Some Marketers get lost and do not know what to choose as optimization. How does the purpose and technique of SEO differ from SEM?

The two "SEO" and "SEM" expressions are not allways understood, we even confuse them. As reminder, the SEO, or search engine optimization, is a technique used to improve the visibility and referencing of a website within the search results. It's a question of optimizing the contents and technical characteristics of a site in order to "seduce" the search engines. SEO optimization can take place on the web page and also outside it.

In parallel, the SEM or search engine marketing is a broader term that covers advertising "paid" (paid search engines such as Yahoo or Googe). His role is to boost traffic and site conversion rates.

There's 9 differences between (SEO) search engine optimization and (SEM) search engine marketing

1. The SEO makes it possible to obtain results without expenses, while the SEM is paying.

2.The term SEM is broader than SEO, which is simply a technical marketing search technique.

3. SEO includes optimization techniques present on the web page and outside. SEM includes PPC (pay per click), SEO and SMM (social media marketing).

4. SEO strives to put the website at the top of the search results when a user types keywords related to your business. The SEM, on the contrary, is to bid on keywords and invest heavily on those that the user is likely to type in the search bar.

5. SEO produces better results at long time , while SEM is efficient enough fast.

6. SEO only allows appearing in search results, while SEM is about paid and sponsored links.

7. SEM requires more investment. Indeed, Google gets paid on each click related to your advertising.

8. SEM does not require any modifications to the site structure. Just start a campaign under Google Adwords for ads to work in one hour. SEO, on the contrary, involves making changes to the structure of the site. The platform must be designed and developed according to the requirements of referencing.

9. By launching an SEM campaign, you may find yourself faced with "fraudulent clicks", for which it is nevertheless necessary to pay a sum to the search engines. Clicks made by your competitors also cause you a fee. However, there are techniques to detect and solve these problems, which do not exist in an SEO campaign.

Sources: E-Marketing.fr; blog Saleoïd