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Traffic generation is possible via both SEO , SMO. Out of 2, where can you expect more conversions?

by webcontent
21 replies
SEO and SMO both are effective in drawing traffic to one's site. However, the main objective of any webmaster is not traffic rather leads. Out of the two, which option you think is best for leads or rather conversion?
#conversions #expect #generation #seo #smo #traffic
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  • Profile picture of the author InfoHubW
    I am interested to know as well.

    Thanks for the question
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    • Profile picture of the author webcontent
      Originally Posted by InfoHubW View Post

      I am interested to know as well.

      Thanks for the question
      You're welcome! Actually I have analysed that visitors from social media are not leads, but may be there's anything wrong in my strategy. Let's see what the experts say!
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  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    If you are selling something, the ideal visitor is someone who is looking to buy that thing. When people want to buy something, they search for it.

    SEO is going to lead to more conversions. If you are ranking well for something that people actually search for, it only stands to reason that the people who find you that way are going to be far more interested in the content and much more apt to convert.

    SMO has a place because in some instances, a referral can carry a lot of weight if it is from the right person or entity. Keep in mind, however, that few, if any, people go to a social platform intending to buy something.
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    • Profile picture of the author webcontent
      Originally Posted by dave_hermansen View Post

      If you are selling something, the ideal visitor is someone who is looking to buy that thing. When people want to buy something, they search for it.

      SEO is going to lead to more conversions. If you are ranking well for something that people actually search for, it only stands to reason that the people who find you that way are going to be far more interested in the content and much more apt to convert.

      SMO has a place because in some instances, a referral can carry a lot of weight if it is from the right person or entity. Keep in mind, however, that few, if any, people go to a social platform intending to buy something.
      yes, more precisely you mean reviews when you say referrals. Don't you? But then why Social Media is getting popular day by day. See what the hell Facebook and other social media giants have built. And we are not working more on improving SEO to bring leads?
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      • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
        Originally Posted by webcontent View Post

        yes, more precisely you mean reviews when you say referrals. Don't you? But then why Social Media is getting popular day by day. See what the hell Facebook and other social media giants have built. And we are not working more on improving SEO to bring leads?
        You asked for an opinion and I gave it.

        The problem with a very general question is that you get very general answers. How successful social may or may not be is entirely dependent upon the niche. There are some niches where social is super important. There are others where your efforts will bring nothing.

        You also have to realize that social networking is much easier to do than SEO. Because of that, there are a whole lot of people singing its praises and who have had success with it (because they are in social niches).

        The question, I think, was which would convert better (it's hard to tell, it was worded so poorly). That's what I answered.
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        • Profile picture of the author webcontent
          Originally Posted by dave_hermansen View Post

          You asked for an opinion and I gave it.

          The problem with a very general question is that you get very general answers. How successful social may or may not be is entirely dependent upon the niche. There are some niches where social is super important. There are others where your efforts will bring nothing.

          You also have to realize that social networking is much easier to do than SEO. Because of that, there are a whole lot of people singing its praises and who have had success with it (because they are in social niches).

          The question, I think, was which would convert better (it's hard to tell, it was worded so poorly). That's what I answered.
          I totally agree and it was a general discussion I sought after I found you like minded. Since your answer was sensible, so I thought of putting it next.

          Your another view is also correct that Social Media is simple and that's why people go for it and SEO on the contrary is so complicated. Agree both your points.
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  • Profile picture of the author jackherry
    my advise to choice seo to take traffic.

    use seo more than SEM because seo is mother of other digital marketing tools.
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  • Profile picture of the author King Manu
    Should you take the train or the car when going somewhere? (I'm addressing a similar question)

    Sure, the car is more comfortable, but the train doesn't get stuck in traffic and is much faster (in some countries).

    SEO and SMO are two things that work together, and they perform better depending on the niche and what your website has to offer.

    If you sell something or offer some valuable information, SEO is much powerful because people go to search engines to search for what they want.

    If you have a website with cat videos, SEM will perform better with all the sharing and stuff.

    Dave is right, the answer depends on the niche.



    But my question is...

    Why choose one when you can use both?


    And to answer your question as why FB and such are giants. It's because people like to have fun, talk with friends, and they get addicted to their little shots of endorphins when they get a like, sub, etc.

