SEO and SMM: How to Understand the Difference

Posted on the 21 February 2013 by Babanature @proudlyonenaija

Here are two terms you often read online, and yet nobody ever really tells you what they mean. Articles will drop them into the text and assume that you know what they mean. Some people will Google their definition, but will still be left with more questions than answers. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and SMM stands for Social Media Marketing. Here is an explanation of what they are and how they differ.

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What exactly is SEO?

There are a set of rules and guidelines that Google and the other search engines have laid out. The guidelines are things you should do if you would like your website to rank higher on the search engines results pages. The rules are things that you have to follow if you do not want to end up being suspended from the search engines results pages. You can perform off-page and on-page SEO, but your on-page SEO is the only one you have direct control over.

What exactly is SMM?

Social media marketing involves disseminating (Spread) information around the incredibly large social media audience in order to promote a service, product or business. However, it has expanded a little into being a great market research tool, and a questions and answer forum. Primarily SMM represents a part of your marketing campaign that involves influencing and engaging the people who use social media.

Why do we have SEO?

If we did not have any guidelines then people could only guess as to what makes a website index worthy. The variety in websites would increase massively, but it would mean that search engines could ignore potentially good websites. If there were no SEO rules then people could manipulate the guidelines to reach the top of Google’s search engine results page without ever offering any useful service to their viewers.

Why do we have SMM?

Social media has a lot of users. This includes a very large group of people who are all potential customers. SMM is a way of engaging them with the hopes of gaining their support or gaining them as customers. SMM may also help a webmaster to manipulate the SEO value that social media now contains.

Can SEO be applied to SMM?

Yes, it can. Social media marketing can involve things such as keywords, which will relate SMM campaigns back to the websites that they are supporting. Things such as links and widgets can be placed on social media profiles and on websites to the mutual benefit of both.

Can SMM be applied to SEO?

Yes, it can. Google announced that things such as social media markers and mentions will now be taken into account when it comes to SEO. If a social media profile links to you, or talks about your site, then it will all add to your search engine optimization. Plus, if you add things such as Facebook “Like” widgets to your web pages and people click them, then it will also add to your websites SEO.

Can a website function without SEO and SMM?

They can function very well, but you will have to find another way of gaining traffic without the help of a search engine or social media website. It is not impossible, as there are a lot of ways of gaining traffic on the Internet. It is just that search engines and social media are very effective methods that are also free (which is a bonus).

Can you make money with SEO?

You can use SEO to get more traffic from search engines, but what you do with that traffic when it gets to your website is going to determine how much money you make. Search engines make getting traffic a lot easier, but do not give you any help in making your viewers stay on your page. On the other hand, it is difficult to get traffic to come from social media onto your website, but whist on social media you can spend your time getting into your potential customers good books before they are exposed to your websites marketing efforts.

Can you make money with SMM?

Just as with SEO, you can gain more traffic through social media marketing, but what you do with the traffic when it gets to your website is going to determine how much money you make. You can use social media marketing to soften your audience up, so that you sales copy on your website is more effective.

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