The Difference Between SEO And SEM

shivani · Guest

I have had many ask me what the difference between Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is, so I thought I might throw a couple of definitions out there.

I am going to start with SEO, as it is a part of SEM. SEO is the act of optimising the HTML and other content of your website for relevant, targeted key phrases in order to attain higher natural listings than competing websites. SEO provides a cheaper long term solution for increased qualified traffic and generates customer inquiries that ultimately convert to sales.

Now SEM is broader than SEO. It includes SEO and other areas to improve a sites visibility in search engine results pages, like paid listings and paid inclusions.

You can think of SEM as more expensive and quite possibly more targeted, while SEO is free (not counting your time of course) and its purpose is to obtain better free search listings.

Personally, I would start with SEO and then move onto SEM.

ellehc · Joined: 28 Dec 2009 Posts: 12

SEO is a part of SEM. SEO concentrates on meta tags, titles, keyword density, effective and clean html coding whereas SEM looks into the search engine submission, paid inclusion, directories submission, traditional adds, PPC (Pay Per Click), PPS (Pay Per Sale) and press release.

acluett · Joined: 01 Feb 2010 Posts: 2

Search engine optimization (SEO) is actually a component of search engine marketingâ€”a function of the SEM process, if you will. SEO is the act of optimizing a website for organic or natural search engine listings. Search engine optimization is arguably the most cost-effective function in a search engine marketing campaign, yet still just one element.
Search engine marketing (SEM) is the process of marketing a website via Internet search engines; whether by improving rank in organic or natural listings, paid or sponsored listings or a combination thereof.

abiaabida · Guest

Hi Buddy!!!

SEO - Optimizing our site for search engine friendly..only.

SEM - optimizing our site for Search Engine Marketing in the sense of e-commerce, Online Marketing products selling and buying,trade...etc

Thanks Many for asking ..??? meet again...

jaikanth123 · Guest

Search Engine Marketing

I see SEM as a rather broad term. It's everything that can be done to utilize the technology of search engines with the goal of promoting a web site and increasing its traffic, its "stickiness," and, in the case of sites that promote a business (or are a business), increase profits. SEO, therefore, would be a subset of SEM.

Aspects of search engine marketing which I would consider to be outside the realm of search engine optimization include the following:
Paid Inclusion

This is simply the practice of paying a search engine or a directory to add a site to its database immediately, rather than setting up that site so that it will be found by the search engine spiders on its own. In the case of some search engines and directories, paid inclusion is the only way to get listed. For others, it's presented as an option. If you're willing to pay, your site will be listed sooner. It's also a useful practice if you wish to make frequent changes to your content, because your site will be spidered more often and you will be able to test how changes affect your ranking.
Traditional Ads

This involves placing paid advertising on the search engine result pages (SERPs). Normally, these ads appear based on the keywords entered into the search engines, and one is charged based on the number of impressions, i.e. appearances, of the ad. In other words, you pay whether the ad sends anyone to your web site or not.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising

PPC ads are simple enough to look at. They're text-only. PPC ad campaigns are completely controlled by the advertiser. You decide which keywords should bring up your ads, you write the copy, and you decide how much you want to pay. And, as the name indicates, you only pay for an ad when someone clicks it and is brought to your site. There are two main networks of PPC ads, run by Google and Overture, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages, but in both cases, one should be prepared to spend a great deal of time (and money) monitoring and adjusting such a campaign.

SEO means search engine optimization.this includes on page optimization and off page optimization.No SEM campaign is complete without SEO. Moreover, since the purpose of SEO is to make the site better for both search engines and users, you may find that it will suffice on its own. In any case, the advantages of SEO over the other aspects of SEM make it clear that, even if you are going to spend additional money on advertising and paid placement, SEO must be your first step in promoting your site.

BaskiSai · Joined: 17 Apr 2010 Posts: 1

Thanks for your optimization tips. I got complete SEO and SEM services , which was very professional and also the price is affordable.

Merlinclancy · Joined: 27 May 2010 Posts: 1

SEM stands for "search engine marketing" and SEO stands for "search engine optimization."

SEM is the all-encompassing broad phrase that includes SEO as well as paid search activities such as Google AdWords purchases.

SEO, on the other hand, is simply a subset of SEM.

Some people mistakenly think that SEM = PPC while SEO = organic. SEO does equal organic, but as you can see by the definition above, SEM does not equal JUST paid search.

ideatemedia · Joined: 14 May 2010 Posts: 6 Location: Houston, Texas

SEO is for optimizing the website properly and helping it to get maximum exposure in online world whereas SEM deals with the marketing which includes free as well as paid submissions. To know more visit ideatemedia.com

seoworkgroup · Joined: 08 Jun 2010 Posts: 3 Location: Indore

rovina123 · Joined: 28 Jun 2010 Posts: 1

There is a common misconception among many internet marketers about the two terms: SEO and SEM. Much is revealed as soon as one observes the two acronyms. SEO stands for search engine optimization and SEM for search engine marketing.

SEO is only a small part of SEM which focuses on on-site and off-site adjustments in order to produce higher rankings in the search engine result pages. SEO also works well in combination with other SEM disciplines such as traffic analytics.SEM encompasses all known strategies used to market online via search engines such as Google, Live and MSN.

For example press releases can be used for a variety of purposes. In some cases you may wish to distribute your press release to create brand awareness, inform the public about an important change that has affected your business, in other cases you may use press releases and articles as a clever search engine optimization tool which will assist you to generate extra back links through a contextually balanced linking environment.
Another common misconception is that SEO is free and deals with the organic search engine results and “SEM” is paid and mainly concerned with PPC (Pay Per Click), banner ads, affiliate programs and paid reviews. Better way to refer to these two terms would be SEO and Online Advertising.

The truth is that unless you have plenty of time to spend in research and keeping yourself up to date with the latest trends, you will have to spend a bit of money with either strategy. Even if you get an expert to handle this for you, it will still take a bit of research and trial before you can decide which way to go with your business and whether to combine the two strategies.

mrdann · Guest

thanks for the post guys, now I know there difference

Smith22 · Joined: 30 Jun 2010 Posts: 2

Thanks for post, I find very informative differences between SEO and SEM. Now I am deeply understand how both differ than each other!

Thanks

johnclay · Joined: 13 Dec 2010 Posts: 3

SEO means Search engine optimization and SEM means Search engine marketing. SEO Optimizing our site for search engine friendly. SEM optimizing our site for Search Engine Marketing in the sense of e-commerce, Online Marketing products selling and buying,trade.

starsevenrock · Guest

SEO, which refers to anything you do on your website to make it more users, and friendly. That means SEM search engine marketing, as an umbrella that refers to something you do to get your page ranked high in search engine SEO services that require back links to what URL to the engines.

adamadimos · Guest

While SEO and SEM is almost the same sounds, in fact, a person may seem like the same thing, in fact they are two different activities as the core. Both of them are undeniably website marketing and promotion of valuable time, although they are considerable differences have a more detailed comparison of call.