Those who already know this will agree that SEO and SEM are two very different animals. But, I still get customers who are still confused about these two methods for acquiring search engine traffic, so I will clarify the differences here.

SEM is like a racehorse and SEO is like a plow horse. With SEM, you have a lot of control of the results and you get them very quickly. Within a week of a successful SEM campaign, the racehorse may be prancing around the arena accepting congratulations. Feedback is immediate.

The SEO plow horse, on the other hand, does his job slowly and methodically and the results may not be apparent until months later, when the crops start to come in. The SEO plow horse has less control that the racehorse since the plow horse has to depend upon the richness of the soil, the rain and other factors outside of his control.

Overtime, however, the SEM racehorse is far more expensive than the SEO plow horse. The SEM racehorse requires more money spent in quicker bursts to keep the SEM racehorse in the race. Once he’s out of the race, no money is being spent or made.

The SEO plow horse on the other hand, keep plodding along, climbing the hills of the organic listings and getting more visitors to jump onboard. Over time, less money is spent on the SEO plow horse, though he keeps going like the energizer bunny.

It is important to note that some businesses prefer racehorses while others prefer plow horses. Each kind of equine will serve its purpose for some business models. There are even companies the feed and care for both SEM racehorses and SEO plow horses, garnering the best of both worlds.

Filed under: SEO