SEM is the process of gaining traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. It
is also called paid search and sometimes referred to as CPC (cost-per-click) or
PPC (pay-per-click) marketing, because most search ads are sold on a CPC / PPC
basis.
SEM is
short for “search engine marketing,” which once was used as an umbrella term to
encompass both SEO
(search engine optimization) and paid search activities. However, over
time, many adopted the
SEM acronym to refer solely to paid search.
Here at
Internet Marketing Consultant, I generally use SEM and/or paid search to refer
to paid listings, with the longer term of search
marketing used to encompass both SEO and SEM.
PPC Search Engine
Marketing Strategies: The Role of Keywords
As a search engine marketing consultant, I take software as a
service approach offering web analytics, keyword research, and keyword
suggestion tools to help you continuously develop a search engine
keyword list that provides your campaign with four important benefits:
- A Never Ending List of Keywords
- A Relevant, Exclusive Keyword List
- A Stream of Keywords.
- Campaign Maintenance
Tools
Search Engine Marketing: SEM Keyword Grouping
Once you've amassed this enormous list of keywords, there is
the issue of maintaining and manipulating them in such a way that you can
really capitalize on your stock of long tail terms and inexpensive clicks.
- Relevance
- Click-Through Rate
- Better Ad Position
- Lower Costs
How Did SEM Morph Into
Paid Search?
About two or three years
ago, I noticed more and more people saying SEM when they meant, to me, paid
search. I’d hear people say things like “I do SEO and SEM,” as if SEO wasn't a
part of SEM. I found that grating. I’d usually chalk it up to people either making
an innocent mistake or perhaps still being new to the space.
Advice at Search Engine Land
Here at Internet
Marketing Consultant, I provide paid search advertising information and news in
a variety of ways. Paid Search is our section that is devoted to practical tips
and tactics about paid search ads. Paid Search is Internet Marketing Consultant’s column that
covers different paid search topics every week.
More Internet Marketing
Consultant – Beyond our Paid Search column, Internet Marketing Consultant also
has these columns that cover paid search topics:
- B2B Search Marketing
- Enterprise SEM
- Search & Analytics
- Search & Conversion
- Search & Display
In addition to covering
paid search generally, Internet Marketing Consultant also has paid search areas
specifically for each of the major search engines:
- Search Ads: Pay Per Call
- Search Ads: Video
- Google: AdWords
- Microsoft: adCenter
- Yahoo: Search Ads
Over on Digital
Marketing Depot, there is an archive of PPC / Paid Search presentations available webcasts on demand, to anyone, for
free.
Continuing Advice &
News
Looking for an
easy-to-scan compilation of paid search news? Check out All top. For compilations of the
best articles on paid search in a given year, visit The Seemly. At Search Engine Round table, you’ll
discover a regular compilation of important discussions happening on a variety
of search marketing forums.
Don’t forget to get our
free Search Cap newsletter! Search Cap
has a recap of all the day’s paid search news from sources all over the web.