Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Basics

Search engine marketing (SEM), is a broad term that refers to a form of internet marketing. Its main goal is to increase the visibility of websites by promoting them through search engines.

There are several methods to getting listed in the search engine result pages (SERPs) including: search engine optimization (SEO), paid placement (pay-per-click), and paid inclusion (more like yellow pages).

The main goal is always to gain visibility as cheaply as possible. The best method to do this is through SEO, where you show up in the organic section of the SERPS and pay nothing for the clicks. This is a very competitive market though, and many times the best way to show up on the first page in Google’s results is to pay for it.