People can talk either SEO vs PPC or SEO vs SEM. What's important is that they understand how each acronym is defined.
That's actually fairly inaccurate. SEO isn't just onpage optimization, infact that's only a small part. Link building, linkbaiting (including quality content creation) is a huge part of SEO. SEO is a subcategory of SEM, which also includes paid search engine advertising. (PPC etc.) I agree.
I agree to that, I forgot to see that SEM is under internet marketing which is under general marketing. I saw different strategies under internet marketing but I think SEM is the most effective way in internet marketing because people now go to Google or any other SEs to search anything that they want to buy
Though this is one way at looking at it, I would say in most presentations/interactions/organizational structure you will find that most people do not see these as hierarchal. The traditional defines SEO as marketing efforts that increase organic rankings and SEM as paid keyword marketing. Both reside under "Online Marketing" which resides under "Marketing"
Not that I really feel like debating whether or not most people's views on SEO/SEM/Internet Marketing are correct, but it is a hierarchical structure whether people see it that way or not. What "most people think" is irrelevant - it is what it is. Many people have little understanding of SEO/SEM/etc., so don't go by their opinions. I often have to educate clients about how things work. If people have misunderstandings, then clarify it for them. Feel free to look it up for yourself. Wikipedia references on: Internet Marketing Search Engine Marketing Search Engine Optimization
Come'on that's like saying the color RED isn't Red even though most people see it as such??? The point I was making is that even though the statement YOU made makes sense the rest of the world doesn't necessarily define it as such. Without being aware of this fact someone (like the original thread starter) could be quite confused. I was at AdTech a few weeks ago. SEO and SEM were always discussed as separate tactics on the same level. I just got an invite for a netfinanceus.com conference today. Guess what? There's a sesssion listed for "Should you pursue SEM, SEO or both?" Technically it should be "Should you puruse PPC, SEO or both" but we don't live in a perfect world.
SEO, along with Pay Per Click ads, social media optimization, etc., is an SEM strategy. WebGeek182's illustration explains it quite nicely. Search Engine Marketing Company-"Helping Your Business Bear Fruits"
I wish some people would read reliable sources before making a statement so as not to make others more confused.
It occurs to me that we are missing another acronymn. I propose we introduce SEA(search engine advertising) This would cover direct pay search engines strategies such as PPC, CPM and CPA and along with SEO neatly fall under the main category of SEM. That should help clear things up.
I think we have something here...Building on WebGeeks post this is what I came up with. http://www.searchnology.com/images/internetmarketing.jpg Onsite and Offsite SEO goes into an exhaustive list. Online media is also a myriad of tactics. No wonder people are confused. If we could come up with a grand hiearchy it could be a great sticky post. Thoughts?