Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Tools
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Tools Overview
Top Rated Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Products

These products won a Top Rated award for having excellent customer satisfaction ratings. The list is based purely on reviews; there is no paid placement, and analyst opinions do not influence the rankings. Read more about the Top Rated criteria.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Tools TrustMap

TrustMaps are two-dimensional charts that compare products based on trScore and research frequency by prospective buyers. Products must have 10 or more ratings to appear on this TrustMap.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Products
(1-25 of 73) Sorted by Most Reviews
The list of products below is based purely on reviews (sorted from most to least). There is no paid placement and analyst opinions do not influence their rankings. Here is our Promise to Buyers to ensure information on our site is reliable, useful, and worthy of your trust.
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.
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,…
Key Features
- Email deliverability reporting (135)86%8.6
- List management (90)84%8.4
- Dashboards (87)78%7.8
Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads)
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.…
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…
Key Features
- Ad campaign creation (32)83%8.3
- Ad deployment (32)83%8.3
- Ad performance reports (32)73%7.3
Kenshoo Infinity Suite 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.…
Key Features
- Ad performance reports (12)90%9.0
- Ad dashboards (12)73%7.3
- Ad conversion tracking (12)66%6.6
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.
Key Features
- Ad campaign creation (9)80%8.0
- Ad deployment (9)80%8.0
- Display advertising (9)65%6.5
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…
Key Features
- Site audit / diagnostics (14)82%8.2
- Site recommendations (12)79%7.9
- Page grader (11)77%7.7
SE Ranking is a website optimization solution. Some key features include: Local Rank Tracking, Automatic Daily Updates and Monitoring of Competitors.
Key Features
- Site audit / diagnostics (11)91%9.1
- SERP ranking tracking (11)91%9.1
- Backlink management (11)87%8.7
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…
Key Features
- Display advertising (9)80%8.0
- Ad campaign creation (9)80%8.0
- Ad deployment (9)70%7.0
Serpstat is an All-in-one SEO platform which provides more than 20 tools: Competitor Analysis, Keyword Research, Backlink Analysis, Site Audit and Rank Tracker and many more. Serpstat is the fastest-growing SEO tool on the market that provides comprehensive search analytics data…
Key Features
- SERP ranking tracking (8)90%9.0
- Keyword analysis (8)88%8.8
- Competitive analysis (8)78%7.8
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: