Introduction To Search Engine Marketing(SEM)

Every day, all around the world, millions of people use search engines to find

content on the Internet. Search engines are web-based programs which index

the web and allow people to find what they are looking for. “Search” or “search

marketing” is often used to refer to the industry that has built up around

search engines.

Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Bing are all well-known search engines. Google 

is the largest player globally, though dominance varies by region and is under

threat from new players to the market. Based on data accessed in July 2011

Google has 85.72% of the search market globally.

Organic search results

Organic search results are the primary product of a search engine. These

results are the listings generally found on the left-hand side on the search

engine results pages (SERPs). They are not influenced by financial payment

and are therefore also called natural search results. Organic search results

need to be consistently reliable to attract (and keep) users. Google’s growth

and success as a search engine can be directly linked to its superior search

algorithm which returns highly relevant organic results.

Paid search results

Paid search, also known as Pay per Click (PPC) advertising, involves the

displaying of sponsored results alongside the organic results. Advertisers

bid for placement, and pay the search engine when their advert is clicked on.

Paid search results must be distinguished from organic results since paid

placement introduces bias. PPC adverts are usually displayed at the top and

on the right side of the SERPs. Search engines attract and keep users through

organic search, but they make most of their money from paid search.