SEM stands for “search engine marketing”. It is the process of gaining traffic from or visibility on search engines. The phrase is also sometimes shortened to “search marketing”.

SEM is an umbrella term that covers two broad areas:

• Gaining traffic through free SEO efforts
• Gaining traffic through paid search advertising on Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.

Effective marketing technique:

A website needs to be visible and popular first before it starts to generate revenue for the entrepreneur. Search engine marketing (SEM) employs techniques that ensure that the merchant website ranks right at the top of the specific search results.

Targets the right audience:

While traditional forms of advertising essentially try to convince people who may not be interested, search engine marketing (SEM) targets people who are interested in a specific product or service, and thus, it is easier to convince them to buy the product or service.