SEO, or search engine optimisation, and SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, are
often discussed in the same breath but are not necessarily the same thing.
Search engine optimisation is the process of optimising a page so that it will
perform better in organic or natural search engine results. Effective SEO also
requires some off page work but all work is geared towards improving performance
in natural search result pages.

SEO As A Form Of SEM

In contrast, search engine marketing is a collective term that describes any
marketing efforts to promote a page in the search engines and their advertising
networks. SEO could be considered a part of search engine marketing but so
too could pay per click (PPC) advertising. Many marketers use the term SEM
to specifically refer to PPC advertising as a way to differentiate between
organic SEO and paid SEM.

Why Search Engines Feature Prominently In Online Marketing

The reason that so much emphasis is placed on the various forms of search
engine marketing (both organic and paid) is because Internet users still rely
heavily on search engines, indexes, and portals to access relevant information
on a given topic or search. Organic, natural traffic refers to those users
that conduct a search on Google or any other search engine and then click a
result in the main index. Paid listings include the sponsored search result
box at the top of most search result pages.

Publisher Networks

Many of the big search engines offer paid traffic opportunities and as well
as sponsored listing at the top, bottom, or right of the natural results, it
may be possible to serve your advertisement over a network of advertisers.
One of the most popular programs in this respect is Google’s Adsense or Adwords
program. An ad may be displayed on another publisher’s website that uses relevant
keywords. This can drive more targeted traffic to your own pages and offers
the publisher a payment every time a visitor clicks the link through to your
page.

Inexpensive Marketing Through SEO

SEO is considered the least expensive and one of the most beneficial sources
of website traffic. Visitors are naturally inclined to progress through the
sales or marketing process on your site because they are highly targeted to
the keywords they searched for. Targeted traffic is the most desirable of all
measurables in Internet marketing because of this inclination to act.

SEO And SEM As Part Of A Marketing Mix

However, organic search engine traffic can take some time to develop because
of the long and sustained effort required in an SEO campaign. It can be several
weeks before a page begins to reap the rewards of this effort. Including search
engine optimisation in a marketing mix is certainly beneficial while other
forms of SEM can help bring more targeted visitors to a site while providing
traffic from the very start and with little delay.

Search engine optimisation is a highly effective and inexpensive form of natural
search engine marketing. Other forms of SEM include pay per click advertising
and represent various other methods of directing targeted traffic to the pages
of your website.

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