Business owners are constantly searching for new ways to increase brand awareness, and ultimately, revenue. The marketing industry is ever-changing, though – as are its most effective practices. When new practices emerge, it is a confusing process to familiarize yourself with these practices.

Two internet marketing strategies that are often confused with one another are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Contrary to popular belief, they are not the same thing.

What’s the Difference?

Ultimately, these two practices coincide – SEO is actually a sub-category of SEM!

The goal of SEM is to increase search engine visibility. There are two key ways to achieve this: SEO or paid search advertising. With SEO, you receive free traffic to your website. With paid search advertising, you purchase search engine placement.

SEO is the practice of optimizing a website in order to be ranked higher in search engine results – higher rankings means more visibility. With the implementation of optimized titles, descriptions, well-formatted URLs, images, and more, SEO serves to drive traffic to a website.

Utilizing SEM practices, such as SEO, can increase brand awareness, generate revenue, expand customer base/clientele, increase competitive advantages, and more.

80% of traffic to a website begins with a simple internet search, so failing to implement SEM strategies into your internet marketing plan could be detrimental to business growth.

At Springwood Marketing, we have experience in designing and implementing SEM plans for various industries. All of our plans are custom to your business and include monthly planning meetings with quarterly analytics reports. We are confident in our work—so we track and verify all SEM efforts to ensure that the approach we choose for your company is providing results.

Contact us today to discuss marketing strategies and implementation. Our professionals look forward to assisting you!