« Home | USA Today Gets Makeover, Redesigns Website »
Findability: $10 Billion Spent on Search Marketing in 2006
Labels: Advertising, brand building, Findability, Getting Found, Google, Internet, Media Trend Watching, ROI, search, Search Marketing, Yahoo
Natural organic search is the most essential way to get found on the Internet. Websites not listed on the first page of Google keyword search results always generate sub-optimal traffic. Get found on that first page...and your desired brand advocates will respond.
Of course, getting to #1 is most desirable.
More and more, the corporate world seems to be understanding the importance of search marketing. That's a good media trend to watch, as these investments are already beginning to deliver strong ROI results.
According to an annual survey conducted by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) relased last month, advertisers in North America laid out close to 10 billion dollars on search engine marketing in 2006 -- a 62 percent spending increase versus 2005. SEMPO found that based on its survey of 587 search agencies and advertisers, the amount of $$$ spent on search marketing will double by 2011, reaching $18.6 billion.
These figures include both paid search advertising and spending on internal search engine optimization.
The report says Google dominates the search advertising business. Among the marketers and agencies surveyed, 96 percent of them report using Google AdWords to promote their brands.
Yahoo! also does well, with 86 percent usage among search marketing budgets...
Meanwhile, less-used (and therefore less-cluttered) MSN, which has long struggled in a distant third-place position in the search race, has made great strides among advertisers, with 68% of advertisers saying they used MSN for their search campaigns in 2006, up from just 29 percent in 2005.
Key area for growth in search marketing: Brand Building
Search advertising for brand advertisers is still a less-than-mature growth category. Despite claims that more and more brands are using the Internet for branding, just 21% of search advertisers actually track or measure the branding impact of search for their campaigns.
Long Tail thoughts here
Brand Building: The Seven Doors of Connection here (pdf)
posted by Unknown @ Monday, March 05, 2007,
