Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Tools

TrustRadius Top Rated for 2023

Top Rated Products

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Google Ads

Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

All Products

(1-25 of 79)

1
Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a full-featured email marketing solution with capabilities such as social media integration, drag-and-drop editing, and real-time reporting. It is a bulk email tool designed for SMB customers. Since 2019, Constant Contact also offers marketing automation features,…

2
Google Ads

Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is Google's pay-per-click online advertising program. With Google Ads users set their budget and choose where their ads appear in search listings, and on partner websites. Google Ads uses cost-per-click (CPC) bidding.

3
Microsoft Advertising

Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) is Microsoft's search engine marketing and advertising campaign management alternative to the popular Adwords, that, similar to its competitor, provides analytics and a management dashboard for running a pay per click (PPC) paid listing campaign.…

4
Google Marketing Platform

Google Marketing Platform (a combination of former DoubleClick advertiser tools and Google Analytics 360 Suite) is a set of tools for marketers to manage their advertising campaigns. DoubleClick was acquired by Google in 2008. It focuses on uploading ads and reporting their performance…

5
Marin Software

Marin Software is a cloud-based cross-channel advertising campaign management platform which integrates many tools and functions, and it is the name of the company in San Francisco that issues the software. Marin touts cross-display (including mobile-optimized) advertisement retargeting,…

6
WordStream Advisor

Wordstream, the eponymous offering from the company in Boston, MA, provides a free tool for analyzing performance "grading" an Adwords campaign, beyond which, Wordstream Advisor provides (for a fee, though a free trial is available) recommendations to optimize a paid advertising…

7
Skai

Skai (formerly Kenshoo) is a cross-channel advertising solution for search marketing, social media and online advertising. The product aims to give advertisers and agencies the control and automation needed to make better investment decisions across search marketing and online advertising.…

8
SE Ranking

An SEO toolset for agency and in-house pros.

9
Adobe Advertising Cloud

AdobeAdvertising Cloud (formerly Adobe Media Optimizer) is an ad management product and is part of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. It delivers a rules-based bidding solution that improves the performance of search engine marketing campaigns and is integrated with Adobe Analytics.

10
Yahoo Native

Yahoo Native (formerly Yahoo Gemini) is Yahoo's offering for mobile, native and search engine marketing and advertising (formerly Yahoo! Advertising and Yahoo! Search Marketing), for placing ads where visitors are, with an emphasis on mobile. The marketplace offers search and native…

11
Acquisio

Acquisio is a performance marketing solution that enables digital marketers to manage, report, and optimize on all digital advertising initiatives in one easy-to-use dashboard, across search, social, and display. According to the vendor, this solution provides the most powerful…

12
ContentKing

A solution that aims to ensure customers find valuable digital content with 24/7 website monitoring from ContentKing, now part of the enterprise organic marketing platform from Conductor. Website changes happen, and they happen fast. That’s where ContentKing for Conductor comes…

13
Serpstat

Serpstat is a platform to manage online visibility. It is for companies that are interested in ranking and business online presence. Serpstat offers 50+ tools for: • Competitor Intelligence. Identifies market players to analyze • Content Marketing. Locates high-quality and ranking…

14
LocaliQ

LocaliQ from Gannett presents a suite of marketing tools and capabilities designed to encompass all the marketing and online advertising needs of SMBs and local businesses, with email, display advertising, local directory management, SEO business website, and social media marketing.…

15
Sizmek Ad Suite

Sizmek Ad Suite, now from Amazon Advertising (acquired December 2019) is a global, multichannel ad server used to create, distribute, customize, measure, and optimize campaigns across a variety of screens. It offers multiple options for creative authoring, streamlined campaign management…

16
Ubersuggest

UberSuggest is a search engine optimization software solution offered by NP Digital.

17
PRunderground.com

PRUnderground is a media distribution tool for public relations, from the company of the same name headquartered in New York.

18
AdStage

The AdStage Platform is a self-serve cross-network online advertising platform with full management and analytics for campaigns across search, social, display, and mobile ad networks like Google AdWords, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn Ads. It's an all-in-one marketing platform,…

19
iSpionage

iSpionage is a search engine marketing solution built specifically for PPC marketers. It is built around features such as competitor research and campaign monitoring.

20
ReportGarden

ReportGarden is a reporting and dashboarding product for enterprise ad agencies. According to the vendor, Reportgarden provides a full spectrum of marketing tools that seamlessly integrate with the workflow of an agency. 1000+ agencies use ReportGarden to automate the most time…

21
Adthena

Adthena from the company of the same name in London is a marketing intelligence tool for search marketing focusing on keyword research, analysis, and suggestion for optimizing the budgeting and management of pay per click (PPC) advertising campaigns. Adthena algorithmically searches…

22
Adzooma

Adzooma’s AI and machine learning based Google and Facebook Ads platform, offers simple campaign management, 24/7 optimisation and time saving automation, all in a single interface. The platform includes many features including scanning for 50+ improvement opportunities, many of…

23
Jungle Scout

Jungle Scout is a platform for selling on Amazon, from the company of the same name in Austin, TX. Founded in 2015 as an Amazon product research tool, Jungle Scout today features a suite of business management solutions and market intelligence to help entrepreneurs and brands manage…

24
Asodesk

Asodesk is a platform for organic traffic monitoring, management and analysis, from the compnay of the same name in Moscow, designed to help mobile developers to increase organic traffic. Asodesk focus in keywords rankings tracking and analytics. The tool offers an app reviews service…

25
Swoop

Swoop is a search engine marketing solution with platforms for advertisers, publishers, and users.

