences?

What the SEO and SEM abbreviations mean, what differences there are between these two activities and how they can help a website

Those who intend to increase the visibility of their website on search engines must have a clear idea of ​​what SEO and SEM are . In this guide we will find out together what is the difference between SEO and SEM , what specific techniques these two activities adopt and how they can help make a site more visible on Google and other search engines.

What is SEO

SEO stands for " Search Engine Optimization ", which, translated into Italian from English, means " Optimization for search engines ".

It is, more concretely, the specific area that includes within it all the strategies and techniques aimed at improving the positioning of a website among the organic , i.e. non-paid, results of the search engines.

The aim is to make sure that, when a user searches on Google for a specific keyword linked to the activity, his site appears among the first organic results of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).

Specifically, SEO includes three main macro-activities and, that is, the choice of keywords for which you intend to position the site within the search engines, the On-Page SEO, which in turn includes optimization SEO of HTML code and optimization of website content , and Off-Page SEO , which includes for example the management of incoming links.

What is SEM

SEM is an abbreviation that stands for " Search Engine Marketing " and identifies a wider area of ​​SEO, which includes SEO itself but also SEA . The latter is an acronym for "Search Engine Advertising" and is the discipline that includes all the strategies and techniques aimed at increasing the visibility of a website by improving the positioning of the site itself among the paid results of the search engines .

Going back to SEM, this is the specific branch of Web Marketing which includes those activities carried out in order to conduct as many users as possible on their website while browsing on search engines.

Therefore, the scope of Search Engine Marketing includes the aforementioned activities of:

·         Keyword analysis

·         On-page SEO

·         Off-page SEO

·         Pay-per-click campaigns .

·         That said, over the past few years the acronym SEM has been increasingly used to refer exclusively to paid activities (SEA). On the contrary, to indicate the area that SEO and SEA encompasses, the term " Search Marketing " has generally been used .

Those who intend to increase the visibility of their site on search engines must consider two parameters :

·         The available budget.

·         The time horizon in which you intend to obtain results .

SEO NYC generally takes longer to get concrete results, while sponsored ads usually allow for shorter-term traffic, in proportion to the investment made.

Website crawling, indexing and positioning: the guide

The complete guide to understand the differences between crawling, indexing and positioning of a website and to better manage SEO  strategies to make it perform on search engines

Anyone who creates a website must organize content in an SEO NYC perspective if they want it to be found easily by and on Google (and other search engines). However, positioning your site always in the first search results is not easy if you don't have the right skills. Very often, on the Net, there is confusion between crawling , indexing and positioning of a website. Let's find out the meaning of each term together.

What does it mean to crawl a website

When a user does a search on Google, he does it within the index of the web of Google itself, that is in that part of the internet known by the giant of Mountain View.

The phase where Google detects new pages on the internet is called crawling a website . This process starts from the sitemaps provided by the owners of the websites (these are files containing information on the various elements of the site and the related correlations) and from a list of web addresses created thanks to previous scans. The software used by Google, called the crawler , visits these websites and uses the links inside them to detect new pages, then reporting the data relating to the latter to the "Big G" servers.

Google never accepts payments to perform a more frequent scan of a particular site and provides the same tools to everyone, offering owners various choices regarding the crawling procedure: they can provide detailed instructions on how to process their pages, request a new crawl or completely disable the possibility of receiving one using the file called robots.txt .

What is the indexing of a website

The indexing phase of a website is that in which a new site detected by Google's software is inserted into the search engine database. All the information collected is thus organized within the index, keeping track of keywords, site update date and other key information.

When a web page is indexed, it is added to the entries for all the words it contains. The Google Search index is over 100 million gigabytes and includes hundreds of billions of pages.

Knowing how to index a website is important, but it is also knowing how to prevent this from happening: to deny indexing a page or make sure to remove it from the Google index, you need to use the noindex tag , which, put in the page header, signals to the software not to insert it inside the index.

More complicated, for a site owner, is instead managing to make his page appear in the top positions of the Google search results page. This is where the concept of positioning comes into play.

What does it mean to position a website

Positioning a site means making it appear for specific queries in specific positions in the SERP, that is, among the first search results.

In order to show users the best answers, the Mountain View giant uses an algorithm that depends on various factors, ranging from the freshness and originality of the contents to the usability of the site. The fact that other sites considered authoritative by the search engine contain a link to another page, then, is considered an additional indicator of reliability of the linked page.

Appearing in the top positions on the Google search results page is fundamental for a site, because this guarantees superior visibility compared to competitors. In this regard, a distinction is made between organic positioning (ie that obtained through free SEO optimization strategies and techniques, which affect the "Big G" algorithm) and positioning through paid advertisements sold by the search engine.

Long Tail Keyword: this is what long tail keywords are

Long tail keywords are becoming increasingly important. Here's how they are and how to use them in content to allow it to position itself.

The universe of SEO is a dynamic and constantly evolving cosmos and its rules change rapidly leading to the birth of better and more sophisticated content creation systems, in order to achieve excellent positioning on search engines . 

Over the years the search engines have refined a lot, acquiring the ability to interpret complex queries giving relevance to the meaning of the sentences and the context in which the single words are inserted. Focusing on highly sought after and competitive dry keywords is therefore no longer the only objective to be pursued in terms of ranking, since the relevance of the so-called l tail tail keywords has grown exponentially , with more modest, but much more specific and potentially interesting search volumes for your business.

Let's see together in more detail what long-tail keywords are and why they are important; we also discover how to use them correctly to increase the conversion rate of a website.

What are long tail keywords?

