Search engine marketing poised for boom

BANGALORE: The search-engine-marketing (SEM) industry is likely to double in size to $225 million by 2009-10, driven by a growing internet base and the expanding use of internet marketing techniques, a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) says.

Some three-fourths of the over 40-million internet users now avail of search services compared to 34% in 2004 and the popularity of SEM is growing in a number of sector, the report said.

Search engine marketers help promote the visibility of websites by sponsoring links on search engines, paying search engines to include a website in the search index or by altering a website���s programming code to get it a better ranking from the search engine. The report also suggests that India has the potential to be the preferred outsourcing destination for SEM.