Learn More About Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Tools

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software are tools to help digital marketers optimize their paid search engine results to attract viewers, generate leads, and improve product visibility. SEM Software lets users find keywords, measure impressions and impact, analyze competitors, and boost paid search engine results. SEM Software can also monitor advertising budgets, integrate with third party sites, create customized reports, and produce branded assets.

SEM Software helps to streamline the complicated process of managing and deploying paid search engine result advertisements. Because SEM Software can give you ad performance results based on keywords, number of viewers, or other factors in real time, they are a powerful tool to run dynamic and successful campaigns.

SEM & Competitive Intelligence

Some SEM tools also offer competitive analysis. In other words, SEM software allows you to see what search terms your competitors are bidding on. The information provided by SEM software may allow you to identify missed opportunities to increase your visibility in search. It also may help you protect your brand from unwanted (or unlawful) use by competitors.

SEM Software is often mentioned interchangeably with SEO Software, and products in each category offer services that appear similar on the surface. However, SEM Software is designed to manage paid search engine results, whereas SEO Software is used for organic search engine results. SEM Software is also distinct from SEO Software by its ability to automate the ad auction bidding process.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software Features

The most common Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software features are:

  • Keyword research and reporting
  • Positive and negative keyword identification
  • Impression and impact analytics
  • Content creation tools
  • Ad copy and creation tools
  • Conversion and source monitoring
  • Historical data analysis
  • Campaign planning
  • Lead management
  • Budget monitoring and planning
  • Custom rules engines
  • Scoring and optimization reports
  • Bid optimization
  • Automated alert management
  • White-label reporting
  • Team asset partitioning
  • Industry-specific machine learning suggestions
  • Cost Per Clicks (CPS) and Cost Per Impression (CPI) pricing plans
  • A/B ad testing
  • Data visualization tools
  • Third party integration

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software Comparison

When choosing the best Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software for you, consider the following:

Ad auction features. The tools that an SEM software offers to capitalize on trending keywords will be a vital consideration. Depending on your needs, you’ll want a tool that helps you budget pay-per-click strategies, automates auctions according to those strategies, and scores advertising content according to quality scores.

Competitor analysis tools. You may be interested in what SEM Software can do to help you understand your competition and the keywords or strategies they are using. SEMrush has significant competitor analysis tools, allowing users to analyze competitor keyword bidding, find top-performing competitor ad copies, and see how competitors convert paid traffic.

Optimization tools. SEM Software is designed to simplify the paid search engine result marketing process, but the tools and features a product offers in this regard will be a deciding factor for you. This is especially true if you plan to use SEM Software to manage multiple campaigns or use bulk data sources from third party platforms. If this is your concern, Optmyzr uses machine learning techniques to upload, generate, and strategize multiple marketing plans dynamically according to keyword or ad performance.

Traffic conversion tools. A product’s ability to help you convert traffic will be important to make the best of a long term marketing strategy with SEM Software. Unbounce, for example, lets users create and test responsive landing pages from existing successful templates.

Pricing Information

There are several free Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Software products, such as Google Ads and HubSpot’s Ad Tracking Software, but these options tend to be limited to basic keyword search and analysis. Paid plans range between $32 and $120 per month at the lowest subscription tiers. Vendors offer custom pricing to meet your business’ needs.

More Resources

The following Buyer Blog post can help you determine whether SEO or SEM software is better for you:

Related Categories

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between SEM and SEO?

Search Engine Market (SEM) is organizing, planning, and executing paid ad campaigns on search engines, with an emphasis on the paid component. In contrast, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) adjusts a website’s content to be more successful within a search engine’s organic results.

How does search engine marketing work?

The primary method search engine marketing uses is to determine which keywords are most impactful for the business to target, then pay to have the business’s site shown in the search results as a paid result. SEM tools can also provide analytics into ad performance on paid keywords.

What are the benefits of search engine marketing?

SEM tools help websites avoid organic competition from other websites. They do so by paying to be shown prominently when search engine users search for specific keywords.

Who uses search engine marketing?

SEM tools are used by digital marketers, specifically digital marketers in charge of advertising. However, less specialized users in small businesses can also use SEM tools.

How much does search engine marketing cost?

SEM costs will almost entirely depending on the company’s ad spend. Search engine ads are priced by the volume of the impact or traffic, such as Price-Per-Click or cost-per-impression.