In layman’s terms, Search Engine Optimization or SEO is essentially tweaking your website so that it comes up naturally or organically for search results in Google, Yahoo Bing or any other search engine.

Google updates its algorithms regularly so that only the relevant results come up. From that perspective, many experts say that SEO is dead and the effort is futile. However, the truth is that Google tries to prevent algorithm manipulation and filters sites that don’t deserve to be on the top of SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

Search Engine Marketing or SEM is the comprehensive strategy to drive traffic to your business, primarily through paid efforts. Hence it is also called Paid Search Marketing.

The universe of SEM is diverse and complicated. There are different platforms for SEM. By far, Google AdWords (on Google Network) and Bing Ads (on Yahoo Bing Network) are the most popular.

SEM also includes Display Advertising, Search Retargeting & Site Remarketing, Mobile Marketing and Paid Social Advertising.

Research shows that content creation is a definitive method of marketing. All recent changes to Google’s algorithm – be it Panda, Penguin or Hummingbird – point to the fact that content is the most important metric while filtering search results.

You can be creative and create content on any topic and then skillfully link it to your business.

Also, there is a need to customise the content for different platforms. For example, the content for mobile phones should be crisp and short.

Remember, Good content is shared and is the best way for branding your business.

Social Media Marketing or SMM is an offshoot of your SEM efforts. It involves driving traffic to your sites or business through social sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Linkedin, etc.

As we mentioned above, good content is shared and liked. Remember to be prolific and original.