Search Engine Marketing, and Search Engine Optimization are related to each other, but there is still a difference between SEO and SEM.

There are still some people who are new to this SEM world, confuse it with SEO. So let me quickly tell you that how these two terms are related yet distinct.

I am not going to do an SEO vs. SEM comparison – it is just to show that how separate they are from one another.

Read the points below to understand that how is SEM different from SEO.

What is SEO?

I have already mention about SEO and its various other terms and definitions in one of my previous blogs – Read here…

But, let me explain to you what Search Engine Optimization is all about!

SEO as it is widely called, it is a technique of ranking your website in the SERPs in an organic way. It is a part of SEM where you can work with your keywords, meta tags and many other parts of your website and blogs and rank them organically without paying a single penny.

This is also known as White Hat SEO, where the admin is using all of the ethical ways to boost up his website on the search results page.

While, some people use various unethical means to rank their web page by not following any search engine guidelines. It is done by using wrong techniques and tactics just to rank on Page one and not care about the incon=me and traffic. This strategy is known as Black Hat SEO.

Nevertheless, if Google catches such websites, such websites can either be penalized or banned forever. It is not easy to play safely in Google’s `eyes.

Search Engine Optimization is not an out of the blue concept. You just have to make sure that you target the right audience with right keywords and right content.

What does it include?

SEO is divided further into two broad segments –

On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO

Let’s know more about these two terms…

  • On-Page SEO:

On-Page SEO means when your website is ranking with the help of your own blog’s content.

For example, your web page will rank better if you have proper a Blog Title, Headline, Meta Description, Images, Meta Tags, Texts, Keywords, Social Shares, Proper URLs, and much more.

It is when you are working hard on-site for your blog; search engine helps your web page to rank better.

While …

  • Off-Page SEO:

Off-Page SEO means when your website is ranking from the help you naturally get from others.

In short, when people talk about you and your site, Google kind of trusts you. When other people refers to your site, Google helps you to rank better.

For this, backlinks and incoming links play the most important part of your website to rank well on the search engines result page. When organic sites link to your website, it is an Off-Site SEO method.

Are there any specific tools to carry out SEO?

Yes, there are various paid and unpaid tools available online for boosting up your SEO game. It is not unethical because you are within the guidelines of search engines.

These two articles sum up beautifully about the various SEO tools and software available online.

Checkout this article by seobook.comClick here

And also…

This article by smallseotools.comClick here

If you can understand the basics of SEO, you can always become a master of it.

What is SEM?

Search Engine Marketing honestly means marketing your web page or website and increasing its visibility on the SERPs by Paid Marketing (Advertisements) and by Organic Rankings (SEO).

It is a subject of which SEO is one chapter. It also includes various other parts such as Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing (Know more about SMM glossary) and much more.

SEM is a technique when you want to drive traffic and sales to your website, so you market your product in search engines.

What does it include?

Search Engine Marketing also involves various techniques through which your website is highly visible to people in search results.

The best form of paid advertising is using Google Adwords. Here, Google helps your website to directly rank on page one for the particular keyword or long-tail keywords you pay for. You buy an advertising space because of the competitors or when your want your website to rank straight away without doing any optimization, so it helps you to get instant traffic on your site.

Also, you only pay for the clicks on your ads which are known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC). Even if your site ranks on the number one spot in the search results, you only have to pay when a user clicks on your ad. But that’s how you are going to generate traffic if people visit your website.

SEM traffic is the most valuable traffic because here, you target your audience directly. They rely upon search engines for their queries, so there are higher chances of them landing on your page, and thus converting into a better ROI for you.

Are there any specific tools to carry out SEM?

Yes, there are many tools available to perform a better SEM technique.

These tools will help you to increase your site’s visibility in the search engine results page.

Check out this article by digitalvidya.com for detailed information – Click here

And also by, cardinalpath.com – Click here

So exactly how is SEM different from SEO?

SEO vs SEM difference!

As I mentioned above, SEM is a form of marketing about your website in the search results whereas SEO is a type of SEM which is bringing traffic to your website organically.

As I said above, these two terms are related to each other but are still not the same so do not get confused with these two simple terms.

Which technique is usually used?

Search Engine is used extensively because websites tend to target a particular audience for getting additional traffic on their site. Any which ways, if people use SEO strategies, it is still a part of SEM.

But admins still prefer for paid advertising as it generates better and faster results than having organic traffic.

What are your thoughts about them?

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