SEO and SEM: two terms often used at the same time confused.
SEO and SEM are merely acronyms of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing, or “search engine optimization” and “search engine marketing”, concepts that may be difficult to grab and distinguish. But what is the difference between and expert SEO agency and SEM?
The difference between #SEO and #SEM is not the difference between optimization and AdWords.
SEO is a discipline of the SEM, which encompasses a wider hemisphere.
SEO and SEM are two distinct concepts, or rather integrated respectively. Both terms are often used interchangeably, or even worse, the SEM is categorized as “techniques of advertising campaigns on AdWords.” But it is not so.
And ‘necessary to clarify that the SEM belong all those techniques to convey their own site to achieve the objectives of traffic and conversions. SEO, therefore, is inserted in this wider circle.
#SEM Do not mean “do #AdWords”, but takes a much wider circle of actions.
It is important to understand the difference between SEO and SEM.
In this post I want to help clarify the issue with some frequently asked questions that I felt personally put on other people, more or less “accustomed” to the digital world.
What is search engine optimization (SEO)?
SEO is essentially a component of the broader category SEM. According Knowledge Graph, the optimization of search engines is “the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by making sure that the site appears on top of the list of results returned by the search engine.”
The #SEO is a discipline included in the broader sphere of #SEM.
SEO techniques are constantly changing due to the frequent changes to the algorithm of Google. But, there is one aspect of SEO that remains constant: his techniques are developed through activities on-page and off-page activities.
What is the difference between SEO on-page and off-page SEO?
Essentially the on-page SEO includes:
The techniques of embedding the main keywords (keywords) within a web page, of course, included in the title tag, the meta description, in the heading tags, in the alternative text (alt text) and so on;
Blog articles with relevant quality content and optimized pages;
Formatting “clean” the URL of the page;
The speed of page loading optimized;
Google authorship (although, to date, have implemented significant changes in this regard);
The ability to share content on social platforms (social networks);
And much more!
The techniques of off-page SEO, instead, include:
Creating high quality content;
The creation of a network of natural backlinks;
Content sharing within social media;
Social bookmarking (such as Stumbleupon);
And the list goes on here too!
SEO on-page and off-page SEO: the immortal components of a strategy #SearchEngineOptimization.
What it means Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
According to Wikipedia, the SEM is “a form of Internet marketing that involves promoting websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results (SERP), through the optimization and advertising.” The SEM includes therefore tactics SEO, as well as other different marketing techniques.
What components includes SEM?
In addition to the optimization in search engines (SEO), SEM techniques include:
the use of paid search campaigns called SEA (Search Engine Advertising), such as pay per click (PPC) for the search network or display. It ‘clear that, for most of the time, the SEM includes mainly campaigns and activities of PPC, but SEO is a technique that can not be extrapolated.
Also, impossible to forget today the SMO or Social Media Optimization, which refers to the optimization of the profiles on social networks and includes all activities designed to improve the visibility of a company through social accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and so on).
What is #SEM? The combination of techniques #SEO, #SEA and #SMO.
Which marketing tactic is best used between SEO and SEM?
Many marketers discuss actual usefulness of action rather than another within a given context. It ‘clear that there are many situations where a PPC campaign AdWords can make more sense of an SEO strategy, for example if you are in the first place by launching a website and need immediate visibility, but it would not be wise to work closely with PPC optimization techniques leaving for search engines.
As a Web Marketing Specialist, I would say that SEO is still be the best approach, for two main reasons:
SEO allows you to start a natural building its presence in the network that benefits the long term;
without the use of organic SEO techniques, other techniques (SEM and SMO SEA) do not work as they should, penalizing the success of the strategic actions.
#SEO As the best weapon of #marketing, natural benefit over the long term and support #SEM.
Although SEO takes longer to show results, in the end, will be essentially less expensive and allow you to establish credibility in the search results can not be determined with the techniques PPC.
When it comes to choosing the best tactic, it remains essential to assess their specific needs, in order to build a strategy oriented to the real business objectives consistent with the work done in other areas of communication and marketing.