Search engine marketing Facts for Kids

Search engine marketing (often called SEM) is a way businesses promote their websites online. It helps websites show up more often and higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), which are the lists you see after you search for something. SEM mainly uses paid advertising to do this. It also includes search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is about making changes to a website's content and design so it naturally ranks higher in search results. SEM helps make paid ads, like pay-per-click (PPC) ads, more effective. It also encourages people to take action on a website, like buying something or signing up.

How Businesses Use Search Engine Marketing
- Who Leads the Search Market?
A Quick Look at SEM History
How SEM Works: Tools and Strategies
SEM vs. SEO: What's the Difference?
Being Fair: Ethical Questions in SEM
Real-World Examples of SEM
See also

How Businesses Use Search Engine Marketing

Businesses spend a lot of money on search engine marketing to reach customers. For example, in 2015, most of the money spent on search ads in the U.S. went to Google, Yahoo, and Bing. SEM helps companies understand what customers want. It gives them information to find new chances to grow and make money. SEM helps businesses improve their marketing and attract more people to become customers.

Who Leads the Search Market?

Google is by far the biggest search engine in the world. As of October 2016, Google had almost 90% of the global search market. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo have much smaller shares. In August 2024, a court decided that Google's search engine had too much control over the market. The US Department of Justice said that Google's strong position had affected many parts of the internet, including online publishers and advertisers.

A Quick Look at SEM History

In the late 1990s, more and more websites appeared. Search engines became important tools to find information. To pay for their services, search engines started offering ways for businesses to advertise. One of the first was "pay-per-click" (PPC) programs. These started around 1996 with companies like Open Text and Goto.com.

Google launched its own advertising program, AdWords, in 2000. By 2007, PPC ads were a major way for search engines to make money. In 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft teamed up to create the Yahoo! & Microsoft Search Alliance. This partnership was approved in 2010.

As search advertising grew, experts started helping businesses use these new tools. The term "search engine marketing" (SEM) became popular in 2001. Danny Sullivan, a technology expert, helped define SEM. It includes everything from making websites rank higher (SEO) to managing paid ads and creating online marketing plans.

How SEM Works: Tools and Strategies

SEM uses different tools and strategies to help websites get noticed. It's all about making sure people find a business when they search online.

Finding the Right Words (Keyword Research)

One key part of SEM is finding the best keywords. These are the words or phrases people type into search engines. Businesses research these words to make sure their website content uses them. This helps their site appear when someone searches for those terms.

Checking Your Website's Reach

Businesses also check how much of their website is seen by search engines. This includes how many pages are listed (called saturation). They also look at how many other websites link to theirs (called popularity). Having many good backlinks can help a website rank higher.

Understanding Your Visitors

Back-end tools help website owners understand who visits their site. These tools show how many people visit, what pages they look at, and how they interact with the site. This information helps businesses improve their website and marketing.

Making Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Since many people use phones, it's important for websites to work well on mobile devices. Tools like the Google Mobile-Friendly Website Checker help businesses see if their site is easy to use on a phone or tablet.

How Paid Ads Work (Pay-Per-Click)

A big part of SEM is pay-per-click advertising (PPC). With PPC, businesses pay a fee each time someone clicks on their ad. Advertisers bid on keywords, and the highest bidders often get their ads shown more prominently. This can quickly bring more visitors to a website. However, it can get expensive, especially for popular keywords. Businesses need to make sure the money they spend on ads brings in more money than it costs.

SEM vs. SEO: What's the Difference?

SEM is a broader term that includes SEO. Think of SEM as the whole cake, and SEO as one important slice. SEM covers both paid search results (like ads you pay for) and organic search results (where your site ranks naturally).

SEM uses paid ads through programs like Google Ads or Bing Ads. It also involves submitting articles and making sure SEO is done well. Both SEO and SEM need keyword research. They also need to be checked and updated often to keep up with new trends.

Sometimes, people use "SEM" to mean only "pay-per-click advertising." But SEM actually includes more, like SEO and social media marketing (SMM). SMM is about using social media to tell people about a company's products or services.

The goal of both SEO and PPC is to make a website more visible in search results. When teams work together on both, they can get much better results. They can share goals and data to improve how well their website performs.

Being Fair: Ethical Questions in SEM

Sometimes, there are questions about what's fair in search engine marketing.

Clear Labels for Ads

One concern has been how search engines show ads. Groups like Consumer Reports WebWatch and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have said that ads should always be clearly labeled. This helps people know if a search result is an ad or a natural listing.

Using Brand Names in Ads

Another debate is about using a competitor's brand name in ads. For example, should a company be allowed to bid on a competitor's name as a keyword? In 2009, Google changed its rules to allow this, as long as the ad's landing page gives information about that brand. This topic is still discussed a lot.

Google's Quality Checks

Google regularly updates its search rules to make sure results are fair and helpful. For example, in 2012, Google launched an update called Google Penguin. This update aimed to punish websites that tried to trick the system by buying links to boost their rank unfairly. Google has released several Penguin updates since then. SEM focuses on honest SEO and PPC management, not on trying to trick search engines.

Real-World Examples of SEM

Google Ads is a very popular tool for SEM. Businesses use it to create ads that appear when people search for specific keywords. These ads can be very flexible. Businesses can set a maximum cost per day for their campaign. They only pay when someone clicks on their ad. Many SEM companies use Google Ads to promote their own services and help clients. They track how well ads perform, from clicks to actual sales, using tools like Google Analytics. This helps clients see the value of their investment.

Another SEM method is contextual advertising. This is when ads are placed on other websites that have content related to the product. For example, an ad for hiking boots might appear on a blog about outdoor adventures. This way, the ad reaches people who are already interested in similar topics. SEM helps businesses connect with searchers and search engines. It has become very important for many industries, like tourism, to attract customers. Businesses aim to keep their ranking high in search results to be seen. Search engines constantly update their rules to fight against misuse and provide the most relevant information to users.

Search engine marketing facts for kids

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