As an online marketing consultant my clients often ask me about the terms SEO and SEM. What does SEO stand for? What does SEM mean? What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
When NuZoo Media starts designing a web site some of the first things we think about are SEM, SEO, target audience, message and brand. Our clients are depending on our expertise as online marketing consultants.
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing and SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization.
So What is the Difference Between SEM and SEO?
Search Engine Marketing – SEM
SEM is just that – a marketing plan made to increase the visibility of a web site in search engine results pages (SERPs) through optimization and advertising. SEM is made up of multiple components. One of the components of SEM is SEO.
Another is paid advertising. Also called paid search, these are the ads that pop up first when you do a Google search, and also on the right hand side. These are also called CPC for cost-per-click or PPC for pay-per-click marketing, because most search ads are sold on a CPC / PPC basis. With paid advertising you can send more targeted traffic to your web site.
Social media also plays a part in SEM. Depending on your target audience and what social media they are using the list is almost endless these days: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest.
Search Engine Optimization – SEO
SEO is the process of getting organic, or free, listings in the SERPs. When you do a search on Google the results bring up ads, maps, photos, video or local listings. The organic results are listed below the paid ads. The organic results are ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. There is no payment like the paid search ads.
Successful SEO will help your site gain a higher-ranking placement in the search results. The higher the better because the drop off in page rank is dramatic, according to online advertising network Chitika. Page 1 gets 32.5% average traffic share, Page 2 17.6% and it keeps decreasing from there. The higher your site ranks organically the better the chance you will see an increase in site traffic.
SEO Comes First
Now that you know the difference between SEO and SEM, SEO should be the first step in promoting your site. In fact, a Search Engine Marketing campaign is not complete without SEO and your online marketing consultant will include it. It makes the site better for the search engines and for users.
Some SEO Tips
Here are a few SEO tips you can do to boost your site’s organic ranking:
- Creating engaging and relevant content using strategic keywords
- Using keyword analysis
- Get social media links from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter
- Build backlinks
- Create a Google+ account if you don’t already have one