|
|
Today SEMPO released its annual State of Search Engine Marketing Report. Key findings from the report included:
-
The rise of social media marketing budgets, although still modest compared to search engine optimization and paid search, represents the biggest opportunity for search marketers this year.
-
Around half of companies (49%) are reallocating budgets to search engine marketing from print advertising. More than a third (36%) are shifting money away from direct mail and almost a quarter are moving budgets from conferences and exhibitions (24%) and web display advertising
-
The research highlights Google’s dominance as a search engine, with 97% of companies paying to advertise on Google AdWords. Nearly three quarters of companies (71%) pay to advertise on the Google search network while 56% use the Google content network (keyword targeted)
-
More than half of advertisers (56%) and agencies (62%) say that Google keywords have become more expensive over the last year. Meanwhile, only around a third of advertisers noted an increase in Yahoo (32%) and Bing (29%) keyword costs.
-
From a range of trends and marketplace developments, company respondents are most likely to say that the personalization of search results is having an impact. Just under a third of companies (31%) say this is “highly significant” and a further 44% say it is “significant.” Agency respondents felt the “rise of local search” was the most significant emerging trend with 38% saying this was “highly significant” with 47% labeling it as “significant.”
