| SEO | SMO |
| This is obvious but needs to be mentioned, SEO is about search engines, primarily the big 3, Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft (GYM). | SMO is about the "new" social media sources that have crept up, including blogs, bookmarking websites, media sharing websites etc |
| SEO you might be looking to sell something. | With SMO you might be looking to build community |
| With SEO there is not as much participation | With SMO you should actively participate in the same activities that your audience does |
| Factor: onpage, offpage(directory, article, forums, blogs,social bookmarking,press release, link building,) content optimization, metatags generation, keyword analysis. | directory, article, forums, blogs,social bookmarking,press release, link building etc. |
