What Is SEM? SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is the process of gaining website traffic by purchasing ads on search engines.
Below are some of the most common terms also used to refer to SEM activities:
- Paid search ads
- Paid search advertising
- PPC (pay-per-click) *
- PPC (pay-per-call) – some ads, particularly those served to mobile search users, may be charged by the number of clicks that resulted in a direct call from a smartphone.
- CPC (cost-per-click) *
- CPM (cost-per-thousand impressions) *
- Most search ads are sold on a CPC / PPC basis, but some advertising options may also be sold on a CPM basis.
Google AdWords is by many measures the most popular paid search platform used by search marketers, followed by Bing Ads, which also serves a significant portion of ads on Yahoo.
Beyond that, there are a number of “2nd tier PPC platforms” as well as PPC advertising options on the major social networks.
In 2014, Google AdWords released a new video about how AdWords PPC auctions work:
In the video explain google will score your advertising value using landing page score and bidding value, if you has landing pages that search engine optimized well, it will get lower price per click, that's why the important role of search engine optimization of website is really necessary.