What is the difference betwee SEO and SEM?

SEO typically refers to optimizing a site to appear in “natural” or “organic” search engine rankings. SEM, on the other hand, refers to paid search engine marketing like Google Adwords or Microsoft Bing’s Adcenter.

Each marketing strategy poses a unique set of challenges and each should be approached differently.

I typically start with an SEM campaign. Why? Because it gives you a more immediate response and you can determine what keywords actually get decent traffic and also what keywords convert for you into sales or leads.

SEO vs SEM should actually be SEO and SEM. The two strategies should find some way of working together and complimenting each other.

SEO campaigns require a lot of time and labor, and typically take longer to see a payback on your investment. Before you invest that time, use a google adwords campaign to find out if a keyword is even worth pursing. If it produces sales in adwords, it will likely do the same in “natural” search engine rankings. Wait until you are confident in the performance of the keyword, then you can invest the time and effort into SEO. Ideally, customers will find you in multiple places on the first page on any keyword search.