Are SEO and SEM services are two distinct concepts?

As a digital marketing beginner, you know that SEO or Search Engine Optimization manages the ranking positions of a website in different search engines. Digital marketing is a broad field which consists of many activities. Both SEO and SEM are two such activities. There are some differences or uniqueness between SEM or Search Engine Marketing and SEO. To create your career goals in digital marketing, you need to know these differences. Only then, you can understand what digital marketing course you should join to get trained.  

Differences or uniqueness between SEO and SEM 

Some basic differences between SEO and SEM are:

• SEM is a part of SEO. SEM activities boost the performance of SEO activities. 
• SEO activities improve the ranking positions of a website. SEM adopts various online advertising methods on search engine platforms. It takes important roles to drive search engine traffic. 
• Between SEO and SEM, only the first one monitors activities of Search Engine algorithms. Thus, you need to optimize the website based on the activities of search engine crawlers. In SEM, you just need to know the functions of various online advertisement platforms. 
• You need to take care of keywords, backlinks, meta-tags, navigation system and many other web components for successful SEO. In SEM, you need to manage PPC tools and bidding process. Also, you have to find out the most effective keywords. 
• Between SEO and SEM, though the first one ranks a website, SEM has no direct role in ranking activities. SEM only drives traffic. If your website experiences huge traffic, only then there will be an impact on ranking. 
• In SEO, some activities can be performed without involving the subject website. They are known as Off-page SEO activities. In SEM, you just need to work on some online advertisement platforms. 
• Almost all SEO activities can be performed at free of cost. SEM activities involve paid online advertisements. 
• You can get the results of SEM activities almost instantly. But, you need to wait for a certain period of time to get the results of SEO activities. 

Similarities between SEO and SEM 

Some basic similarities between SEO and SEM are:

• With successful SEO, your website’s URL may get top-ranking positions in search engines. Successful SEM puts your online advertisements in the top positions of the search engines. 
• In both SEO and SEM, you need to choose most effective keywords. Only such keywords can drive traffic in both cases. 
• In both SEO and SEM, you need to take care of your contents. These contents must be convincing and eye-catching. 
• You can use appropriate promotional images when performing SEO and SEM activities. 

If a digital marketing professional fails to drive web traffic through SEO activities, he or she may adopt SEM methods. SEM can drive web traffic quickly, but, it can’t put a website’s URL in top ranking positions of search engines. Hence, SEM is not suitable for brand promotions. SEO and SEM activities should be integrated properly to expand a business effectively.