The Difference Between SEO and SEM

SEO, (Search Engine Optimization), and SEM, (Search Engine Marketing) are often presented as interchangeable in the web design world, both among custom website developers and small business customers alike. Both of them are important and can serve your website and your business well, but they are very different.  Before investing in a campaign using either of these techniques, you should have a clear idea of what both of them are about. What exactly is the difference between SEO and SEM?

SEO in the broadest sense is the activity of ensuring that a website can be found in search engines when certain relevant words and phrases are entered by the user. This is done not only through placing these words in the written content of the website, but also through relevant tags. Tags on pages, images, text, and links help search engines to find the website’s content. Since search engines such as Google cannot “see” images, alt tags are used to label images with descriptive text, serving as a road sign for the search engines to find that particular image on that particular page of your site. Other techniques for successful SEO include internal and external links, ensuring each page functions correctly, and updating the site’s content frequently to keep it “fresh”, making the content appear newer to the search engines. Web developers implement all of these techniques when they create your website and maintain them over time.

SEM, (Search Engine Marketing), also helps your website get found in the major search engines. Unlike SEO which is often part of a good quality web design package, search engine marketing is a paid campaign in itself. Part of SEM is the practice of paid inclusion, in which the website owner pays a search engine or directory to add their site to their database immediately rather than allowing the site to be found by search engine spiders on its own. This can speed up the process of getting your site found. Another search engine marketing technique is placing paid advertising on search engine result pages that lead to your site and you are charged for the number of times your ad appears whether the user clicks on them or not.  Finally, “pay per click” or PPC ads are text only and the website owner pays the search engine each time the ad is clicked on. These campaigns need to be monitored for effectiveness and updated frequently to ensure they don’t become outdated. (For example, if you post an ad for a Christmas sale, you have to update it by New Years’ day or it will become irrelevant).

While SEM may seem like a more sure-fire way to get people to your site, it cannot work without SEO. If people do find your site through an ad, but if the keyword content is poorly written, page links don’t work, or tags are not used properly, visitors will leave the site and others who find out what your site is like won’t visit, either. SEO can work without SEM, but SEM doesn’t do much good without the proper implementation of search engine optimization. Beyond Custom Websites is knowledgeable in Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing. We can put together a group of customized techniques that will work for your company, your website, and your goals. Our team of expert web developers, graphic designers, and content writers can offer you a complete and powerful online presence. To begin your ongoing and personalized relationship with us and receive a custom website designed especially for your business, visit our website and get in touch with us today.