My Opinion: SEM=Paid Search

Personally, I am in the camp that refers to SEM as paid search, not SEO

By Richard V. Burckhardt

Being the Danny Sullivan fan boy that I am, it’s rare that I find myself in disagreement with him, but that’s where I find myself after reading his Search Engine Land post Does SEM = SEO + CPC Still Add Up? where he opines that SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is an umbrella for all forms of search marketing, paid and organic.

In the article, Danny gives quite a bit of history supporting his idea that all forms of search related marketing should be lumped under SEM. It’s a great read.

Nonetheless, I have always been in the camp that feels that SEM refers to paid search marketing. My reasoning is very simple. With search engine optimization you have SEO. That’s it. With paid search you have all kinds of variations – PPC, CPA, CPC, banner ads, etc. If anything needs to have an umbrella, it’s paid search.

And, what about other forms of web related marketing (example: e-mail marketing) that aren’t necessarily search related. They don’t fit under a “search” umbrella.

Personally, I feel it makes more sense for the umbrella for all web marketing to be something as simple as, well, “web marketing.” That allows better segmentation of organic (SEO), paid (SEM), social media optimization (SMO), e-mail marketing and affiliate marketing while keeping them all under a “web marketing” category.

That said, the fact that Danny has “found it annoying that over the years, more and more people use SEM to mean paid search, as if SEM excludes SEO” points out the fact that if we in the industry don’t have a standardized definition of what SEM is (and SEO, SMO, etc. for that matter), then how are companies trying to hire us going to be anything but clueless as well?

SEO/PPC Partner Needed

I spoke with these folks earlier this week and thought I’d pass this opportunity on to any SEOs out there looking for contract work.

BryantBROWN communications, a full-service ad agency in Los Angeles, is looking for an S E O partner to provide S E O analysis and link building, as well as pay per click campaign management and conversion optimization, for a growing client base of healthcare, financial services, and entertainment companies. The ideal partner would have experience working with agencies on a project basis. Virtual consulting is okay. Please refer to our website for more information about our agency, www.bryantbrown.com. If you are interested, please forward your resume, relevant experiences, and fee structure.

 

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PPC/SEM Specialist in Austin

The company that I do SEO for, FramesDirect.com is looking for a Pay Per Click/Shopping Site Feed Specialist to work out of their Austin office full-time. You can go to the company blog, The Eye Zone, and read the Austin job opening there.

Let me explain a bit about the position. It is 100% PPC. There is absolutely no SEO involved other than collaborating with the SEO (me) to do paid marketing in areas where we are weak on the organic side of the aisle. The eyeglasses superstore is rapidly expanding into a lot of shopping sites, PPC advertising and e-mail marketing venues and needs someone who is experienced and can give total focus to optimizing product feeds and ads.

This means that if you are with a PPC/SEM firm or an SEO who dabbles in PPC, do not bother. This is an in-house position with no SEO involved. The company wants someone who can work side by side with their web designer to create and test landing pages out of their Austin office.

Pitches and resumes from firms and SEOs will be discarded. And, since I am screening the resumes for the company before I send them to the CEO, I am the one they go through first.

Just wanted to point this out. Again, this is NOT an SEO position. I have been splitting my time doing SEO, PPC and working on feeds. The company is growing to the point that someone who can handle the paid end of things full-time is needed so that I can concentrate on organic SEO, the blog and press relations.