What is SEM exactly? It stands for search engine marketing but goes by other names like PPC, CPC and CTR. SEM is a strategy that businesses use to help their website rank better on google. Just say that you have a HVAC business and you want to be on page one of google. You can use SEO, which is search engine optimization. You can have a website and use targeted words on your site to help the site rank better on google. Sometimes SEO involves social media marketing. The social media pages like Facebook take pictures and ads from your actual website to then display on their platform. This is not the same as using SEM though. SEM are those few websites highlighted way at the top of google. You pay for that spot. Everytime a person clicks on the link, you pay for the privilege. Hence the name pay per click right? Search engine marketing depends on keywords typed into google. You can target things like heater repair, AC tune up or HVAC maintenance. When someone types those into google, your company name will then pop up. Why even bother with SEO then? These two tactics are similar, but do help out a business in very different ways. Just because SEM gets people to the website, it doesn’t mean they stay there. SEO makes sure the website is user friendly, easy to navigate and contains all the necessary information a potential buyer is looking for. If your website is not optimized, then you are wasting money paying for that click since the buyer is leaving in a matter of seconds.