The ABCs of SEM

Search engine marketing (SEM), like many other fields, is full of acronyms. Those of us that are veterans assume everybody knows what we mean by "the ROI of PPC" and similar statements. If you're new to SEM, though, you're probably lost in the alphabet soup. So, I've attempted to post a list of common acronyms here.

CPC: cost per click

CPM: cost per thousand

CS: customer service

CTR: click-thru rate

DTC: Direct Traffic Center (Yahoo's old pay-per-click user interface)

G: Google

GYM: Google / Yahoo / MSN

PPA: pay per action

PPC: pay per click

QS: Quality Score

ROI: return on investment

SE: search engine

SEL: Search Engine Land

SEM: search engine marketing / search engine marketer

SEO: search engine optimization

SERP: search engine results page

SES: Search Engine Strategies

SEW: Search Engine Watch

SMX: Search Marketing Expo

T&Cs: terms and conditions

UI: user interface

Y: Yahoo

YSM: Yahoo Search Marketing