Crucial Differences Between SEO And SEM Services

October 12, 2009 | Filed Under SEO

by Justin Harrison

The abbreviations SEO and SEM are often used in similar or even identical contexts. If you’re not familiar with the whole search engine marketing scene it can be tough to find out if there’s any difference between the two at all. But as with other kinds of ‘insider’ terminology, appearances are deceptive.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEM stands for Search Engine Marketing. So you see, they are different. To understand better, SEO is anything you do to your page to make it more search engine friendly. SEM is anything you do to get higher ranks in search engines, such as, search engine optimization, requesting back links, and submitting your URL to search engines.

Even knowing the definitions, they do seem kind of like the same thing, don’t they? But don’t get careless! When you’re shopping around for SEM or SEO services, you need to know exactly what’s being offered. Companies that don’t tell you exactly what services they have available should be looked into thoroughly. Don’t ever just buy a package from a company without knowing what’s in it, that’s as silly as buying a box without knowing the contents. The reason to hire a company to do these things in the first place is because you can’t do them yourself, and some of the less reputable kinds will try to trick you with vague packages and then do no more than submit your URL to some search engines. Why even bother hiring them for something you’re perfectly capable of doing on your own? You can hand out your URL to search engines yourself without it costing you a penny, and you can likely hit all the major ones without much difficulty.

Information that would be good to gain would be what they plan on doing to increase traffic to your website. So they are submitting your URL to search engines? Which ones? Have them give you a list of those search engines. What about the use of keywords? Ask about keyword optimization of the website. Ask about META and ALT tags.

Finally, it doesn’t really matter what services are offered, as long as the company uses “SEO” or “SEM”. Although, SEM will be more valuable than SEO, because SEM includes SEO as well as other marketing strategies. Even though im sure not all companies are the same in packages. Just simply put, the company could just be charging you for what you could do yourself. If shopping, look for websites with noteable backgroundsand ask about all services offered. Eventually, when you feel your research is sufficient and you know you will get the best value for your money, you can proudly make a efficiently wise decision.

About the Author:

Justin Harrison is an internationally recognised Internet Marketing expert who provides world class Search Engine Optimization to website owners. For more information visit: http://www.seorankings.co.za

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