Driving traffic to your company’s website can be tricky. With so many businesses vying for attention on the internet, you have to explore the right tactics to get your name out there. For many, this comes down to utilizing SEO or Search Engine Optimization. While this is a method that can help improve how many visitors click through a site on a given day, there are more efficient options worth consideration. SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, is a broader category of procedures.

Defining the Terms

Search Engine Marketing differs from Search Engine Optimization in a few simple ways. First, SEO deals with using language to the advantage of optimizing specific web pages by highlighting relevant keywords that users are already searching for online. Search Engine Marketing, on the other hand, refers only to marketing tactics that involve money.

The Benefits of PPCs

One of the biggest options companies tend to explore with SEM is PPC. Also called Pay-Per-Click, this is a service that allows businesses the ability to pay for featured ad spots at the top of Google and other popular search engines. While search engines were the most commonplace spot for PPC advertisements, there are new platforms to consider including:

  • Social media sites like Facebook
  • E-commerce institutions like Amazon
  • Content sites like YouTube

Search Engine Marketing is how a vast number of search engines make a profit. Some of the newer methods companies are exploring outside of pay-per-clicks include product listing advertisements and local website ads. In order to meet the growing and changing demands of the industry, businesses need to take a serious look at SEM and explore how to best utilize PPCs and other money-backed methods.

The Right Terminology

Once upon a time SEO and Search Engine Marketing were interchangeable terms. Over the years, the ideologies have shifted and pushed the two schools farther apart. The main difference has to do with money. As long as cash is involved in the method of improving search results, it will always fall under the category of Search Engine Marketing. Any other keyword-based tweaks without involving payment would still be considered SEO.

Nowadays, it is much more common to hear people refer to both SEO and Search Engine Marketing as simply “search marketing.” This is a simplified term. that helps to capture both sides of the optimization spectrum.

Making the Best Decision

Marketing tactics change daily due to the power of the internet. If you believe that Search Engine Marketing could benefit your business, look into how you can get started with money-backed ad tactics that aim to improve your website’s traffic.