What Is The Difference Between SEO and SEM?
Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are different because SEO is free and SEM is paid search engine placements. When you do a search on Yahoo you receive organic search results from the search engine search displayed in the main body of the page (see example below). These are the free search results that are websites indexed by the search engine. Search marketing is the use of search engine marketing programs to pay for advertisments displayed during search engine searches.
Organic Results vs. Paid Placement: Click To Expand
|
Ideally you would want to have you keywords relating to your business display your website in the top 5 search results and also have your search marketing ad display on the same search. By being featured in both postions you are increasing your impressions and increasing the odds that the link that the web user clicks on will be yours.
So what can you do to increase your search rankings with search engine optimization? The first thing to know is that 40% of SEO is having your website organized in a logical manner with keywords, compelling content and a clear navigation path (site map). The other 60% is link building with other websites.
Search engines want to find sites relevant to what people are searching for. By haveing your website contain target keywords, optimized page titles and meta information you are giving search engines the ability to categorize and index your site to your target keywords. Add a current site map and link exchanges with other relevant sites and you will really see results.
|
