SEM vs. SEO: What’s the difference?

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Often mistakenly used interchangeably, SEO and SEM are two different marketing channels that businesses can use to reach their audience on search engines like Google and Bing.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a critical tactic for brands looking to increase website traffic and increase online visibility. SEO can be a tricky strategy to navigate if you don’t know how to compare or pair it with search engine marketing (SEM).

It can rightly be said that the two seem similar, but in reality, they are two very different approaches to becoming visible on SERPs (search engine results pages).

The difference between the two is easy to understand once explained. So this guide will help you understand each of the definitions and the differences between the two concepts. Here's what we're going to cover.

What is SEO?
What is SEM?

Before you can begin planning your strategic approach to improving netherlands telegram data your business’s online visibility, you need to understand the terminology used and what it means. Using poor descriptions in a strategy document that is distributed to others can be detrimental to your success and approval of budgets and tactics.

So let's break this down into simple, easy to understand terms.

The two main areas of the search marketing industry are:

SEO : An approach that uses organic methods to appear in search results.
SEM : An approach that uses paid methods to appear in these same search results.
What’s important to understand is that the definition of SEM is often contested and contradicted. In fact, some sources, Backlinko for example, state that SEM is a broader search channel that encompasses both organic and paid search.