I think people are splitting hairs between SEO and SEM. SEO is what good web developers should have done. It's proper formatting, crawler accessibility, et cetera.
SEM, on the other hand, is link-building, keyword targeting, PPC campaigns, quality content, et cetera. Basically, anything designed to manipulate behavior towards visiting your site.
SEO is perfectly understandable as a legitimate business provided it is services defined as above. It's just about making sure that the technical aspects of your site are in order. Still, I believe that this segment is shrinking, as search engines are getting better at understanding the sites and developers are getting better at optimizing their sites in the first place.
SEM is where the debate should be taking place. For lack of a better definition, SEM is about 'tricking' people into visiting your site, or otherwise 'gaming' the system. Those words might not be the best, but I hope their point is taken. (Note: 'Trick' could be read 'manipulate' or 'encourage'.) Quality content 'tricks' people into visiting your site. Link-bait titles 'trick' people into clicking. Back-links 'trick' Google into ranking you higher, which in turn 'tricks' others into clicking on your results more.
Point of order: I am not a professional web developer, and I don't sell or know personally anyone who sells any sort of SEO/SEM services.
I'm not sure what your point is. 'Trick' could be read as manipulation. An ad campaign could be considered a form of manipulation. The advertiser is manipulating the behavior of the viewer by convincing them to take action. It's driving users to your site because of something off-site.
With my post above I really just wanted to say that the broad term 'SEO' would be better divided based on the type of work done. SE Optimization is on-site. SE Marketing is off-site. I think the current definitions are too broad.
SEO is what good web developers should have done. It's proper formatting, crawler accessibility, et cetera.
Why should the web dev have worked to get you a diverse range of keyword rich inlinks from authority sites? Oh that's right they shouldn't that's nothing to do with web dev. What is the top ranking factor (according to the SEOMoz crowd anyway)? "Keyword Focused Anchor Text from External Links"
That's why I defined it as optimization. SEO in my opinion is NOT (or rather, should not be) getting links. That's SEM. Optimization is the technical aspect of things (headers, etc.). Marketing involves getting others to link to you. That's the manipulation, or 'tricking' that I talked about.
I agree that inbound links (and many other off-page factors) contribute significantly to SERP rankings. I would just rank them under the SEM tasks.
SEM, on the other hand, is link-building, keyword targeting, PPC campaigns, quality content, et cetera. Basically, anything designed to manipulate behavior towards visiting your site.
SEO is perfectly understandable as a legitimate business provided it is services defined as above. It's just about making sure that the technical aspects of your site are in order. Still, I believe that this segment is shrinking, as search engines are getting better at understanding the sites and developers are getting better at optimizing their sites in the first place.
SEM is where the debate should be taking place. For lack of a better definition, SEM is about 'tricking' people into visiting your site, or otherwise 'gaming' the system. Those words might not be the best, but I hope their point is taken. (Note: 'Trick' could be read 'manipulate' or 'encourage'.) Quality content 'tricks' people into visiting your site. Link-bait titles 'trick' people into clicking. Back-links 'trick' Google into ranking you higher, which in turn 'tricks' others into clicking on your results more.
Point of order: I am not a professional web developer, and I don't sell or know personally anyone who sells any sort of SEO/SEM services.