Search Engine Advertising (SEA)

Search Engine Advertising (SEA)Search Engine Advertising (SEA) means paid ads in the search results, usually billed on a pay-per-click basis.Open glossary entry → refers to paid ads in search engines, for example via Google Ads. Ads appear above or below the organic results and are usually billed per click (pay-per-click, PPCPay-Per-Click (PPC) is a billing model in online advertising where the advertiser only pays when a user actually clicks the ad. Impressions alone are free.Open glossary entry →).

SEA takes effect immediately but incurs ongoing costs: once the budget ends, so does the ad visibility. Together with organic search engine optimization (SEO)Search Engine Optimization (SEO) covers all measures that help a website become more visible in unpaid (organic) search results.Open glossary entry →, SEA forms the broader discipline of search engine marketing (SEM)Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the umbrella term for all marketing activities within search engines. It covers both paid search advertising and organic search engine optimisation.Open glossary entry →. In practice the two complement each other: SEA delivers fast, predictable reach, while SEO builds long-term, sustainable visibility.