Definition
What is SEA (search engine advertising)?
SEA (search engine advertising) is advertising on search engines: buying ads displayed above the organic results, mostly on Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. Billing is per click. SEA is one of the two halves of SEM, the other being SEO, which aims at the organic results without paying per click. In Canada, people usually say “paid search” or “Google Ads advertising”.
What SEA buys
SEA buys intent. The person who sees the ad has just typed a search: they expressed a need a few seconds ago. That is the core difference with social media advertising, which reaches someone who was not looking for anything.
That strength has a limit: volume is capped by the number of people searching. In a narrow market, doubling the budget does not double the results, and the cost per acquisition can climb.
The formats of SEA
- Text ads on the search network show on a search related to the keywords the advertiser chose.
- Shopping ads show a product with its photo and price. They are built from the product feed, not from keywords.
- Microsoft Advertising serves the same kinds of ads on Bing and on Microsoft's services.
Why the acronym is rarely used in Canada
The acronym belongs mostly to the vocabulary of French agencies. Businesses in Quebec and the rest of Canada looking for the service say “paid search”, “Google Ads campaigns” or “search advertising”. All three mean the same thing as SEA.
SEM = SEO + SEA
That is the traditional definition. In everyday use, many agencies use “SEM” to mean SEA alone, that is, advertising on search engines.
A renovation company buys the keyword “bathroom renovation”. When someone in its territory types that search, the ad can show above the organic results. The company pays nothing for the display: it pays only if the person clicks. The day it cuts the budget, the ad disappears along with the visits it brought in.
We run SEA together with organic search, because the two compete for the same searches. On a query where you already hold the first organic position, an ad above it may simply bill you for a customer you already had. We then cut the ad, measure sales, and put the ad back only if they drop.
We judge SEA on cost per sale, not cost per click. The keyword list says what the advertiser meant to buy; the search terms report says where the money went. That second report is the one we read first.
Not to be confused with
- SEM
- SEM brings together SEO and SEA. SEA is only its paid half, even though many agencies use the two acronyms as synonyms.
- PPC
- PPC names a billing model (pay-per-click) that also exists on LinkedIn and Meta. SEA names a surface: search engines.
- Social media advertising
- Advertising on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn is not SEA: it reaches someone based on their profile, whereas SEA answers a search they just made.
Related concepts
Further reading
- SEO and SEM: the second contains the first, not the other way around
- Google Ads: structure, exclude, measure
- Google Ads keywords: the real lever is no longer the list, it is the exclusion
- Google Shopping: the feed decides, not the campaign
- B2B: the second search engine is often a market's best first test
Related services
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between SEA and organic search?
SEA buys a place among the ads: visits arrive as soon as the campaign goes live and stop with the budget. Organic search (SEO) earns a place in the unpaid results: it takes months of work and keeps producing afterwards.
Does SEA include Facebook advertising?
No. SEA is limited to search engines such as Google and Bing. Advertising on Facebook and Instagram is paid social, a different channel.
