"It seems like" is something a little more abstract. It's something you can only "detect" or guess at.
For example, an older person can say, "It seems like just yesterday I was in high school" which means it feels like not a lot of time has gone by since high school. He can't physically "see" how much time has passed, so he says "seems".
Another example: "It seems like I never have any luck." You can't literally see that you don't have any luck, you can only 'feel' it, so you use "seems".