SEO or SEM. What's the difference?

In this activity, we are going to identify the key differences between SEO and SEM. As you most likely know, SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and SEM stands for “search engine marketing”.

Globally, Google is the most widely used search engine accounting for around 90% of all online searches. But there are other search engines such as Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, and Yandex.

Both SEO and SEM tactics are designed for a website to rank (appear) at the top of a search engine results page (SERP). Obviously, the nearer the top of a search, the more likely that the user will click on the result and go through to the website.

For companies reliant upon website traffic for all or part of their commercial success SEO and SEM are very important marketing tools. SEO success is built around relevant and quality content. Say a website has a good post on “best cameras for travel vlogging”, then it is likely to appear high in a search if the user types in similar keywords to the post.

Whereas SEM is paid placement (advertising) on a search engine, where the firm (website) is willing to advertise if a user types in a set keyword combination (such as “best cameras for vlogging”).
No doubt on your online searches, you have noticed that ads appear at the top (or sometimes the side) of a search, followed by non-ad listings.