    How much people are willing to spend when they are in the "fun mode"? I think you will find that much less. At least when compared to how much they are willing to spend when they are in "search mode".
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  • Profile picture of the author Tamalkrishna
    Originally Posted by webcontent View Post

    SEO and SMO both are effective in drawing traffic to one's site. However, the main objective of any webmaster is not traffic rather leads. Out of the two, which option you think is best for leads or rather conversion?
    Both of these methods are quite powerful in generating traffic to any website. However I believe that traffic from search engines are more powerful when compared to social media. So obviously SEO is more important to me. Search engine traffic is highly targeted and more powerful.

    And if you can do SEO the right way, it can do wonders for your online business. While SEO is highly important, we cannot ignore the fact that we also need to engage with our customers. That's where social media optimization (SEO) comes into play.

    Although traffic is the most important factor in determining the business health of a website, it's not really what a webmaster looks for. In fact they look for leads, customers and repeat customers. So I believe that the most important thing a webmaster should focus on is SEO.

    SMO comes second always when compared to the power of SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author IGotMine
    It depends on what you're selling and how you've targeted it.

    If searchers who land on your site are using "buying" words or queries that show commercial intent then they will be highly convertible.

    As with many things, IM related there is no one right answer because there are too many variables.
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  • Profile picture of the author savidge4
    When you are talking specifically about "Conversions" this can be discussed on may levels. but I will assume we are talking about the ultimate conversion of actually buying something. The answer without question is SEO out performs SMO.

    With SEO, I can get double digit conversion rates. With Ads on Social I can get double digit conversion rates. BUT directly from a social account... 1% on a really good day UNLESS the social is very specific and almost item specific within a niche.

    That being said, they both have their place. SEO to a degree is a long play. It simply does not happen over night. Not suggesting that SMO happens over night, but if you know what you are doing within a fortnight, you can have converting traffic. SMO is a short term gain, that is lower in terms of conversion but quickly developed.

    I say there has to be a balance.. you optimally want to do both if you are capable. build a site with SEO in mind.. As you are developing content for SMO, think SEO and optimize your content for both efforts. Develop SEO as you are succeeding with SMO. And there comes the point where the pendulum tips and SEO starts to take stride, and out perform your SMO efforts.

    I practice and preach that your primary site is the HUB of all of your online actions. and together with your IG and your FB and your Twitter, and SEO, e-mail, texting, paid ads and whatever it is you are doing to promote your site and your products work TOGETHER as a machine that provides conversions of your products.

    So yes, mathematically SEO is better, but if you are creating REACH for your site, bringing in leads from a multitude of platforms, even with its greater performance it is still just a PIECE of a whole.

    Hope that Helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author webcontent
      Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

      When you are talking specifically about "Conversions" this can be discussed on may levels. but I will assume we are talking about the ultimate conversion of actually buying something. The answer without question is SEO out performs SMO.

      With SEO, I can get double digit conversion rates. With Ads on Social I can get double digit conversion rates. BUT directly from a social account... 1% on a really good day UNLESS the social is very specific and almost item specific within a niche.

      That being said, they both have their place. SEO to a degree is a long play. It simply does not happen over night. Not suggesting that SMO happens over night, but if you know what you are doing within a fortnight, you can have converting traffic. SMO is a short term gain, that is lower in terms of conversion but quickly developed.

      I say there has to be a balance.. you optimally want to do both if you are capable. build a site with SEO in mind.. As you are developing content for SMO, think SEO and optimize your content for both efforts. Develop SEO as you are succeeding with SMO. And there comes the point where the pendulum tips and SEO starts to take stride, and out perform your SMO efforts.

      I practice and preach that your primary site is the HUB of all of your online actions. and together with your IG and your FB and your Twitter, and SEO, e-mail, texting, paid ads and whatever it is you are doing to promote your site and your products work TOGETHER as a machine that provides conversions of your products.

      So yes, mathematically SEO is better, but if you are creating REACH for your site, bringing in leads from a multitude of platforms, even with its greater performance it is still just a PIECE of a whole.

      Hope that Helps!
      So far everyone has this view only.I believe that's right. SEO has to be given priority over SMO. Though SEO is time taking still it has to be given a priority if you need long term and everlasting benefits.
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      • Profile picture of the author savidge4
        Originally Posted by webcontent View Post

        So far everyone has this view only.I believe that's right. SEO has to be given priority over SMO. Though SEO is time taking still it has to be given a priority if you need long term and everlasting benefits.
        As much as what you are paraphrasing is true, making SEO a "Priority" over SMO is a bit of a mistake.

