The Difference Between Internet Marketing And Search Engine Optimization

People new to the world of Internet business, particularly the independent owner of a small business, can be easily confused or mislead simply by the mass of information, techniques, tips, and "proven systems" presented to them.

One area in which there may be a little confusion is in the two areas of Internet marketing and search engine optimization, also known as SEO.

This is not surprising, as SEO is an important factor in any Internet marketing plan, it is only part of the whole. There are also gray areas in which it is difficult to say that you are doing one or the other.

For example, placing a free classified ad somewhere seems to simply be marketing. However, if placed on the right website and formatted a certain way, it could provide an important backlink, and creating backlinks is a very important part of search engine optimization.

So, what the heck IS search engine optimization?

Well, at its heart, SEO is anything a business owner can do to cause his or her business website to rise higher in search results.

This is important, as most surfers seeking information through a search engine will not go beyond the first page of results, and many will not look beyond the first three or so.

Because of this, many assume that the importance is to show up at the top of as many search results as possible. While this may have a small positive affect in some cases, it could also have a negative affect if a website shows up often but never seems to be truly, or directly, related to the search topic.

This is one reason why it is often said that one of the first steps in SEO is to define the specific keywords and keyword phrases you might wish to use. It is also for this reason that choosing the correct domain name, another important SEO step, is also considered to be of prime importance. The right domain name, by the way, can make or break some Internet marketing plans.

Search engine optimization has both internal and external aspects. You can do things to your website to improve its ranking in search results, or you can go elsewhere, such as to another site, and create backlinks which will improve the respect level, if you will, which both people and search engines will assign to your site.

On the other hand, Internet marketing is simply anything that you do online to put your Internet business in the public eye. Often, of course, a particular Internet marketing tactic may be an SEO tactic as well. Sometimes, however, it may simply be marketing but not SEO

One small example is demonstrated at a forum I belong to. Setting up forum signatures which link to your website can be both a search engine optimization tactic and an Internet marketing ploy. However, this particular forum, has placed a "nofollow" attribute on signatures. Therefore, while my signature link may catch the eye of a visitor who then may click through to my website, a search engine robot (spider) will ignore the link and my website will not benefit in terms of SEO.

So, basically, Internet marketing lets people online know that you have a business, what it does, and how to find out more. Search engine optimization (SEO) lets search engines know that you have a business, what it does, how to find it, and whether it is important in a list of search results.