All About Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing is a type of internet marketing which is aimed to promote the websites by increasing their visibility. In search engine marketing the websites are promoted by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages or SERPs.

Various tools are used to achieve the objectives of search engine marketing like search engine optimization or SEO, paid placement and paid inclusion. It is also argued by the online companies that many tools of search engine marketing are very cheap like SEO services therefore, online companies are pursuing these tools in their marketing strategies.

Search engine marketing is becoming very common and popular nowadays. According to a research conducted in North America, billions of US dollars are spent each year on search engine marketing. Furthermore, search engine marketing is showing a greater percentage increase as compare to the past years. Some of the largest vendors of search engine marketing are Microsoft adCentre, Google Adwords and Yahoo search marketing. Therefore, we can say that search engine marketing is becoming the most important internet marketing tool and it is also overwhelming traditional advertising.

A significant increase in the number of websites was noticed in the mid to late 90s because of the boom in Ecommerce and in the late 90s search engine marketing originated. During this period search engines started their services to make the access of information easier for the internet users. The keenness of people of using search engines as a tool for finding information motivated the search engines to develop their business models to finance their services. For example, in 1996 Open Text introduced pay per click program. In 2000, Google, the largest search engine offered its search engine marketing program. In 2001, Danny Sullivan proposed the term, "search engine marketing" for search engine optimization services, paid listing and developing online strategies for businesses. Search engine marketing has emerged as the primary money maker tool in the year 2007.

The effectiveness of search engine marketing is obvious from the growth and financial results of the online companies which are relying on this internet marketing tool. Those online businesses which are not benefiting from these programs are also getting consultancy services to avail these opportunities. If search engine marketing is providing benefits to online companies, then at the same time there are some controversies regarding the paid search advertising. However, through rules and restrictions, efforts are made to control unethical activities. Therefore, Search Engine Marketing is an excellent tool for the online companies to enhance their visibility on search engines.