        Regardless of your efforts be it SEO or SMO the key ingredient is CONTENT. A piece of content for your website is directly related to SEO. However there is no reason that exact same piece of content cant be 10 to 15 pieces of content for your SMO efforts.

        Look at this: https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...bscribers.html Sure he is creating video, but is later transcripting the content for his site, he could then pull snippets for twitter, images over onto Pinterest, and IG sharing on Quora on Facebook etc etc

        Understanding that your SEO and SMO efforts are not Exclusive, but inclusive as a whole is the part I see many fail at. Make that piece of content work for you, instead of working on content for this that and the other.

        Again the concept that your website is the hub of your efforts you can rework its content in context on your outside SMO efforts to draw the traffic and ultimately conversions.

        And again YES, SEO is better in the long haul... but where would you be a year from now if you focused on your site only vs distributing what you already have across 5 different platforms. 2 posts a week, 104 posts on your site a year vs that same 104 plus 520+ social media pieces of content. Its pretty clear which would be more effective.
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        • Profile picture of the author webcontent
          Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

          As much as what you are paraphrasing is true, making SEO a "Priority" over SMO is a bit of a mistake.

          Regardless of your efforts be it SEO or SMO the key ingredient is CONTENT. A piece of content for your website is directly related to SEO. However there is no reason that exact same piece of content cant be 10 to 15 pieces of content for your SMO efforts.

          Look at this: https://www.warriorforum.com/warrior...bscribers.html Sure he is creating video, but is later transcripting the content for his site, he could then pull snippets for twitter, images over onto Pinterest, and IG sharing on Quora on Facebook etc etc

          Understanding that your SEO and SMO efforts are not Exclusive, but inclusive as a whole is the part I see many fail at. Make that piece of content work for you, instead of working on content for this that and the other.

          Again the concept that your website is the hub of your efforts you can rework its content in context on your outside SMO efforts to draw the traffic and ultimately conversions.

          And again YES, SEO is better in the long haul... but where would you be a year from now if you focused on your site only vs distributing what you already have across 5 different platforms. 2 posts a week, 104 posts on your site a year vs that same 104 plus 520+ social media pieces of content. Its pretty clear which would be more effective.
          Total agree with you and quantity of posts... this clarification is good too. The reason why I feel confused to choose between the two is that SEO bring results after quite a long time. I cannot think of coming on the top position, even though the positioning is on 7th and this of course results in less traffic. Without traffic, we cannot think of leads and with no leads, conversion is a dream.
          To overcome this problem SMO is seen as a last resort as it at least brings in instant traffic. I guess that's why SMO has to be given preference.
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          • Profile picture of the author savidge4
            Originally Posted by webcontent View Post

            To overcome this problem SMO is seen as a last resort as it at least brings in instant traffic. I guess that's why SMO has to be given preference.
            Again I do not see there being a preference of one over the other. Your SEO efforts require CONTENT.. your SMO efforts require content. YOU USE THE SAME CONTENT in both cases.

            Instead of thinking SEO and SMO start thinking about content distribution across your network of sites and accounts. You write an article. You post this to your site, you post a link to your article on facebook, you drip a couple of quotes on twitter linking to your article. Share your images and Infographics on Pinterest. Share your same images on IG. Create a small video and place that on YouTube. Again centralizing your content around the content posted to your site - make the content work for you, and not the other way around.

            These actions are not about one or the other ( SEO and SMO ) it is about proper content distribution.. it just so happens to BE SEO and SMO. If you release content on just your website.. you WILL fail. Post just on Facebook, you WILL fail. More than likely just using IG, you WILL fail. Just using YouTube, you WILL fail. BUT start adapting a piece of content that you have posted on your site to work with a multitude of platforms and Success becomes more of a possible reality.

            A personal example. I wrote a 2100 word article for one of my sites over the weekend. as of today being Monday it has been dripped 3 times on the sites twitter account. there has been 4 images placed on Pinterest. 3 posts related and pointed to the article on IG. That post has been shared on facebook 2 times already. 1 Post on Reddit. and there was also a video. and again with that piece of content there was another facebook post, a twitter post, a reddit post, a website post a chopped up IG story post... and that's just in the last day and a half and there is ALREADY 19 pieces of content created from a single 2100 word post, there will probably be 30 by the end of the week.

