Search Engines are a major source of reference when people are looking for information on the Internet. If your web site features prominently in these Search Engines, it has a dramatic effect on the number of visitors to your web site.

Search Engine Marketing is the art/science/practice of attaining well-qualified enquiries/leads for your business via referrals from Search Engines.

By qualified traffic, it is meant visits to your site by people who are genuinely interested in finding out more about your products and services.

Some interesting statistics:

• It has been estimated that 80% of Internet users commence an Internet session at one of the major Search Engines.
• It has been claimed that thirty-three percent of users think that if a company has a top ranking on a Search Engine, it is a leader in its field.
• Online shoppers are nearly three times more likely to find what they want on the Web by using search engines versus responding to advertisements http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2101_977481
• A report from iProspect reveals that more than half (56.6 percent) of Internet users abandon their searches after the first two pages, and with more than three-quarters of Internet users relying on search engines, the first page could be critical. http://www.internetnews.com/stats/article.php/1500821
• 41 percent of those who went to a web site to research a product purchase got there via search engines, the top referral choice.
  DoubleClick, Dec. 2002
• A research project into the Excite search engine between September 1997 and May 2001 found
  "Users tend to view few result pages per query. This trend appears to be increasing with the majority of Web users not browsing beyond the first or second page of results. "

Search Engine Marketing can be broken down into 2 broad categories:

1. Search Engine Optimisation
   This is the practice of attaining high listing in the natural (also known as "organic") search result listings. The search engines do not charge for this, but the process can be time consuming, especially for very competitive keywords.
   This is covered in depth in the Search Engine Optimisation section.
2. Pay Per Click Advertising
   This is a method of paid advertising that most search engines have now. It is a quick method of attaining prominence for your website, but can be costly unless well managed.
   For more information see the Pay Per Click section.