What Is SEM, PPC & CPC?

Paid search marketing is the process of gaining traffic by purchasing ads on search engines. It is sometimes referred to as SEM (search engine marketing) or CPC (cost-per-click) or PPC (pay-per-click). Unlike some digital advertising where you pay for impressions (an impression is considered a page view), with PPC search, you only pay if your ad is clicked on.

In a search engine, the paid search ads are usually found at the top, bottom and/or right hand side of the search engine results page often denoted by “sponsored listings” or “ads”.