            What is the likelihood of creating actual solid backlinks to that content without any effort on my part? add my actually going out and doing the work to actually get backlinks for that post

            That site gets 2 pieces of content a week... that content gets distributed on average 30 times per post. 104 pieces of content posted to that site yearly with 3120 outside sources pointing to those 104 pieces of content... and that's before the natural backlinking, and the backlinking efforts I might put into each post.

            I don't put one before the other, I do both ( SEO and SMO ) simultaneously. Without the primary post I have nothing to use socially, and because of the reach of social my content gets seen faster than just posting and hoping for the best. In todays online environment, you cant have one or the other. you want success? you are doing both
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            • Profile picture of the author webcontent
              Originally Posted by savidge4 View Post

              Again I do not see there being a preference of one over the other. Your SEO efforts require CONTENT.. your SMO efforts require content. YOU USE THE SAME CONTENT in both cases.

              Instead of thinking SEO and SMO start thinking about content distribution across your network of sites and accounts. You write an article. You post this to your site, you post a link to your article on facebook, you drip a couple of quotes on twitter linking to your article. Share your images and Infographics on Pinterest. Share your same images on IG. Create a small video and place that on YouTube. Again centralizing your content around the content posted to your site - make the content work for you, and not the other way around.

              These actions are not about one or the other ( SEO and SMO ) it is about proper content distribution.. it just so happens to BE SEO and SMO. If you release content on just your website.. you WILL fail. Post just on Facebook, you WILL fail. More than likely just using IG, you WILL fail. Just using YouTube, you WILL fail. BUT start adapting a piece of content that you have posted on your site to work with a multitude of platforms and Success becomes more of a possible reality.

              A personal example. I wrote a 2100 word article for one of my sites over the weekend. as of today being Monday it has been dripped 3 times on the sites twitter account. there has been 4 images placed on Pinterest. 3 posts related and pointed to the article on IG. That post has been shared on facebook 2 times already. 1 Post on Reddit. and there was also a video. and again with that piece of content there was another facebook post, a twitter post, a reddit post, a website post a chopped up IG story post... and that's just in the last day and a half and there is ALREADY 19 pieces of content created from a single 2100 word post, there will probably be 30 by the end of the week.

              What is the likelihood of creating actual solid backlinks to that content without any effort on my part? add my actually going out and doing the work to actually get backlinks for that post

              That site gets 2 pieces of content a week... that content gets distributed on average 30 times per post. 104 pieces of content posted to that site yearly with 3120 outside sources pointing to those 104 pieces of content... and that's before the natural backlinking, and the backlinking efforts I might put into each post.

              I don't put one before the other, I do both ( SEO and SMO ) simultaneously. Without the primary post I have nothing to use socially, and because of the reach of social my content gets seen faster than just posting and hoping for the best. In todays online environment, you cant have one or the other. you want success? you are doing both
              I agree with your viewpoint and even analysed the same also. Putting high quality content just on your website never works: matters not how good it is and where you have shared. It's equally important to share the same on other networks where there's good traffic and high DA PA. But finding a good source seems to be complicated and here lies the whole problem. If the source is good, they either demand money or there's big list of rules. Thus, you need to feel compelled to post it on your own source as it is the easiest way out.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dshu
    SEO is the process to generate traffic through search engines like Google and it is the main marketing technique to get conversion for your website, while SMO is just a social media marketing. Here you can't get conversions.
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    • Profile picture of the author savidge4
      Originally Posted by Dshu View Post

      SEO is the process to generate traffic through search engines like Google and it is the main marketing technique to get conversion for your website, while SMO is just a social media marketing. Here you can't get conversions.
      Search engines obviously send traffic to your site... e-mail campaigns send traffic to your site. Social media sends traffic to your site. Its ALL the same, and they ALL convert. to say "can't" is simply not true.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dshu
        Yes. All these tactics are used to get traffic for your website. A real buyer always use search engine to find and buy a product. So most of the conversion comes from Search engines.
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  • Profile picture of the author deepaman1990
    In my opinion SEO will generate more traffic as most of the potential customers arrive at a site visa search engine query. People on Social Media may or may not visit site for a meaningful business transaction. So, from business perspective, traffic via organic search should be regarded more important than referral traffic. thankss
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  • Profile picture of the author AffiliateZebra100
    SEO, as they're actively searching for whatever you're promoting. I don't think SMO would convert near as well.
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