Both digital marketing and SEO are considered to be processes through which the reach of a particular website and products and services can be increased. In other words, both of them are too used to be able to reach more customers for a website or product or service.
Key Takeaways
- Digital marketing is a broad term that encompasses all marketing activities conducted online. At the same time, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a specific technique to improve a website’s visibility and ranking in search engine results.
- Digital marketing includes strategies like social media, email, and content marketing, while SEO focuses on optimizing a website’s content and structure for search engines.
- Digital marketing and SEO are important components of online marketing but have different goals and techniques.
Digital Marketing vs SEO
The difference between Digital Marketing and SEO is that Digital Marketing refers to using videos, ads, posts, or social media to increase outreach. In contrast, SEO involves bringing up the website or page to rank higher upon searching.
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Digital marketing is a vast term that encompasses a lot of activities. For instance, marketing through social media, YouTube videos, search engine optimization (SEO), and many other things.
SEO refers to Search Engine Optimisation and is a part of the broader term Digital Marketing. As a part of SEO, a website is optimized to rank higher when searched about related aspects.
This brings up the website’s position on the search engine and thus increases the chances of the website being referred to.
Comparison Table
| Parameter of Comparison | Digital Marketing | SEO |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Digital marketing encompasses various techniques to market websites or products, or services online. | SEO refers to optimizing the website and its content to increase its chances of being seen and, in other words, optimizing it to rank higher on the search engine. |
| Scope | Digital marketing is a broader term as it includes numerous methods and techniques of marketing. | SEO has a narrower scope as it can be called a part of digital marketing. |
| Components | Digital marketing has several components, such as using social media, YouTube videos, even SEO, and many other ways. | SEO is itself a component of digital marketing. It only involves the idea of optimizing a website. |
| Specialists | Digital marketing specialists or managers may efficiently handle every aspect, including SEO. | SEO specialists are generally more into ways and techniques of optimizing a website productively to increase traffic and, thus, revenue. They may or may not be proficient in other aspects of digital marketing. |
| Set standard | Digital marketing does not have a stringent standard to be followed while performing the operations. | SEO has set standards to optimize a website in a pattern and manner to move it higher in the search results. |
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is using various methods and techniques to increase the outreach of a website, product, or service and thus increase the traffic and, ultimately, the revenue for the company.
It has several components, or let’s say, it can be performed through various methods and platforms.
For instance, using Social Media platforms to post about it, posting videos on YouTube, giving ads on Social Media or Google or YouTube, through Search Engine Optimisation, and so many other ways.
It is evident from this that digital marketing is an extensive term encompassing many ways, methods, or techniques.
A digital marketing specialist is a person who has excellent proficiency in possibly all aspects of it, including SEO. There is no set standard or course to get into digital marketing.
However, these days, various vocational courses include digital marketing, which enhances a person’s abilities in the field.
Moreover, no set standard is required to be followed while performing the operations related to it. In other words, doing or not doing something before or after another is not mandatory.
To explain, everybody can have different marketing strategies on the digital platform.
What is SEO?
SEO refers to Search Engine Optimisation. In other words, it is a process that involves optimizing a website in a particular manner so that it ranks higher in search engine searches.
SEO is a specific method in Digital Marketing. Simply put, it has a narrower scope than digital marketing as it is a part of it. This is also why it does not have specific components, as it is a digital marketing component.
However, SEO has a standard which is ideally required to be followed while optimizing the website so that the traffic increases, thus leading to a rise in the revenue for the company.
Moreover, SEO Specialists are generally highly proficient in optimizing websites per the industry patterns so that it appears higher on the search engine while searching.
While optimizing the website, poor-quality content is removed and the remaining content is also improved so that it is looked upon favourably by significant search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.
When this happens, the website will be ranked higher on these search engines and thus will have a better chance of being viewed.
Main Differences Between Digital Marketing and SEO
Though the terms are closely related, the significant differences are discussed below.
- The first and foremost difference is that digital marketing involves various methods and techniques, including SEO. On the contrary, SEO is just a component of digital marketing.
- Furthermore, digital marketing has a broader scope as compared to SEO because it has various components, and one of them is SEO itself.
- Some digital marketing components may be social media marketing, YouTube video publicity, ads, SEO etc. SEO, in itself, is a method of digital marketing through which the website’s ranking can be improved.
- Moreover, digital marketing specialists may be proficient in all aspects of it. However, SEO specialists don’t need to be able to handle other aspects of digital marketing.
- Lastly, pursuing digital marketing does not require a set standard to be followed, but it is ideal to follow a particular standard in SEO to make it more search engine friendly.
- https://www.deslegte.be/files/samples/books/9789462762022.pdf
- https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01449453/document
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Chara Yadav holds MBA in Finance. Her goal is to simplify finance-related topics. She has worked in finance for about 25 years. She has held multiple finance and banking classes for business schools and communities. Read more at her bio page.
SEO gives us free traffic from search engines. Digital marketing is a generic term to cover all type of marketing that is done on the internet.