Search Engine Marketing (SEM) refers to the practice of promoting a website or web page by increasing its visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through paid advertising. SEM typically involves pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns that allow advertisers to bid on keywords that are relevant to their business, industry, or target audience. SEM is different from Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which involves optimizing a website or web page to improve its ranking in organic search results. While SEO is a long-term strategy that requires ongoing optimization efforts, SEM allows advertisers to achieve immediate visibility and results through paid advertising. To create an effective SEM campaign, advertisers typically begin by researching and selecting relevant keywords that are likely to be searched by their target audience. They then create targeted ads that include these keywords and set a budget for their campaign. The ads are typically displayed at the top or bottom of SERPs and are labeled as "sponsored" or "ad" to differentiate them from organic search results. Advertisers only pay when a user clicks on their ad, which is why SEM is often referred to as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.