Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the term given for any marketing that attempts to drive traffic to webpages via search engines. It’s a broad term that encompasses many marketing techniques. The most common of these (and the best known) include SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) advertising.
Marketers making use of SEM techniques are aiming to make webpages feature as high as possible on search engine results pages (SERPs). This increased visibility translates to higher traffic, which websites can then use to convert more visitors into customers and to therefore boost their profits.
Successful SEM campaigns see webpage content featuring at the top of organic search results, or paid adverts featuring prominently when relevant search terms are keyed in by web users.