SEM (search engine marketing)
Friday, October 17, 2008 19:19
Search engine marketing is an online marketing strategy that aims to promote websites by increasing their ranking and prominence in search engine result lists. Methods of SEM including search engine optimization (SEO) and also paid result placement and inclusion.
There are various SEM search engine vendors, including Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing, which offer various services such as pay-per-click (PPC), cost per impression (CPI) and click-to-call advertising.
The SEM paid placement method is controversial, as it means that the results returned from some search engines may not always be the most relevant results available, because companies have paid to be included higher in the rankings.
This has led to various trade organizations, such as The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to publically state the need for search engines to disclose all paid placements on search engines results. This is so that the user can determine for themselves which results have been returned because they are relevant to the initial search, and which ones have been included because of paid marketing strategies. 
