Search
engine marketing (SEM) is a form of Internet marketing that involves
the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search
engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising.
SEM
may incorporate search
engine optimization
(SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site
architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results
pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings.
Paid
inclusion involves a search engine company charging fees for the
inclusion of a website in their results pages. Also known as
sponsored listings, paid inclusion products are provided by most
search engine companies either in the main results area, or as a
separately identified advertising area.
Paid
Inclusion
Each
search engine is different. Some sites allow only paid inclusion,
although these have had little success. More frequently, many search
engines, like Yahoo! mix paid inclusion (per-page and per-click fee)
with results from web crawling.
Others,
like Google (and as of 2006, Ask.com, Paid inclusion is a search
engine marketing method in itself, but also a tool of search engine
optimization, since experts and firms can test out different
approaches to improving ranking and see the results often within a
couple of days, instead of waiting weeks or months. Knowledge gained
this way can be used to optimize other web pages, without paying the
search engine company.
Another
way search
engine marketing
is managed is by contextual advertising. Here marketers place ads on
other sites or portals that carry information relevant to their
products so that the ads jump into the circle of vision of browsers
who are seeking information from those sites.
To
assist the combat of challenges, the main objective for businesses
applying SEM is to improve and maintain their ranking as high as
possible on SERPs so that they can gain visibility. Therefore, search
engines are adjusting and developing algorithms and the shifting
criteria by which web pages are ranked sequentially to combat against
search engine misuse and spamming, and to supply the most relevant
information to searchers. This could enhance the relationship amongst
information searchers, businesses, and search engines by
understanding the strategies of marketing to attract business.