If you have been developing your skills in search engine optimization, you may be seen reference to SEM. Understanding the concepts of all aspects of search engine optimization needs to include this too to ensure you have a well rounded understanding of this marketing tool.
So, what is SEM? SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing and it is mainly used by website owners to help improve their visibility on the search engine results page (SERP). Mainly using pay per click functions, it also includes SEO for search engine optimization marketing methods.
To break it down even more for you, SEM mainly uses paid marketing methods. SEO mainly uses unpaid and more organic results and methods such as link building, keyword optimization, content building and development, and other proven methods that bring results. SEO also includes all of the other optimization tactics that we have shared with you here. Check out this link for more tips for site optimization.
Search engine marketing (SEM) is the original predecessor of online marketing since most advertising and search engine results came from paid ads years ago. And since it includes all of the nuances of SEO as well, it can be confusing since they are so closely related. It may help if you think about SEM has paid marketing and SEO as unpaid marketing. Combined together you may have a better grasp of the SEM concept as a whole.
So what does this mean to you and your website? Combining the two practices together can certainly help you increase your presence on the web. By participating in paid pay per click ads, you are targeting specific keywords that your customer is looking for and driving traffic to your site. Increases traffic is looked at in a positive way by the search engines and it will help improve your placement on the SERP.
By using the rest of the SEO tactics, you can also continue to improve your placement on the SERP with unpaid improvements that take a bit more time to manually put in place but can yield positive results too.
SEM and SEO are valuable tools to have in your marketing tool box as a small business owner. By understanding the difference and applying them properly to your marketing efforts, you can start to see positive results in a short amount of time.