What Is Search Marketing?

[pullquote]Search marketing is the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through both paid and unpaid efforts. [/pullquote]

Search Marketing encompasses:

SEO: Earning traffic through unpaid or free listings
SEM: Buying traffic through paid search listings

Originally called “search engine marketing,” the shorter phrase “search marketing” is now often used as the umbrella term over SEO and SEM. The longer phrase “search engine marketing” — or SEM — is now typically used to describe paid search activities.

Yes, we know that can be confusing — but that’s how things have evolved. Our article, Does SEM = SEO + CPC Still Add Up?, explains the evolution in more depth.

For those who want to learn more about either SEO or SEM, see our guides below:

Search Marketing Advice At Search Engine Land

At Search Engine Land, we publish search marketing news stories daily, along with frequent in-the-trenches advice, tips and tactics from our expert contributors. Below, you’ll find links to our most recent stories on search marketing:

SEM Library Archives is an area of Search Engine Land that provides a collection of all stories we’ve written on the topic of SEM. We also have subcategories, including:

SEO & SEM Tools is another area of Search Engine Land with a collection of stories we’ve written about search marketing tools. It includes these subtopics:

SEM Industry is a section of Search Engine Land that focuses not on search marketing advice but rather the search marketing industry (which even has an industry group, SEMPO). Within our SEM Industry section are these subsections:

More Search Marketing Resources

For educational search, social and digital marketing workshops and sessions, attend one of our SMX: Search Marketing Expo conferences. Our research arm and webinar site Digital Marketing Depot, also has SEM presentations available on demand, to anyone, for free.

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