What’s the Difference Between SEO and SEM?

What’s the difference between SEO and SEM?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is the process of providing value on one’s website so that it shows up higher in the search engines. SEM on the other hand stands for Search Engine Marketing and is the process of paying the search engines to place your website at the top of the search pack.

Now these two are not necessarily required for one to move the other, however, SEM does influence SEO in that it sends more traffic to the website which helps to increase the SEO. The more traffic a website receives each month and the longer that those visitors stay on the website, the better the Search Engine Optimization is going to be.

With SEM it’s important to have the right demographics locked into the ad so that you’re targeting people in the right ZIP Code and the right age brackets, and other different demographics, so that your ad will be shown to the right people at the right time.

When your website is optimized properly with good SEO, it does influence the cost that you pay for SEM because Google wants to make sure that it’s a good match for the traffic they send your website and will give cheaper ad cost to websites that are well optimized to the keywords. So they both work with each other and play together, but are not a complete requirement to do both.

It’s recommended that working on SEO is something that can pay off for the long-term whereas SEM is always a short term. When you stop paying Google to be listed on the search engines, that’s it and any value for the business stops and there there’s no additional benefit that goes on.

On the other hand when you do SEO you invest in creating good content and good back links that will last for the lifetime of the business. It could be 5, 10, or even 20+ years of value that you get out of your SEO work. That’s why it’s always encouraged to build SEO for a business and and not always just rely on SEM.

If you need help with your SEO or your SEM you can reach out to us, we’re experts in both. We specialize in SEO but we also do SEM and are Google Ad Certified.

If you need help reach out at our contact form located here and we can help you get started today!

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Written by: Jophiel Silvestrone

Jophiel Silvestrone has written 325 posts in the Tech Blog.

Jophiel grew up on a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana near Chico Hot Springs. Working on the ranch instilled work ethic and self motivation. Filled with this drive, Jophiel started mowing the local school's yards twice a month throughout the summers, at the age of 12. He moved to Billings in 2004, where he has been deeply involved in the local business community ever since. A serial entrepreneur, Jophiel has ran multiple businesses in our local community. The first business, a janitorial and carpet cleaning company, founded in 2005, has employed over 50 locals. Moving on to the media industry, Jophiel and several partners founded Green Directory Montana in the spring of 2007. Green Directory's sustainability ranking software awarded points based on sustainable or "green" actions. These points counted towards a business's total "Green Score," which in turn ranked them against other businesses in their category and throughout the entire site. It also featured a limited edition print version distributed annually. A business acquisition allowed Jophiel to focus on new projects, and a few close business colleagues and Jophiel started Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine, a lifestyle publication for men and women in the Magic City. After a year and a half at the helm of RM3 Magazine, the business was purchased. He now runs a web development company SkyPoint Studios and fathers his son Jaoquin, who plays football, basketball, soccer, and is learning snowboarding from his dad. Recently, has expanded to locations in Havasu, Arizona & Vegas. SkyPoint Studios is a market leader in both Billings & Havasu and Jophiel is working on building that same level of market dominance in Vegas. Specialties: Extensive experience in online and offline business. Especially savvy at WordPress, and operate several sites, one example is the blog: skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com/tech-blog. Check out skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com for the latest projects from SkyPoint Studios.