Dec 11, 2009 at 9:29am ET by Greg Sterling

According to ad network Chitika, Bing users are demonstrating a willingness to click on ads more often than Google users. This is consistent with similar data the company released in July of this year that showed Bing outperforming Google with click-through rates (CTR). The data come from a sample of well over 100 million impressions on Chitika’s network. The company said CTRs on "Bing [are] over 75% higher than those who come from Google." However, AOL users show the greatest CTRs at 2.5 percent. An important caveat to all this is that Google's search volumes are much higher t [...]

SEMPO Releases Second Annual In-House Salary Survey Results

Nov 23, 2009 at 6:00am ET by Chris Sherman

Want to make a recession-resistant career move? Consider going to work as an in-house search marketer. According to the second annual SEMPO in-house salary survey, compensation for search marketers working on behalf of a single organization actually increased during the past year, despite a turbulent economy that took a toll on many other types of online marketing. "With the economy in the longest recession of decades, it’s heartening for our annual in-house salary survey to substantiate that search engine marketing is the employment bright spot in sales and marketing," said SEMPO Preside [...]

The State Of Search: Q3 Data From Efficient Fronter And SearchIgnite

Oct 13, 2009 at 1:32pm ET by Greg Sterling

Two reports have come out almost simultaneously, from Efficient Frontier and SearchIgnite, offering insights into the US paid search market for Q3 2009. The two data sets are based on client search campaigns managed by both firms. The data are directionally consistent in most cases but slightly different in terms of specific percentages and figures. Search spending overall: Efficient Frontier: SearchIgnite: Share of paid-search ad spend: Efficient Frontier: SearchIgnite: Bing specifics: Efficient Frontier offers some additional detail on Bing in p [...]

Want Solid SEM Benchmarks? This Report Has Them By The Boatload

Jul 31, 2009 at 1:38pm ET by Chris Sherman

Each year, Marketing Sherpa compiles an exhaustive look at the state of search marketing. Each year, these reports grow more comprehensive, reflecting the continuous change and evolution of our industry as it grows up. This year's report is no exception. The Marketing Sherpa 2009-10 Search Marketing Benchmark Report is 213 pages, and is divided into five major sections, including: The business of search. There's been a lot of talk about how search marketing budgets have been affected by the tumultuous economy, and this section of the report offers some interesting data on what's really g [...]

Report: Search Ad Spending Stabilizes While Bing Gains On Google, Yahoo

Jul 13, 2009 at 1:11am ET by Matt McGee

Search ad spending is stabilizing, advertisers are getting smarter, and Bing is making gains on Google and Yahoo. Those are a few of the trends cited in the latest research report from search marketing provider Efficient Frontier. The company regularly shares reports based on data collected from a portion of its U.S. advertisers. This new report covers nearly 81 billion impressions and 722 million clicks on search and content ads on the three major search engines during Q2 of this year. The report shows that overall ad spend during Q2 2009 was down 21% from a year ago, but that's better tha [...]

What Ads Types Are Most “Helpful”? Search Ads Follow Newspapers, TV

Jul 2, 2009 at 11:59am ET by Greg Sterling

Trade magazine AdWeek and pollster Harris Interactive conducted a survey in early June among 2,521 US adults. People were asked what types of ads they found most "helpful" and what types of ads they ignored. Below are the top-line results as well as the age and geographically segmented data. Most helpful in making purchase decisions: 37 percent say that television ads are most helpful 17 percent say newspaper ads are most helpful 14 percent say search engine ads are helpful Radio ads (3 percent) and Internet banner ads (1 percent) are not considered helpful by many people 28 per [...]

Search Marketing Industry Feeling 7% Unemployment?

May 7, 2009 at 9:36am ET by Barry Schwartz

This morning, I posted the results of a poll I ran at the Search Engine Roundtable asking SEMs if they are currently employed. We received just about 400 responses, and from those responses we learned there is a 7% unemployment rate in the search marketing industry. The poll was far from a valid study, such as a census data report, but it did poll many from the industry and might be a good metric to use. The current US unemployment rate, according to the March 2009 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data is about 9%. The search marketing industry is 2 points below that rate according to my s [...]