The long tail keywords are literally long tail keywords. In SEO, so called keywords that are opposed to the best known short tail keywords: while the former are not very specific but highly sought after on search engines, and consequently very competitive in terms of positioning, long tail keywords are little keywords sought after but very specific and generally made up of several words .

The power of long tail keywords comes from concepts borrowed from statistics: even if taken individually these are not particularly performing in terms of traffic, the results of all the long tail added together are numerically very relevant and can generate levels of visits, positioning and conversions superior to short tail sisters.

What are the advantages of long tail keywords?

The secret of the efficiency of long tail keywords lies in the concept of market niche: long tail are targeted and structured keywords , which have lower search volumes than more generalist ones, but also a low competitiveness and allow you to position your own content more easily.

It is therefore preferable at times to be the best in a niche rather than to position oneself discreetly in a very large and competitive market sector, especially when the purpose of a content is to sell a product or service. The traffic generated by long tail keywords tends to be higher quality traffic , since the search queries it exploits arise from purchase needs already outlined: the more a product is specific and studied ad hoc for a defined target, the more it will be easily perceived as single.

In this sense, often well tailored long tail keywords included in an editorial plan are capable of generating excellent results in terms of conversions . This especially depends on the point where a content created with this logic enters a sales funnel: when a user searches the web for a long tail keyword, it is likely that he already has in mind what he needs and that it is at an advanced stage of its journey towards the final purchase.

In fact, he has already passed the initial search for information supported by generic keywords, and has come to a precise awareness of what exactly he would like to buy online. Providing him at that moment of the consumer journey with clear and detailed content, positioned thanks to long tail keywords, which expose him to the brand or product he needs exponentially increases the chances of converting him into a real customer.

What tools to use to find appropriate long tail keywords?

There are numerous tools that allow SEO NYC specialists and SEO copywriters to find the best long tail keywords for the content to be created.

Among the most used tools within a long tail SEO plan there are certainly the Google Ads Keyword Planner , or many other free or paid tools (eg Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic, SEMrush, SEOZoom and many others).

Conclusions: best practices of long tail SEO

Using short tail or long tail therefore depends a lot on the business objectives and the intentions with which a content is created. The usual rules of good SEO copywriting also apply to the writing of the actual text: among them the main ones are curated title tags, relevant meta description, heading tags designed ad hoc, and above all a focus on useful and usable contents, which are the as natural and interesting as possible, and which respond effectively and fluently to the real needs of their audience.

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Why create a wireframe for your site

Creating a wireframe for your website or e-commerce allows for a more targeted, effective and precise design

To optimally design a website or e-commerce, it is necessary to better plan its structure and organization of contents through a particular tool called wireframe . This is a technical term that is not very well known, but which refers to a step that is crucial for the success of an online project, in terms of usability but not only.

What is a wireframe and what is it for?

Creating a website or e-commerce from scratch , that is, without a scheme that prefigures its development, is a very wrong operation because it lends its side to unwelcome surprises and errors, as well as to unexpected and often huge expenses.

The term "wireframe" refers to an illustrated scheme which, using different and simplified forms, shows the contents (from text to images) and the functional and navigation elements present within the project.

The wireframe differs from the similar mockup in that the former is a sort of skeleton that identifies the position of the various elements in a schematic way while the latter consists of the model of how the project should be and present itself.

Generally, a wireframe is divided into two parts :

1.       The first represents the structure of the site or e-commerce and its contents

2.       In the second, the notes on the various sections and functions are inserted

Thanks to this schematic illustration, it is possible to have a general idea of ​​the future organization of the site or e-commerce, to understand promptly in which direction the project is developing and to evaluate and approve any changes during the various phases. In particular, the creation of a wireframe allows to focus attention on the architecture of the project , in terms of structure and organization of the contents, but also on its usability and user-side navigability.

One of the main objectives of a wireframe is in fact to understand how the information of the site or e-commerce will be presented to users who visit the site. Another important aim is to establish the importance and priority of the various elements that make up the project. A wireframe also aims to understand what type of features and functionality the site will have.

That's not all: thanks to a wireframe it is also possible to intervene on an old project left in standby and which needs improvement. Resuming its wireframe and using it as a reference gives the possibility to update the site having a clear understanding of where and how to operate.

How to create a wireframe

In practical terms, a wireframe is a document that can be created in various ways . The most immediate one only needs a pencil and a sheet of paper.

Those looking for more elaborate solutions, however, can resort to the help of tools such as Powepoint, Illustrator or Photoshop or use one of the many sophisticated online software. A wireframe can also be made navigable through HTML.

On the web there are several software for creating wireframes for free, some of which without plugins to install, with projects that can be linked or exported in different formats (such as PNG and PDF).

On a practical level, a wireframe must contain, first of all, the description of the main interfaces of the first and second level of the project. The degree of further development is linked to time, the complexity of navigating the site or e-commerce and the importance of the web page.

It is very useful to color the site's wireframe or e-commerce in grayscale , so as to immediately highlight the visual impact of the single element within the project.

In light of what has been said so far, it is necessary to reiterate that those who are thinking of creating a website or an e-commerce for your business must keep in mind the importance of creating a wireframe first, i.e. the skeleton that holds and holds the whole project together.

Why create a wireframe for your site

Creating a wireframe for your website or e-commerce allows for a more targeted, effective and precise website design Services.

Read Also: What cognitive biases are and why they are important in marketing

Read Also: Omnichannel Marketing: a good practice for promotion

Read Also: Smart Shopping Campaigns: what you need to know for your business

Read Also: 20 E-commerce Trends to follow to be successful in sales

Read Also: 5 communicative tricks to overcome the Coronavirus crisis