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Search Engine Marketing Review

posted by: Alex  /  12 April 2010

As we know, the business of the Internet is a constantly evolving arena where big advantages reward those who stay in touch with the latest trends.  In this blog post I take a brief look at the state of online marketing, the trends we’ve seen of late, and take a look at the results of a recent survey which give us an insight into what to expect in 2010.

The search engine marketing industry in North America alone was worth around $14.6B in 2009, 8% higher than 2008.  The worldwide recession made 2009 a particularly slow year for the first three quarters, but a significant upturn in quarter 4 has continued into 2010, leading market analysts to estimate 14% growth in 2010 at around $16.6B.

Companies continue to move money from IT and other marketing activities into search engine marketing, and social media now plays a significant supporting role in most online marketing strategies.  The results are pretty much as expected.

• Google dominates, with 97% of companies paying to advertise on Google AdWords.
• On average, companies expect to spend 43% more on SEO in 2010 than they did in 2009.
• Social media marketing budgets are still modest compared to search engine optimization and paid search.
• The number of companies who engage in search engine optimization (90%) has remained steady since 2007, while the proportion of companies carrying out paid search marketing (now 81%) has increased from 78% in 2009 and 70% in 2008.
• Three quarters of companies are using Facebook (74%) and Twitter (73%) to promote their brands or companies.

The statistics above are taken from a worldwide survey of nearly 1,500 agencies and marketers from over 65 countries, but what does all this tell us about likely trends for 2010?

Well quite a lot, but I think the most prominent points to come out of this survey are:

The number one challenge facing search marketers this year is being able to accurately measure their ROI (Return On Investment). 

Whilst this seems like a fairly obvious point to make, it’s worth noting that online marketing will continue to drive future budget decisions, making quality of statistical information a key factor in a businesses overall marketing strategy.  The survey saw:

• 42% of respondents citing return on investment as their biggest challenge for SEO,
• 43%  citing ROI as the biggest challenge for paid marketing,
• a massive 63% seeing this as the key issue with Social Media Marketing
  

Social Media Marketing will continue to compliment search engine optimisation and paid web advertising campaigns. 

An increase in investment in Social Media Marketing is envisaged in 2010.  Whilst this may seem pretty obvious, it wasn’t as recently as 18 months ago.  Twitter for example, has come from being a non-consideration to one of the most prominent social marketing platforms in that time, with 73% of companies and 80% of agencies using it for brand marketing.

Other findings include:

• The number of companies who engage in SEO remains the same as 2009 (90%)
• More than 50% of companies have noted an increase in keyword costs used in paid marketing
• Agencies have seen the print advertising sector as even more heavily hit, with 69% of respondents noticing a shift of budget from newspaper and magazine advertising, to online marketing.

If you’re looking for more from your Search Engine Marketing plan, give Fivesite a call on 01234 292200.