SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It refers to the process of increasing the amount of traffic to a website or increasing the quality of traffic to a website via natural searches (or in other words algorithmic searches). It involves (depending on the search engine), taking a website and gearing its pages towards a search engine so a website can rank higher on the search results (SERP – Search Engine Ranking Page – first page).
SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. It is a form of internet marketing which promotes websites by using paid placements (such as Google Adwords, MSN AdCenter, Yahoo Search Marketing, etc.), contextual advertising, and paid inclusion (one pays the search engine and they list your website on their engine – Google does not do this).
Identical? Different?
Comparing Apples to Oranges
SEO deals with only organic or natural searches, whereas SEM deals exclusively with inorganic or paid searches. Both SEO & SEM are two separate disciplines which can be pursued separately or hand in hand. Both have high learning curves with the potential to earn more than six figures with due diligence. Both SEO & SEM require strong analytical minds with a passion for manipulating & analyzing large data sets.
That being said, let’s get started.
Thanks for pointing that our. Many people confuse SEO with SEM or think they are the same when really they are very different.
I wanted to ask…why did you use an alt image tag of applesandoranges rather than a keyword related to the post.
Thanks
@ Freelance Biz. That was a mistake. Thank you for pointing it out. I did not see the typo earlier.