Two terms and acronyms that are often used interchangeably without a clear understanding of how they are related and how they differ are SEO and SEM. They have a symbiotic relationship and when both are used to their full potential, they can get great marketing results.

What is the difference between SEO and SEM?

Search engine optimization (SEO) has traditionally been viewed as a component of search engine marketing (SEM), encompassing both paid and organic tactics.

Today, however, SEM is used to refer exclusively to paid search. According to Search Engine Land, Search Engine Marketing is “the process of gaining website traffic by purchasing search engine ads.” Search Engine Optimization, on the other hand, is defined as “the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results.”

SEM is a paid search strategy.

SEO is an organic search strategy.

These separate strategies should be part of your company’s online search marketing arsenal.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

SEO disciplines must continually evolve to keep up with Google’s ever-changing algorithms. But one thing is constant: SEO is made up of on-page and off-page activities (ie “on site” and “off site”) as its two main pillars.

SEO elements on the page

• ✔ Optimized metadata, including page title tag, meta description, header tags, and image ALT tag, incorporating target keywords
• ✔ Well written and optimized page copy through strategic keyword research
• ✔ Simple and well formatted page urls with selective keywords
• ✔ Optimized page speed
• ✔ Integration of social networks within your content

Off-page SEO elements

• ✔ Link building to attract and get quality inbound links (these backlinks help form the majority of off-page SEO)
• ✔ Social signals (eg, Increase traffic to a website from social media sharing)
• ✔ Attracting the attention of social bookmarking sites like Reddit, Digg and Stumbleupon

Create valuable, high-quality content that your target audience will find useful, such as blog articles and web page copies. This helps establish your authority over time and results in more organic website traffic, more opportunities for inbound links, and most importantly, more conversions.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEM strictly involves gaining search visibility through paid ads on search engines like Google. These ads are commonly known as pay-per-click (PPC) ads. There are many other terms used for SEM activities, including cost-per-click (CPC) ads, paid search ads, and paid search advertising.

PPC advertising allows you to target potential buyers through relevant advertising copy and keywords that match your search queries. PPC ads appear on search engine results pages (SERPs) alongside organic listings. They give your business the opportunity to increase the visibility of your web pages, landing pages, blog articles, and more.

What are some examples of SEM strategies?

Google AdWords is by far the most popular search engine platform for hosting ads. Also consider other opportunities, such as Bing Ads or Yahoo Search Ads. Wherever you choose to spend your internet marketing dollars, there are a few key strategies for successful SEM:

• ✔ Launch advertising campaigns with a specific audience (eg geographic, industrial, etc.) in mind
• ✔ Create ad groups consisting of target keyword variations
• ✔ Write relevant ad copy using those selective keywords
• ✔ Establish an advertising budget
• ✔ Monitor metrics like clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and the average cost per click
• ✔ There are other considerations when launching and maintaining an effective paid search ad campaign, but these five are especially important for any beginner. If you want to increase your SEM efforts to complement organic search engine optimization, take a look at Google Adwords.

So which one is better? Should I use SEO or SEM?

Defenders on both sides could argue that one is more effective than the other. However, I like to see high-quality SEO as a foundation for high-quality SEM. Both are extremely valuable and should be part of your B2B inbound marketing strategy.

When to focus on SEO

SEO lays the foundation for SEM through well-optimized content that prospects and customers find useful. Without search-optimized landing pages, web pages, and blog content, your SEM efforts will fail due to poor quality. Getting visibility in the SERPs will end up being extremely difficult as a result.

Organic SEO is less expensive in the long run and helps establish search credibility. But it’s important to keep it up with constant quality content creation and social media sharing. In other words, you must have something worth looking for.

When to focus on SEM 

Are you launching your first website and creating your initial online footprint to promote your product or service? Then you likely need immediate search visibility until you develop your organic credibility. With a strategic PPC campaign, you will be able to achieve this. What you shouldn’t do, however, is strictly rely on PPC for the long term while ignoring organic SEO. You still need to create great content that visitors want to engage with once they land on your website.

Evaluate what is best for your specific needs, but make sure you fully understand the differences between SEM and SEO and how you will sustain your efforts in the future.

SEO or SEM: Which positioning strategy is best for me?