Search engine marketing is a niche in the field of internet marketing with a focus on achieving best results in major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Bing. Search engine marketing is broken into two primary categories which are organic search results and paid search listings.

Organic search results are in the main body of most search engine results pages (serps) on major engines like Google and intermixed with paid listings as you more often find on Yahoo serps. Organic results are based on the search engine algorithm and may be influenced by a variety of factors including text content, inbound links and on page html formatting. Search engine optimization is the process of optimizing a website for best results and includes use of proper website content, keyword density, heading and meta tags, anchor text and internal page link structure.

Website content always has and always will be the most important part of any search engine marketing strategy because it is the foundation of any website. Proper keyword research and professional writing will insure your website content is relevant and engaging  to your visitors and will better convey your marketing message and convert your visitors to customers. The best content may go unnoticed and inbound text links from relevant or authority sites will bring search engine spiders back more often while boosting your websites ranking for anchor text keywords from authority websites with trusted ranking.

Paid search marketing consists of the optimization and management of a paid advertising campaign on search engines including Google Adsense, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter. Paid search  marketing relies on targeted keyword research and pay per click bid management. Paid search campaign managers are looking for the most relevant traffic at the lowest cost per conversion or sale.

Search engine marketing consultants must work in both areas in order to maximize results and exposure to your selected brand or web project. Choosing a search marketer capable of both is diffuclt to say the least but understanding what you need is the first step in online advertising.