The Key Difference Between SEO and SMO
Understand Search Engine Optimization & Social Media Optimization
SEO, SEM, SMO, SMM, PPC… there are way too many acronyms in the digital marketing world, and they can confuse newbies. In fact, it’s not uncommon that someone confuses some of these terms, and ends up making mistakes in their business because of it.
What Is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization and refers to the techniques and strategies used to help boost a website’s ranking on the most popular search engines like Google and Bing. All search engines work relatively similarly, and all have the same goals.
Search engine optimization aims to get your website the highest possible ranking position for the keyword you want. To do that, here is what’s required
- Keyword Planning: Keywords are specific words or phrases that the search engine looks at to determine whether to show a page or not. To get the most out of SEO, you need to be planning which keywords you want to show. Tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can help you find relevant keywords for your business.
- Content: Your content is key. It’s the content that’s going to determine whether or not someone is satisfied with their search, and Google knows that. High-quality content relevant to the keyword you want to rank for is paramount.
- Title Tags: These tags are in the HTML code and indicate what a piece of content is about. Putting important keywords in your title tags as part of a relevant title is important to tell the search engines to show your page.
- Link Building: Quality websites have lots of sites linking back to them. While doing SEO, you want to focus on getting sites to link back to your site. There are many ways to do this.
- User-Friendly Website: If your website is hard to use, Google will take notice when people are backing away from your site and going to other sites instead. You want to have a smooth, user-friendly website that is easy to read and use.
How SEO Works
Highly ranked websites in search engine results are perceived to have credibility and importance by both search engines and their users. SEO is the method that develops that perception. SEO works due to three primary tools, Technical SEO, On-Page SEO, and off-page SEO.
- Technical SEO: These are those back-end computer software technical things like coding so Google search engines will crawl (or read) and index (or take stock of) your website.
- On-Page SEO: Sare the tags that you add into the content of a website such as titles, headers, keywords, Meta descriptions, etc. that enhance the user’s experience on the website page.
- Off-Page SEO is the process of getting backlinks from other quality websites that serve to increase the authority of your website. Think of it like an expert vouching for your credibility.
What Is Social Media Optimisation (SMO)?
SMO is short for Social Media Optimization. This refers to improving your social media profiles to get the most visibility for your organic posts.
Social media optimization aims to get as many people on social networks to see your organic posts. To do that, here are some things you should do.
- Create Shareable Content: Make content people WANT to share. To do this, your content has to get attention, pique interest, and inspire a desire to get people to share it.
- Make Sharing Content Easy: By encouraging people to share your content and making it as simple as clicking a button, you can get more eyeballs to your website.
- Value to Users: It’s not enough that your content is interesting, your content actually has to give users a payoff. Do you run a contracting company? Help people learn how to choose a contractor. Do you run a health clinic? Give them important health tips. The sky is the limit here.
Is Social Media Advertising Effective?
97% of companies of all sizes reach a large audience at a relatively low cost via social media. Every social media marketing Atlanta and social media advertising Cumming post you make is an opportunity to convert people to customers and increase your business's SEO ranking. 58% of marketers who have been using social media for one year or longer have seen improved search engine rankings.
Businesses can put on a human face and interact with customers on social media. Studies show that social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.
