What is search engine marketing, SEM?

SEM, (search engine marketing), is referred to as paid search and SEO (search engine optimization) is referred to as organic search.  PPC, (pay-per-click) is referred to as online paid ads, they are advertisements that were purchased to display on a search engines, e.g., (Google, Bing or Yahoo as examples only).

Generally, SEM is Internet marketing that promotes websites, products, services, brands or events to increase awareness on search engine result pages (SERPs) by way of paid ads.