SEO On-Air: SEO vs. SEM

In this episode, we cover:

Today, we are talking to Bryan Shetsky, the CEO of Lamark Media. He has a demonstrated history of working in the marketing and advertising industry with a speciality in digital.

Bryan is a strong business development professional with proven leadership that drives growth. Bryan graduated from Warrington College of Business with a BSBA in Finance from the University of Florida.

In this episode, he will discuss SEO vs. SEM.

Stay tuned for the next podcast episode, where our guest, Michael Johnson, discusses SEO goals agencies must try to achieve for clients.

Show Notes Explanation

Hey everyone, this is Senthil. Welcome to another episode of SEO On-Air. Today we are going to put to rest the age-old discussion of SEO vs. SEM. Joining me to is Mr. Bryan Shetsky, the CEO of Lamark Media. Welcome to the show, Bryan.

Time Stamp: 02:00-05:43

How Would SEO and SEM pan out in the future?

• We see several behavioral changes in this COVID situation.
• People are not going out now, so people are going digital for entertainment.
• One of the things that changed is how brands interact with people.
• We have seen a decrease in search intent because people don’t know what they want.
• However, on social media, you can push content to people based on their personas and interests.
• Therefore I think investing in SEO and SEM is more important than ever right now.

Time Stamp: 06:01-09:30

Is this the right time for new e-commerce store owners to invest in SEM?

• It depends on the business and its goals.
• Marketing is a tool to drive business goals.
• Right now, it’s the right time for directing e-commerce stores, especially. e-commerce brings things to your doorstep, which is seeing tremendous growth during COVID.

Time Stamp: 10:03-12:22

Do you think successful campaigns can run without human intervention, through automation?

• There are a lot of things that you can automate through automation tools.
• You can automate citations, local listings, and a lot of other things.
• You cannot automate certain things, but for most things, you can automate stuff.

Time Stamp: 12:55-18:10

Is there a checklist for choosing the best SEO and SEM agencies?

• When you look at an agency, you’ll have to check their competency.
• You’ll have to analyze whether they understand SEO and SEM in depth.
• Quality and relevance of content are very important today, so you need to check out whether they have a good content team.
• SEO reporting is also an essential factor to consider. Ensure that the agency you choose sends you regular SEO reports.
• Make sure the agencies have enough resources, use the best industry practices, and are up to date with the industry norms.
• For SEM, ensure that the agency understands all platforms and how they work.
• Finally, agencies must be ready to adapt changes and help you grow.

Time Stamp:  19:24-22:25

Is there any correlation between organic ranking and SEM?

• There is definitely a benefit, if not a correlation between the two.
• If you think about the algorithm, they are trying to understand human behavior and show the best search results.
• So, algorithms are trying to deliver relevancy and quality.
• If a website gets a lot of traffic, it shows the algorithms that people are getting a good experience from that site.
• This will also improve your SEO.

Time Stamp: 22:47-24:33

Does boosting a page on Facebook and Twitter help in organic rankings?

• Yeah, if the site is having good value and has relevancy on a given topic, then it will surely help in improving the organic ranking through SEO.
• Reviews are critical as social signals.
• Social engagement absolutely correlates to ranking on organic.