SEO vs. SEM/SEV

I know, enough with the acronyms.  Anyway Search Engine Optimization or commonly known as SEO is one those terms thrown around allot in regards to web design and the accessibility of those designs. I'm guilty as charged as one those throwing that term around, many times incorrectly.

Thinking back when the phone book was the primary media to connect the customers to businesses, smaller businesses would name their company with letters closest to the top of the alphabet in hopes costumers would see their phone listing first, increasing their chances over other businesses listed  further down. Its the first come, first serve principle. Other companies with bigger budgets would post an ad in the yellow pages in hopes catching that costumers eyes first. Check out Electricians in the yellow pages for a good example of this phenomenon.

Now days this same desire carries over to the internet with clients wanting their web site to be at the top of the search engine report page (SERP).  So lets take a look at SEO first and then well discuss other terms that are commonly refereed to as SEO but are actually Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Visibility (SEV).

Search Engine Optimization

Google has a guide called "Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide" that is an excellent source of information about SEO. But in a nut shell the following items will ensure optimum organic (free) search engine results:

• Good content relevant to your product/idea/point.
• Create unique, accurate page titles
• Make use of the "description" meta tag  
• Improve the structure of your URLs
• Make your site easier to navigate

Search Engine Marketing

SEM is a little more complex encompassing SEO, paid inclusion, paid placement, and contextual advertising. Now we're talking money being used to ensure that a website's visibility improves by purchasing  the top of that list (paid inclusion) on the search engines result page (SERP) as seen below:

Paid Placement is very similar to the paid inclusion except the advertisers pay their host every time the ad is clicked vise a fee for the inclusion into their search engine web site.


Contextual Advertising is advertising on website that targets a specific individuals visiting the site. The Harley example below targets a specific demographic that would be visiting the site.

Search Engine Visibility

You may have heard the saying "when in doubt, Google out". Well that's a real simple description SEV.  How many times have you been looking for something on the internet and you type a keyword into the search engine in hopes of it getting you in the bark park of your search. That is why its important to research what keywords customers may use to find the web site of interest and write interesting content based on those keywords. Other ways to increase a websites SEV is optimized press releases, E-newsletter, corporate blog, and a RSS feed. The more internet traffic containing interesting content discussing your product/info/idea, the better.

What do clients really want?

Clients may ask for an SEO web site but I think they are really thinking SEV.  Don't get me wrong they do want a site that is Search Engine Optimized but I think they envision perspective customers typing those variety of keywords into the their search engines and their website popping towards the top of the SERP. In addition, most want that without paying any money.

Content Management Systems (CMS) and SEO/SEV/SEM

In spite of their name, Content Management Systems are not always SEO/SEV friendly and some are more friendly than others. That being said, you had better do your research on SEO friendly CMS  programs. Some SEO and CMS issues are:

• Dynamic URLs -URLs with special characters (%&=) are a problem with search engine spiders.
• Bad meta tags - many CMS systems do not allow meta tags to edited.
• Keyword poor URL's - some CMS programs may not use dynamic URLs but do not allow for URL's to include import keywords. 
• Search engine unfriendly design -  the code structure may make the page virtually invisible to search engines.

Although these issues exist for many well known CMS applications,  there are applications out there with embedded software specifically to improve SEO/SEV.  Features included are allowing for editing meta data and even automatically including it if nothing is entered. Another feature is a URL recommendation and validation mechanism. Some CMS systems have an option for a clean URL  and plug-ins designed to specifically improve SEO/SEV. Bottom line is if SEO/SEV is a priority, choose your CMS application carefully.