June 12, 2024 – An SEO (Search Engine Optimization specialist) is a professional who focuses on improving the visibility and relevance of websites on search engines such as Google, Bing, Google Images and YouTube. SERP stands for Search Engine Result Page, the page of search results that a search engine displays when a user searches for certain keywords. A website’s position on the SERP can rise or fall depending on the relevance of the website or its content.
A high position on Google’s results page leads to more visitors to the website than a low position. SEO specialists use various techniques to improve Google rankings, including keyword research, content optimization, obtaining relevant links, and technical optimization of the website.
The goal of an SEO specialist is to make a website rank as high as possible for relevant search terms, attracting more organic traffic and increasing the website’s online visibility and authority. SEO is an essential part of digital marketing and can contribute significantly to a company’s online success. To remain effective, an SEO specialist must keep abreast of the latest algorithm updates and trends in search engine optimization to continually improve website performance and attract more visitors.
What is the difference between an SEO specialist and an SEA specialist?
The functions of an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) specialist and a SEA (Search Engine Advertising) specialist are often confused with each other, partly because their designations differ by only one letter. However, the roles and approaches of these professionals differ significantly. SEO focuses on organically improving a website’s position in search results, while SEA is all about paid advertising to appear at the top of search results.
How does a search engine work?
To better understand the difference between SEO and SEA, it is helpful to know how the results page of search engines such as Google or Bing is structured. When you enter a search term into Google, for example, you are presented with a list of search results. The first one to four results are often ads (SEA ads). These are paid ads that ensure your website is among the first to be shown. The position and number of ads depend on the keywords you search for. Keywords have a certain search volume and a price; in general, the more specific the keyword, the higher the cost.
What does an SEA specialist do?
A SEA specialist deals with setting up, managing and analyzing ad campaigns. This specialist ensures that ads are displayed effectively, generating direct traffic to the website through payments to search engines such as Google Ads and Microsoft Ads.
What does an SEO specialist do?
Below the ads appear the organic search results. These are ranked based on a website’s technology, content and authority. Ranking is also influenced by user intent, where search history can be taken into account to show the most relevant results. The goal of an SEO specialist is to attract the right visitors to the website through organic search results without paying for those clicks.
An SEO specialist works with developers, marketers and content creators to ensure that the website meets search engine requirements and contains the right keywords. Key tasks include audience research, keyword research and analyzing search behavior. The specialist optimizes website content and integrates keywords naturally into texts, titles and descriptions.
Technical optimization is also crucial for high ranking in search results. This includes improving the technical structure of the website, increasing loading speed and resolving technical issues. In addition, an SEO specialist works to obtain relevant and quality links from other websites to increase the authority of the website.
Key differences between SEO and SEA
SEO | SEA |
---|---|
Organic traffic | Paid traffic |
SEO tools and Google Search Console | Google Ads and Microsoft Ads |
Long-term investment | Short-term investment |
Key similarities between SEO and SEA
- Both use keywords in search engines.
- Relevance of search results and user intent are essential.
- Both strive to be at the top of the results page.