Study Shows Traits Of A Great Search Marketing Company

Nov 19, 2008 at 4:40pm ET by Matt McGee

More than 100% ROI. 31% increase in brand awareness. 30% increase in web site traffic. 22% increase in online conversion rates.

Does your search marketing agency hit those milestones? If so, you’re a “best in class” company according to a new Aberdeen Group study, What Does it Take to Create Best-In-Class Search Engine Marketing?

Aberdeen surveyed more than 200 companies with formal search marketing initiatives in place, gathering information on their strategies, experiences, and results. According to the survey, the top companies achieve these results:

108.24% current return on marketing investment
30.93% year-over-year change in brand awareness
29.78% year-over-year change in web site traffic
21.6% year-over-year change in web conversion rate

The survey also found some common characteristics among the top companies in terms of services and capabilities:

79% provide access to real-time and near real-time analytics
74% provide ability to adjust SEM initiatives in or near real-time
73% utilize campaign management technology

Best-in-class companies have had a formal search marketing initiative (defined in the survey as organic, paid, and/or paid inclusion) in place for 34 months. One interesting budget-related stat from the survey is that best-in-class companies allocate 27% of their overall marketing budget to SEM, while the other companies surveyed only allocate 13% of their budgets to SEM.

The survey was sponsored by Covario, HubSpot, and iProspect, and can be downloaded from the Aberdeen Group’s web site (registration required).

Matt McGee is the Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

See more articles by Matt McGee >

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