According to Google the Indexed Web contains at least 4.62 billion web pages. For a business that number can be intimidating when trying leverage the internet to find customers.

It is important to understand the difference between SEO, or search engine optimization, and SEM, or search engine marketing before determining how to allocate marketing funds and key business resources. SEO focuses on getting ranked at the top of the list when a user searches for keywords related to your business through organic search results. SEM involves investing advertising dollars into the right keywords to appear in the paid search results on major search engines.

An SEO strategy focuses on a digital presence over time through organic search results. Content marketing and social media are two methods for increasing organic traffic. By investing in developing in high-quality website content and building industry resources your are contributing to your company’s online presence and reputation. The SEO strategy requires a long-term commitment if you hope to earn high rankings and web traffic organically.

The aspects of SEM that differs from SEO is paid inclusion, traditional ads, and PPC, or Pay-Per-Click advertising. By running an SEM Campaign, you can pay a search engine or a directory to add a site to its database, rather than setting up a site that can be found by search engine spiders on its own. SEM also involves placing paid advertisements on the search engine results pages. These ads will appear based on the keywords entered into the search engine. One of the main components of SEM is PPC. In a PPC ad campaign you decide which keywords should bring up your ads, you write the copy, and decide how much you want to pay.

The biggest difference between SEO and SEM is the ROI. An SEM strategy offers the advantage of immediacy. If you are willing to spend money to increase your traffic and visibility then an SEM campaign is right for you. However, no SEM campaign is complete without SEO. So even if you are willing to spend money on advertising and paid placement, SEO must be the first step in promoting your site.

So whether you wish to run and SEO or SEM campaign, we at Briodigital can help you optimize your site and increase traffic. We have been running successful SEO and SEM campaign for years and know what it takes to get you ranked. Our team is dedicated to your success.