Search engine advertising, or SEA (Search Engine Advertising) for short, are ads that are displayed in Google, Bing and other search engines. For example, if you search for “electric cars,” you'll see a few hits at the top of normal search results. These are SEA ads - i.e. advertising. The companies behind it pay for their ads to appear for specific search terms.
An example: A car dealer who sells electric cars places search engine ads on Google. He selects which search terms his ads should appear for, for example “buy an electric car,” “e-car leasing,” and “Tesla Model 3.”
If a person now enters one of these search words on Google, the car dealer's ad appears above the normal hits. If the searcher clicks on it, they end up directly on the retailer's website. This is how search engine advertising brings targeted interested customers to your own website.
The big advantage for companies: You only pay when someone actually clicks on their ad. The costs are determined in an auction process and are based on various factors, such as the competition for a search term. Search engine advertising is therefore one of the most important marketing measures on the Internet for many companies.
