So what’s the difference? Many say they are the same and some say they are totally different. They are two seperate methods but they go hand in hand. Search Engine Marketing or SEM is more broad in a sense that SEO can be included in the method. Although generally SEM deals with paid inclusions, pay per click, sponsored ads, and other services in which usually you see quick results but your website is in the sponsored ads section which doesn’t get as many clicks as natural results. Also it can get expensive depending on how many people click on your ad and even if they do, they might just look for a second and click the back button.
Search Engine Optimization on the other hand takes longer to show results but your website will be found in the natual or organic search engine result pages. These natural results get way more clicks than the sponsored ads but they take more time to show up.
However you look at it, both SEO and SEM are powerful methods that increase traffic to your website and make your website visible in the search engine results pages. Many claim to start optimizing your website first and then start paying for ads and pay per click, but doing them together is even more powerful. Of course your budget plays a big part on how much SEM you can do but you can start by optimizing your site.