SEO, SEM, and YOU

Hungry for online success? SEO and SEM go together like chips and salsa.

When it comes to search engine optimization, there are many terms floating around that can be confusing to an SEO newcomer. The good news is that SEO and SEM are a way for you to increase your business’ exposure as well as your profit—and they’re simple to understand, too!

SEO – If you’re a business owner or trying to promote a product or a service, SEO, or search engine optimization, is a term you will want to become very familiar with. Search engine optimization is the process of analyzing what keywords or phrases people use to search for a product or service on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Then, those keywords are incorporated into the html on your website, into the web content on your website, and in headlines, descriptions, articles, press releases, ads, blogs, and much more.

The goal is to use the most relevant keywords related to not only your industry but your target audience. If you get good placement in the search engines by using SEO, you’ll reach more customers, get more exposure, and increase your profit. Not all SEO use is positive though – be careful about the quantity of keywords you use and how you use them. Stay away from the dark side of keywords or you might become a black hat SEO user. See: The Difference between White and Black Hat SEO.

SEM – SEM, or search engine marketing, is somewhat of an umbrella term for all marketing techniques that will gain you higher placement on search engines. This, of course, includes SEO. So you can consider SEO to be a subset of SEM. Search engine marketing can also include pay-per-click campaigns, banner ads, ad placement, and more. Since SEM and SEO go hand in hand, you wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) use one without the other.

For example, if you do not use keywords in your pay-per-click ads, they won’t target your intended audience, which will waste your money and not get you any quality backlinks to your website. SEO and SEM are useful in many forms of business marketing and will help you grow your business when done correctly. See: You Down with PPC? Yeah, You Know Me!

Can’t get enough of online marketing techniques? Check out these articles for more info:

3 Keys to the Future of SEO

4 Tips on Search Engine Optimization from AOL’s SEO Director

If you’re ready to put an SEM marketing technique into action today, Voice of North America is a great place to start. Through Voice of North America, you’ll be able to post blogs about any topic you want, getting you quality link backs from relevant content.