SEM Vs. SEO Analogy
Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization are two terms that are often used interchangeably. This field of business involves manipulating Web sites to give them a stronger presence in search engine results because the focus of the strategy is to get as much publicity as possible for an online business from the popular search engine sites. But what is the difference between SEM and SEO? Are they the same thing? Can one exist without the other? A comparison of the two fields will draw an analogy of SEM vs SEO.
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Definitions
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According to Webster's Dictionary, an analogy is “resemblance in some particulars between things otherwise unlike” and “comparison based on such resemblance.” The Free Online Dictionary gives the definition: “Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.” and “A comparison based on such similarity.” SEO is the art of organizing Web pages to increase their rankings on search engines, by the definition of Webopedia. That dictionary also describes SEM as “acts associated with researching, submitting and positioning a Web site within search engines ...”
Observations
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The definitions of SEM and SEO sound very close. However, SEO relates specifically to the ranking of a Web page in search engine results pages, whereas SEM includes other tools such as paid advertisements on the search results page. SEO's techniques focus on the Web page to be marketed, SEM encompasses negotiation with the search engine companies.
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Cost
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Other than the costs of paying Web developers and SEO specialists, one of the identifying differences between SEO and SEM is that SEO should be free. SEO recommends methods of constructing a page that a search engine Web crawler is more likely to pick up. Search engines assemble their lists by running programs that follow links in pages to other pages, they log each page they encounter and move on to pages linked to that page. Once the page is in the search engine's database, it is ranked according to factors such as relevance to keywords and uniqueness and quality of content. SEO ensures that the meaning of a page is blatant so that it can be correctly categorized and earn points. This does not require any payment for advertizing, which is one of the SEM techniques.
Scope
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Search Engine Marketing encompasses many techniques and Search Engine Optimization is one of these. So SEO is a subset of SEM. The methods of marketing include product research and publicity placement and so some elements of SEM, such as research, feed into SEO, and other are activated once the work of SEO has completed, or provide parallel methods to get a Web page noticed by viewers of search engine results pages. Therefore, SEM is a much wider discipline than SEO.
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References
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