Friday, February 8, 2013

SEO vs SEM

They are two acronyms every marketer should know - SEO and SEM. Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are both important in their own right - but what exactly are they?

SEO: Search Engine Optimization is the act of optimizing your website through key words and website development to boost your placement in the search engine listings.  Complex algorithms determine and match the words people search for with the content on websites.

SEM: Search Engine Marketing is the process of gaining website traffic from search engines. While SEO is primarily organic and there is very little that can be done to improve one’s standing, SEM encompasses the purchase of website placement on a search engine’s pages. As an example, companies pay for the ads at the top of, and on the right-hand side of, a Google search page. Obviously, the higher the bid, the better the placement.

So what does this mean for you and your business? Email marketing can be used as a key tool in driving traffic to your site and increasing click-through rates on your links. This can, in turn, improve your placement within the organic search section of a search engine. By understanding SEO and SEM you can adapt your marketing efforts to include these supportive strategies!

Happy Mailing!

Author: Kayla Sfiligoj
Editor: Caitlin Durand

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