Report: SEM Spend Down, ROI Up As Marketers Adapt To Recession Trends

Apr 14, 2009 at 9:28am ET by Greg Sterling

Search marketing platform provider Efficient Frontier released a report on Q1 2009 SEM trends. The report is based on data collected from Efficient Frontier’s U.S. clients "and covers 84 billion impressions and 785 million clicks on search and content ads on Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Search." At the highest level Efficient Frontier said overall SEM spend was down vs. a year ago (-13%), as were CPC prices; however, consumer search impressions were up and ROI for advertisers was also up significantly: The results of the Q1 research show that while search advertising spend is down sligh [...]

Report: Yahoo Gains Marketers, Ad Share

Apr 13, 2009 at 12:24pm ET by Greg Sterling

SEM tool provider AdGooroo today released a report that explores ad coverage per keyword among the big three engines in Q1 2009; it's a hypothetical proxy for search revenues. The report concludes, among other things, that Yahoo has gained advertiser share and coverage (largely at Microsoft's expense) during the quarter: The biggest surprise this quarter, however, is a possible comeback for Yahoo!, which had been losing ground to Live Search since September. AdGooroo tracked a 10 percent increase in active first-page advertisers during the first quarter, suggesting that Yahoo! may have finall [...]

Survey: Search Marketers Underutilizing Sophisticated Metrics

Apr 13, 2009 at 8:00am ET by Bill Mungovan

Dylan wrote, "When you ain't got nothin', you got nothing to lose," but when you're spending real dollars on search engine marketing you have plenty lose. And yet, according recent survey of 500 marketers, most search marketers still use the most basic metrics in evaluating the performance of their programs. How basic? While marketers picked conversion as their most important metric to optimize search campaigns, click through rate and cost per click, relatively less meaningful metrics, still ranked second and third. These are certainly important metrics, but what about something slig [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | SEM Industry: Stats

SEMPO Releases Survey Data Revealing State Of SEM

Apr 8, 2009 at 10:04am ET by Greg Sterling

SEMPO formally released data on the state of search engine marketing, its annual survey of agencies and marketers. This year's survey consisted of 800 respondents from all over the globle. However 68 percent of respondents were from the US, with 20 percent coming from a range of countries. Seven percent of respondents were from Canada and 5 percent from the UK. The respondents/clients represented a range of industries. The top sectors were "retail, business services, electronics manufacturing and financial services." As part of the findings and related report SEMPO forecast that SEM spen [...]

IAB: PPC And Search Gain In Q4, FY08 Online Ad Revs At $23B

Mar 31, 2009 at 11:25am ET by Greg Sterling

According to data released yesterday by the IAB/PwC on Q4 and full year 2008 online advertising revenues, performance-based advertising and search gained while other segments declined slightly or were flat. Overall, online advertising grew 10.6% in 2008 to reach $23.4 billion. US online ad revenue in Q4 was $6.1 billion, up from $5.8 billion in the third quarter of last year. Especially noteworthy for the readers of this blog, search ad revenues comprised 46 percent of Q4 online ad revenues, up from 42 percent a year ago. Here are a selection of charts from the report: [...]

SEMPO Report Cuts Search Ads Forecast

Mar 10, 2009 at 9:06am ET by Greg Sterling

SEMPO's new report, due to be released this week, cuts its forecast for search advertising. The results are based on a survey of almost 900 agencies and search marketers. According to the Wall Street Journal, the report scales back previous growth projections considerably: [SEMPO] says North American search marketing spending will increase only 9% to $14.7 billion in 2009 from $13.5 billion a year ago. Its previous estimates, made in early 2008, called for the industry to grow at more than twice that rate this year, from $15.7 billion in 2008 to $18.8 billion in 2009. The new forecasts call f [...]

