Interesting article over at Building 43 on SEM and SEO, currently not enough mentions around the net on DAO (Digital Asset Optimization) and the power of combining all three, especially with the semantic web bearing down on us all.

There is an ongoing debate in search marketing about whether Search Engine Marketing or Search Engine Optimization is more effective for driving traffic to company sites.

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, involves getting links to web sites to rank higher in natural, or so-called organic search results on certain keywords. Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, involves buying paid search ads for specific keywords. Both are designed to catch users’ attention when they are searching, and prompt them to click through the ad or the link to a web site.

Through research, I have discovered that while articles that come up in organic listings get more clicks than do the paid listings on Google, individual business web sites receive more clicks from the paid listings than from the organic listings.

Confused? SEO companies like to use the numbers to prove that SEO is the way to go. However, they do this by not giving you all of the variables. If you look at the whole picture, then you can find the truth in the numbers.

Continues @ http://www.building43.com