Paul J. Bruemmer of “trademarkSEO”:http://www.trademarkseo.com/ does a good job of Defending the Art and Craft of SEO at iMedia Connection.
bq.. Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is an effective marketing strategy that provides marketing accountability. There are several reasons why organic links are so valuable. The reasons cited below come from industry research:
# Well-optimized sites enjoy sizable gains in unique visitors and conversions.
# Search users prefer organic listings to sponsored listings.
# Organic listings produce more conversions than other online strategies.
# Search engine listings provide branding.
# SEO provides an excellent return on investment (ROI).
p. I recommend reading the whole article if you are trying to get your head around SEO.
It’s also important to understand that SEO and SEM are really not related.
SEO is about your site and what you can do to make your content more visible to people who might be searching for topics you discuss.
SEM is advertising.