SEO vs SEM: Which one to use?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are two very different terms. Unfortunately, they are often used interchangeably; but understanding the difference between the two is essential.

SEO, or organic search engine optimization, is simply a component of SEM. According to Google, organic SEO is used to drive traffic to a specific website with the help of top search engine results. Google's SEO algorithm is constantly changing, so so is the SEO industry. One thing remains constant however, SEO consists of both "on-site" and "off-site" optimization.

SEO is composed of two distinct factors:

Site optimization

• Social Media
• Page loading speed
• Authenticity of the content
• Use of keywords and keyword analysis
• Clean and formatted URLs
• Optimized content and blog
• The meta-tags, title tags and meta-descriptions

Off-site optimization

• Use of social networking sites, such as Reddit and Stumbleupon
• Sharing on social networks
• Use of backlinks and other website promotion methods

According to Wikipedia, " Search Engine Marketing(SEM) belongs to the marketing practiced on search engines. It aims to increase the visibility of a site on search engines, either by optimizing the site for given keywords or by an appropriate policy of buying commercial links on search engine results pages."

Through paid search ads, individuals buy advertising space to appear in Google search results. Taking precedence over SEO, for website ranking on Google, paid ads appear first.

Google Adwords is the most well-known organization in this respect. Via Google Adwords, your advertisements can appear in the Google search results. Payment is made on the number of clicks. Yahoo and Bing have similar, but less popular, built-in systems.

In addition to search engine optimization, SEM includes the following:

• Sponsored links
• Advertisements
• Paid search

Primarily, SEM consists of pay-per-click ads (sponsored links) for mass campaigns. PPC and SEO are both sub-components of SEM.

SEM and SEO should never be used interchangeably, since SEO is a sub-component of SEM. They do, however, work synergistically.

The main difference between these two terms is that search engine optimization is simply a component of search engine marketing. As mentioned above, SEM includes paid search components, such as PPC and again SMM (social media marketing).

Most online merchants often argue about the viability of one over the other. However, the majority of merchants agree that SEO is the best method. SEO is deeply interconnected with SEM, and using one without the other is a strategy doomed to failure.

Otherwise, in some situations, PPC (pay-per-click) is much more viable than SEO. For example, to acquire immediate traffic following a launch, an organized PPC campaign is necessary, as the results are much faster than SEO. However, staying confined to PPC is bad for an eCommerce, since SEO is a necessity.

While organic SEO takes longer to bring in returns, it generates credibility and reputation in the marketplace, which is not possible with PPC. Finally, when starting an e-commerce business, it is best to assess the needs and demands and make a divided effort.