The terms SEO, SEM, and SMM are often used together as a “3 legged stool” for marketing on the internet. While they do work closely together to help you move your website up the ranks of search engine results pages (SERPs), there are some subtle differences that you need to know about:
SEO (Search Engine Optimization):
Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of your website in search engines via organic (non-paid) search results. SEO can do it by using optimization techniques such as optimizing keywords, building links, implementing meta tags (title tags, description tags), and more.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing):
Search Engine Marketing is anything that concerns pay-per-click advertising or promotion on ANY platform involving searches – not just on Google but also on Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, Twitter, and more. SEM includes paid ads on Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook Ads, or other advertising platforms that allow you to pay for clicks/impressions.
Social Media Marketing is the process of promoting your site via social networks such as Facebook Twitter, Linked In, TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram .
Note 1: Sometimes marketers will consider SEO as a form of SEM because it uses PPC advertising strategies, but we believe there are enough differences between them to be regarded as separate entities.
Note 2: There are also some minor distinctions between Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Some people say that SMM can fall under SEM if it uses paid search results, whereas SEO is free. But this doesn’t consider links as a part of the equation, which is a tactic used by BOTH free SEO and paid SEM campaigns.
In short, if you want to promote your business online, don’t just focus on one aspect – StackExpert recommends to look at all three together as they work best when they are integrated.
