What are SEO and SEM?

SEO and SEM – Maybe you often hear the terms SEO and SEM. Especially if you are a blogger, you must be very familiar with the term SEO. Because every day a blogger must do an SEO for the development of his web blog. 

If you are a beginner in the world of digital marketing, maybe you don’t understand SEO and SEM. Actually, what is the difference between SEO and SEM? Is it necessary to learn it? 

Let’s look at the following explanation.

Table of Contents

• What is SEO? 
• SEO Goals 
• What is SEM?
• SEM Goals
• What is the difference between SEO and SEM?
  • Which is better, SEO or SEM?
• Conclusion

What is SEO? 

SEO is an abbreviation of Search Engine Optimization, which is the process of optimizing a website on the position of the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) in search engine results such as Google. 

It should also be noted that the search engine (Search engine) is not only Google, there are also other search engines such as Yandex and Yahoo.

SEO Goals

SEO has a goal to bring a lot of traffic to your blog or website through a good ranking position on search engines or search engines. The main indicator of SEO success is the higher the position of the website with certain keywords in search engines.

If you have a website or online store and want to get lots of visitors, then SEO can be one way. How could that be?

So, when internet users open Google to search for the product they need, it will type in a keyword, for example, your search for a product with the keyword ” Auto Parts “

The results that appear on the first page will usually be clicked on and read. This also increases the chances of your product being purchased by customers.

There are no fixed rules regarding SEO because search engine algorithms can change over time. However, there are two aspects of SEO that remain consistent, namely On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO.

We will discuss this further. In essence, On-Page SEO is optimizing your website pages and content for search engines, while Off-Page SEO is factors that are not related to your website pages. 

If on-page SEO deals with websites such as internal links, content, and keywords, off-page deals with link building or backlinking.

What is SEM?

SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing, which is a form of marketing or advertising on the internet through website promotion activities by increasing the visibility of the website itself on search engine results pages such as Google, Yandex, and Yahoo.

In addition, SEM is also related to paid advertising to increase the website’s ranking on the first page of search engines. Examples of SEM such as PPC (pay-per-click), Google Display Network, and Google Ads.

SEM Goals

Not much different from SEO, SEM also aims to get maximum results in the Search Competition for a product on search engines. SEM is more optimal and maximum than SEO because SEM uses an advertisement as a tool, so many websites or online shop owners use SEM as a marketing strategy. 
One example is when internet users search for a product using the keyword “Auto Parts”. Then the first rank of the product category is the following website. 
Now with the emergence of a website ranked first on Google, it is likely that the website will be visited by internet users searching for these products. 
This has the opportunity for the website’s products to be purchased by customers.

What is the difference between SEO and SEM?

SEO aims to increase the number of website visitors by making the website appear in the highest rankings on search results pages in search engines organically. 

Meanwhile, SEM is a means of marketing advertising on the internet to increase website visibility through organic search engine results.  SEO is part of SEM, but SEM is not part of SEO.

To make it easier to distinguish between SEO and SEM are:  SEO can be done for free, unlike paid SEM. 

One of the popular SEM media is Google Adwords. By using Google Adwords, your website will be on the first page of Google.

Which is better, SEO or SEM?

The answer is both are good.

If you want to increase traffic by getting a google ranking ( page one ), then you have to use SEO. 

Conversely, if you focus only on sales, then you can use SEM through advertising promotions such as Google ads.

However, if you want to increase your traffic and end up selling, you have to do both of these things to get the most out of your website.

Conclusion

SEO and SEM both have advantages and disadvantages in marketing strategies, but both have a major influence on the development of digital marketing. 

Organic SEO is done for long-term goals because it takes longer to show results, while SEM results can be seen immediately.

You can learn SEO and SEM to improve the development of websites and online stores. 

That’s the definition of SEO and SEM and their differences. Hopefully useful and good luck.

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