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Concerns over click fraud don't slow enthusiasm for search engine marketing
The juggernaut that is search marketing shows no signs of slowing in 2006, according to the statistics that pour in regularly from research and measurement providers. The numbers, from ad dollars being spent to the volume of searches being conducted, speak volumes.
Users conducted 5.1 billion searches in December 2005, close to a 60% increase over the previous December's 3.3 billion searches, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The ad dollars have followed.
Advertisers in North America spent $5.75 billion in 2005, according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), a nonprofit, professional organization for search engine marketers. That is a 44% increase over spending the prior year. Paid placement accounted for 83% of that total.
ONLINE AD SURGE WILL CONTINUE
Other researchers and analysts, such as Merrill Lynch, Piper Jaffray and Standard & Poor's, agree search has led the healthy surge in online advertising and will continue to do so. Piper Jaffray said search and online advertising were up 23% in 2005. Standard & Poor's predicts online ad growth will exceed 20% in 2006, "and could approach 30% based on continued strength of search advertising," according to a report released in January 2006.
"Search is escalating for sure," said Ed Jennings, VP-marketing at Parametric Technology Corp. (PTC), a b-to-b technology marketer. Jennings has been employing search as part of the marketing mix for the last 18 months, using both paid search and search engine optimization. He said he has "absolutely" increased the budget for search, which is used as both a lead generation tool and a branding mechanism.
Many other marketers are doing the same. In a study specific to the manufacturing industry, for example, almost half (48%) of marketing executives plan on increasing the amount they spend on search engine marketing. They also plan to spend less on magazine advertising, trade shows, direct mail and telemarketing. SVM E-Business Solutions, the company that conducted this study, spoke with marketing executives at more than 200 U.S. manufacturing companies. Fifty-seven percent of them said the biggest benefit of online marketing and search is improved communications with customers.
'As long as search is efficient in terms of ROI-and it still is by far versus any other...