What is the purpose of SEO and SMO? This is one question that should primarily be delved upon before deliberating on the one which holds more significance. The advent of social media has grown exponentially since 2012 with social media gaining dominance over search engines. While SEO is aimed at making websites search engine friendly, SMO focuses on the optimization of web pages for social media platforms. The benefit of SMO is clearly evident in the "share ability" of information among connected members on the social network as this allows greater inbound links for a particular webpage to turn up during search queries. The reason behind the sustenance of debate between both of these marketing tools lies in the fact that SEO and SMO have uniquely identified differences despite possessing similar functions and usage.
Optimizing Search Engines - Is It Still Relevant?
Optimizing search engines to "find" your webpage and list it among the top results has been the primary effort of SEO activities. When reliance is made on the search engine's ability to detect favourable web pages, one needs only to tweak certain factors for enhancing its visibility to the search engines. The concern with SEO is that the results usually take months to reflect desirous outcomes, and even then there exists no guarantee that the web page would make it to the top of the list.
Keywords or search terms are the main components which enable web pages to obtain better ranking in the list. These search terms may either be purchased (providing high search probability due to 'paid' search) or the effort may be made purely organic with the use of unique and high quality content that encourages readers to access the intended web page (the effectiveness of this measure solely depends on the quality of the content and its ability to captivate the interest of the readers).
To pay or not to pay for the search terms is indeed the question, but considering the lack of predictability of outcomes and the associated duration of achieving visible outcomes, it is wise to avoid investing in paid searches if the results are desired earlier. New research conducted to identify the effectiveness of organic searches in comparison to paid searches revealed that organic searches would never be able to generate as much visibility that is made possible with paid searches. Statistical studies have concluded that only 13% of the search results are organic while the other results are often junk content or ads that hold no relevance.
The Prominent Rise of Social Media Optimization:
The rise of the social media optimization trend may be attributed to two key factors, namely the immense connectivity of users in a social network and the possibility of making content go viral. SMO is a fairly young entrant in the online marketing domain but holds immense potential which is evident in greater outcomes being achieved in significantly less times. The only requirement for successful SMO implementation is that the content should have relevance to current updates and should be shareable in nature. The requisites for SMO content not only requires it to be easy but also encourages the existence of rewards in any form for engagement in sharing such that proactive sharing of content is induced.
However, unlike the longer sustenance of SEO efforts, an SMO campaign may stall out if constant updates or connections with the social media members are not maintained. The use of SMO may be related to real world scenarios where updated information and frequent socialization ensures the sustenance of better relationship. SMO, if used, should be done with adequate care as lack of required efforts can not only cause the effort to degrade but the results could be less than those obtained from SEO.
While SMO puts the marketing professional at the helms of the campaign with each aspect being handled and monitored by him, the greater control comes at a higher cost of constantly adhering to the interests of the social media members in order to sustain the presence of the campaign.
SEO vs SMO - Which One Reigns Supreme?
SEO and SMO have their own unique capabilities but it is an exercise in futility to try to identify which technique reigns supreme in the online marketing arena. Many have claimed that the advent of SMO has signalled the end of SEO activities. But is it so? Social media may have considerable size and digital space but it does not encompass the entire cyber space. Crawler programs have been designed to analyse pages and bring them up in searches if they match the criteria. The reason for the existence of crawlers is that web pages have an individualistic identity that is necessary for it to reflect on the search engines. Social media may provide the means to attain faster recognition but half hearted efforts can cause serious repurcurtions for the campaign.
The Cohesive Potential of SMO and SEO:
Both SEO and SMO can drive significant traffic if used correctly. However, when used in synergy with both of their attributes being aligned with the marketing effort, one can achieve immensely high traffic levels for a particular web page. The best results can only be achieved if both techniques are used cohesively such that both neutralize the negative impacts of each other, thereby rendering the best of both worlds. The importance of quality of content is evident in both techniques and forms the basis on which the crawlers hook on to a relevant page. The secrets to achieving a successful web page lies in achieving significant results in short time with SMO and sustaining the success for longer durations with the use of SEO. A smart approach to online marketing efforts is to lay emphasis on encasing the best of both available techniques instead of scrutinizing them on their weaknesses, for more info visit: systematixonlinemarketing.com
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