SEO, SEA, SMO,
SEM… what are we
talking about?

SE0 – the acronym for Search Engine Optimization

We decided to start this article with the basics of SEO. SEO literally means Search Engine Optimization.

The goal is to position yourself on the front page of relevant research results for your website. For example, you have a hair salon located in Mile-End in Montreal. Thus, you want that when someone types a search such as “Hairdresser in the mile end”, your website appears among the first results.

The operation is quite simple: it involves seducing Google by respecting its many criteria for website referencing. The more criteria that are met, the more the relevance score assigned to a page will increase, and therefore, the positioning of this page, in particular, is optimal. What are those criteria? The list is pretty long because we are talking about a hundred criteria that are divided into different disciplines.

Here are some examples:

• Technical elements (domain name, code compliance, web hosting…)
• Pages’ content (texts’ relevance, images’ names…)
• Presence of external links (backlinks on other sites)

SEA – the acronym for paid search results

The SEA, meanwhile, means Search Engine Advertising. It’s a way of using the commercial links posted on Google to promote a website.

On Google, there is so many advertising links or ad that appears about different websites. You may also have seen so-called “sponsored” links, ie which include a small box or is written “ad” below. This is where Google displays your specific website’s pages that you want to highlight by “renting” keywords.

Concretely, investments are made via the AdWords platform which accounts for more than 90% of investments in the SEA. The budgets invested by companies are quickly growing. Now PLA (Product Listing Ads) is more important than simple sponsored links.

Optimization by social networks or SMO

You have now understood the concept of SEO. Now let’s talk about another positioning technique: SMO.

SMO, or Social Media Optimization, is a technique that allows a website to improve its visibility, placement and brand identity. The actions are conducted exclusively on social media, but it’s mainly concentrated on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram. That said, you should only use the ones that are best suited to your industry and goals.

Inspired by SEO’s techniques and methods, the SMO is also an excellent complement to SEO. For example, it can use Youtube videos to refer to your website. Also, it can be used as viral marketing, content sharing or “likes” on networks. Finally, the SMO is also used to provide better communication and greater responsiveness with fans who wish to exchange with your brand.

Its goal is to improve the global referencing of your website and thus of your brand via its notoriety on the social networks. It’s a technique that allows better management of your e-reputation and can contribute greatly to the creation or evolution of your brand image. Thanks to the constant evolution of this field, new working methods are constantly being developed.

SEM or Search Engine Marketing

This last acronym will allow us to make a recap that will help you better understand every concept.

This term is commonly use to refer to what is called Search Engine Marketing. This means that the goal is to use search volumes generated by Internet users. Every time you go on Google for any research, Google records what you type – the keywords – which then allow the search engine to synthesize the search volume on each keyword.

Now you will ask, how does this help synthesize our article today? Well, it’s simple. The SEM is actually the combination of both forms of SEO: natural and paid. So, SEM = SEA + SEO.

For a certain time, the SMO notion was included in this formula, but it no longer appears. Indeed, the method used by the SMO does not follow the same approach since it is about optimizing its site externally and not internally.