This search expert answers 9 beginner questions on SEO and SEM

Disclosure: Webnatics is a partner of Arcadier.

The power of search engines in helping people find your business should be obvious by now. And it would be imprudent to ignore the right SEO and SEM techniques.

Fortunately, our team had a chance to talk with Frieda Lee, general manager at Webnatics Singapore, a search and digital agency with presence in Thailand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

In this interview, she shares with us what site owners need to know about SEO and SEM today.

From left to right: Frieda Lee, Wilfred Chua (CEO and founder), Julie Chiam (Group Account Director). Photo credit: Webnatics.

What is the relationship between SEO and SEM?

That’s a very common question. And often, the words SEM and SEO are used without proper understanding. SEO is the practice of optimizing the content and structure of a website so that it is readable to search engine spiders. SEM is online advertising where you only pay per click when a customer goes to your website.

These two disciplines go hand in hand because:

• Great SEO can lead to cheaper SEM costs.
• SEO rankings are free […].
• Customers’ brand names should be number one on Google search results pages (SEO), as that is brand advocacy.
• Expensive and high volume keywords on SEM should be “SEO-ed” so that you can benefit from more paid and organic traffic to your website.

There’s a lot more to consider, but these are the few more evident and important ones to any marketer who considers ROI and performance marketing.

When should a business use SEM?

[…] We ask businesses the hard questions about their intended marketing goals and expected returns on investment. Then, we look at their digital fundamentals:

• Is the website optimized for Google?
• Is the client tracking the right metrics?
• Is there a viable value proposition and commercial market fit between the company’s offerings and their customers?

When these (and more) questions are answered, then a company can start SEM, as it is still the most cost-efficient media channel to date.

What makes a good search ad?

A good search ad would have crystalized the client’s communication message—the combination of consumer, competition, and company. It also has enough call to action to entice the searcher to come to the website.

Additionally, it must display all the needed DNA—site link, call, structured snippet extensions, etc. These best […] practices change all the time, and I highly recommend that you go back to your agency or marketing team to ask these questions.

What should a business do in high CPC environments with a limited budget?

What are the key metrics for AdWords?

What are the best ways to improve conversion rates in SEM?

What are good resources to track changes in the search industry?

What are some recent changes in Google’s algorithm and what is your advice?

Being in the search industry for 15 years, what keeps your passion alive?