Difference Between SEO & SEM

 

Difference Between SEO & SEM:

Search engine marketing & Search engine optimization are confusing to grasp. Is there even a difference between them?

It is very important to understand the difference between the two terms and that they are different.

Both terms are often used interchangeably, which makes matter even worse.

I will help you guys to clear up this issue with some frequently asked questions that i have heard from others.

What is SEO ?

According to Google's knowledge graph, search engine optimization is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular site by ensuring that the website appears high on the top list of results by search engine.

The SEO industry is continually changing due to changes made by Google's algorithm. But, there is one single aspect of SEO that stays constant: SEO is combination of On-page and Off-Page activities.

What kind of components does SEO include ?

As discussed above, SEO is combination of two different activities.

On-Page SEO includes:

Incorporating selective keyword naturally into title tags, meta descriptions, heading tags, alt text, etc.

Blog posts & page copy that is written and optimized with quality

Clean & formatting page URLS

Optimized page load speed

Google authorship incorporated

Social sharing integration within your content

And much more!

Off-Page SEO includes:

Creating high quality, natural back link profile (aka having other high quality/authoritative websites link to your site naturally)

Social sharing signals

Social bookmarking (Stumble upon, Reddit)

List goes on here too!

What is SEM ?

It is a form of internet marketing which involved the promotion of site by increasing its visibility in search engine pages (SERPS) through advertising and optimization. It also includes SEO tactics, as well as several other search marketing tactics.

What kind of components does SEM include?

Other than SEO, SEM includes the use of paid search, such as PPC (pay per click) advertisements and listings. Mostly SEM strictly include

PPC campaigns and activities, Only if you use SEO and paid search, that falls under SEM efforts.

What is the main difference of SEM & SEO ?

The main difference is that search engine optimization is simply a component of search engine marketing. As discussed above SEM include components of paid search, such as ppc and also SMM (Social media marketing).

Both work hand in hand but still they are not the same term.

Better marketing tactic ?

I have been to many marketing debate whether one is better than the other. I personally suggest that organic SEO is the best approach.

But you can see, true SEM cannot succeed without the use of organic SEO.

In many situations where PPC makes more sense than SEO. For example, if you want to launch a site and want immediate visibility,

it is good idea to create PPC campaign because it takes very less time than compare to SEO, but it would be unwise to just work

with PPC and not even touch SEO.

Share this :