Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs).

According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, SEM methods include: search engine optimization (or SEO), paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

North American search engine marketing industry grew to $12.2 billion in 2007, a 30% increase over 2006s spending of $9.4 billion.