Report: Growth Of Paid Search Budgets Decline While SEO Budgets Increase

Mar 3, 2009 at 2:09pm ET by Barry Schwartz

eMarketer's latest report named Search Marketing Trends: Back to Basics says that in the realm of search marketing budgets, SEO budgets will increase in the next five years, while paid search budgets will decline relative to the overall marketing budgets for companies. MediaPost reports the growth for SEO campaigns will increase from 17.7% in 2009 to 20.3% in 2013. At the same time, growth for paid search campaigns will decline from 15.9% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2013. Growth for both SEO and paid search both will decline between 2008 and 2009, due to the economy. Here is a chart with those [...]

Report: Google Leads U.S. Search Advertising Market With 76% Market Share

Jan 20, 2009 at 4:27pm ET by Chris Sherman

Efficient Frontier today released the findings of its quarterly analysis of U.S. paid search activity. The report was based on an analysis of 92 billion impressions and 600 million clicks across a portion of Efficient Frontier customers during the fourth quarter of 2008, which includes some of the world’s largest brands. According to the report, Google has maintained its hold on the search advertising market with 76 percent market share, and Yahoo continued to increase its presence, gaining 3 percent market share year-over-year. Despite the economic downturn and reports of the erosion o [...]

Integration With Search Still Lacking In Ad Campaigns

Jan 20, 2009 at 3:42pm ET by Ross Barnes

Contemporary media messages, delivered across an ever growing number of channels, surround consumers through out the day. The direct mail item, above the line advertising, promotional email or text messages received all have an undeniable impact on consumers, the difficulty lies in the integration of all these media which has seen marketers busy spreading their advertising efforts across a variety of differently expensive media. Response One recently commissioned research into the effectiveness of different media at driving web visits and found that the top four channels for driving consume [...]

Report: Search Spending Off 8 Percent In Q4

Jan 19, 2009 at 9:45am ET by Greg Sterling

While search engine marketing has been somewhat more durable during the recession (to date) than other media, that may not save SEM from negative growth. The Wall Street Journal is reporting on the latest Efficient Frontier search marketing report, set to be released tomorrow. According to the Journal, the report will state that SEM declined 8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008. The Journal also cites the report as follows: Advertisers who spend less than $50,000 on search ads cut their spending by 23% year-over-year, while advertisers that spend more than $200,000 on search per month c [...]

SEMPO’s Second Annual In-House Salary Survey Opens

Jan 12, 2009 at 3:42pm ET by Chris Sherman

Are you an in-house search marketer? If so, SEMPO would like your participation in its second annual in-house salary survey. This survey is for in-house providers only but is not limited to SEMPO members. The 21-question survey takes 10 minutes to complete, and will be open until February 20th. [...]

Are PPC Budgets Increasing Or Decreasing In These Recessionary Times?

Jan 8, 2009 at 9:40am ET by Barry Schwartz

I have been hearing from many people in the search industry that the recession won't impact the search space as much as other industries. In fact, many people feel that search will grow, while we see other industries take huge double-digit declines. I am skeptical about the search industry not taking a hit, in fact a major hit. So when I see search companies release data, I take interest. Alan Rimm-Kaufman, who is incredibly data driven, posted an aggregate data analysis of his client's Q4 2008 versus 2007 search ad spend. Let me bullet point the key metrics for you: PPC Sales: show [...]

SEMPO Wants Your Input

Dec 1, 2008 at 8:00am ET by Chris Sherman

SEMPO is launching its 5th annual State-of-the-SEM Market Survey, and if you're a practicing search marketing professional, they'd like to hear from you, whether you are a member of SEMPO or not. Last year, close to 900 respondents answered the SEMPO survey, and the results always paint a fascinating portrait of our industry. This year, obviously, the focus will be on the economy and how it has (or hasn't) had an impact on the industry. Not sure you want to take the time? As an incentive, SEMPO is offering an iPod Touch and a free pass to SMX West, or one of the SES conferences. Ready to pl [...]

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