“Search engine marketing” sounds like one thing. It is really a family of ad formats, each built for a different job — one to catch a shopper mid-purchase, another to follow a visitor who left without buying, another to put a product’s photo and price directly in the results. Choosing the right one is most of the battle. This guide walks through the main types of search engine marketing, how each works, and when to reach for it, so you can match the format to the goal rather than pouring every budget into the same campaign. If you want the foundations first, our guide to what search engine marketing is explains how the auction underneath all of these works.
First, a Note on What Counts as SEM
Strictly, search engine marketing is an umbrella that has historically covered two halves: the paid side (advertising on search engines) and the organic side (search engine optimization). In everyday use, though, “SEM” has increasingly come to mean the paid side specifically — the ads you buy to appear on the results page — while “SEO” names the unpaid work of earning rankings over time. This guide follows that common usage and focuses on the paid formats, since those are the ones people mean when they ask about the different types of search engine marketing. Just keep in mind that a complete strategy uses paid and organic together, each covering the other’s weakness.
The Main Paid Formats
Almost all paid search engine marketing falls into a handful of formats. Here is what each one does and where it fits:
- Paid search ads — text ads that appear when someone types a relevant query. They reach people already looking for what you sell, which makes them the highest-intent format and, for most businesses, the place to start. In 2026 these are usually responsive search ads, where you supply multiple headlines and descriptions and the platform mixes them to find the best-performing combination.
- Shopping ads — visual product listings showing an image, price, and store name in the results. Essential for e-commerce, they let a shopper judge the product before the click, so they perform strongly on buyer-intent searches.
- Display ads — image and banner ads shown across a network of websites, apps, and videos. As a type of search engine marketing they sit further from the sale, better for building awareness and reaching specific interests than for capturing active demand, keeping a brand visible while people browse elsewhere.
- Video ads — ads that run on YouTube, the world’s second-largest search engine, and similar platforms. Strong for reach and brand-building, with well-made ones driving conversions too.
- Remarketing — ads that follow people who already visited your site or app, across search, display, and video. Because these users have shown intent, remarketing is one of the most cost-efficient types of search engine marketing for nudging them back to complete a purchase.
- Local ads — formats aimed at a specific area, appearing when someone nearby searches for a service. They feed the local map results and drive foot traffic, which makes them the natural choice for shops, clinics, and service businesses.
How to Choose the Right Type
The formats are not rivals; they are tools for different stages of the buying journey. Start from the goal. If you want to capture people ready to buy, paid search and shopping ads sit closest to the sale. If you are launching something new and need people to know it exists, display and video build that awareness. If visitors are arriving but not converting, remarketing brings them back. If your customers are local, local ads meet them at the moment of nearby intent. Many businesses run several of these at once, each pointed at a different stage, and let the data show where the budget works hardest. The mistake is treating one format as the whole of search engine marketing and forcing every objective through it. A good plan across the types of search engine marketing keeps each format on the job it does best, and the campaign types inside Google Ads map these formats onto real settings.
The Tools Behind the Formats
Whichever types you run, the same kinds of search engine marketing tools make them work. Keyword research tools reveal what your customers actually search, how competitive each term is, and what a click is likely to cost — the starting point of any search engine marketing plan. Analytics and conversion tracking tell you which keywords and ads turn into sales rather than just clicks. Competitor research tools show which search engine marketing ads and keywords rivals are already running, so you can find gaps rather than copy them. And the ad platforms themselves — Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Meta, and others — now layer automation on top, using machine learning to test combinations and steer bids. The tools do not replace judgement; they sharpen it, and choosing the right format still starts with knowing your goal.
Running Every Type in Two Languages
For a bilingual market, each format carries the same opportunity: run it properly in Arabic, not just English. Around 60% of Arabic speakers prefer to browse in Arabic, yet many advertisers translate their English campaigns word for word — which misreads how people search and reads awkwardly in the ad copy. Arabic keyword research has to start fresh, ad copy has to be written natively with right-to-left layout in mind, and shopping and display creative has to be designed for it. Do that across the types of search engine marketing you choose — which is how we build paid search accounts here — and you reach a large share of the market that competitors are serving badly, at click prices among the most accessible in the region.
So the short version: the types of search engine marketing are not a menu you pick one item from, but a toolkit you assemble around a goal. Paid search and shopping capture demand, display and video build it, remarketing recovers it, and local ads catch it nearby — all measurable, all controllable, and all sharper when run natively in the language your customers actually search in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main types of search engine marketing?
The paid formats most people mean are paid search ads, shopping ads, display ads, video ads, remarketing, and local ads. Broadly, SEM also covers the organic side — SEO — though everyday usage now tends to mean the paid side.
Is SEO a type of SEM?
Traditionally yes — search engine marketing was an umbrella covering both paid search and SEO. In common usage today, “SEM” usually means the paid side and “SEO” the organic side, but a full strategy uses both together.
Which type of SEM should I start with?
For most businesses, paid search ads — they reach people actively searching for what you sell, so intent is highest. E-commerce brands often add shopping ads early, and local businesses lean on local ads.
What is remarketing?
Remarketing shows ads to people who already visited your site or app but did not convert. Because they have shown interest, it is one of the most cost-efficient formats for bringing them back to complete a purchase.
Do I need tools to run SEM?
You need at least the ad platform itself, plus keyword research and conversion tracking to spend wisely. Competitor research tools help too. They do not replace strategy, but they make each type of campaign far more effective.
Where to Go Next
- What Is Search Engine Marketing? — how the auction under every format works.
- Google Ads Campaign Types — the campaign structures inside Google Ads.
- SEM & PPC Services — how RX builds and runs each format.
Get a Free SEM Channel Review
Not sure which types of search engine marketing fit your business? RX will map it for you. Send us your website and your market, and we will show which formats match your goals, estimate what clicks should cost locally, and flag where a campaign would win or waste money — in Arabic and English. It is a free review done as real work before any conversation, and you will come away with a clear picture of where to start, whether or not you go on to work with us.