Search Engine Marketing (SEM) In Internet marketing, search engine marketing, or SEM, is a set of marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs).

SEM strategies include:

- Search engine optimization attempts to improve rankings for relevant keywords in search results by improving a web site's structure, content, and relevant backlink count.

- Pay per click advertising uses sponsored search engine listings to drive traffic to a web site. The advertiser bids for search terms, and the search engine ranks ads based on a competitive auction as well as other factors.

- Paid inclusion feeds listings into search engines, typically comparative shopping sites like Nextag.

- Social media optimization promotes by placing ideas within online communities with the hope that they will spread virally.

- Video Search Marketing attempts to promote a business by strategically placing short video clips on websites such as YouTube to be picked up search engine spiders or promoted through internal rating systems.