Forrester Research Publishes 1st Report On Enterprise SEO Automation Tools

Today, Forrester Research unveiled a 6- page report on the utility of SEO automation tools for use in larger enterprises. Six vendors were covered in the landscape report, including Altruik, BrightEdge, Conductor, Covario, SEOmoz PRO, and Yield Software.

The report mainly covers key issues in scaling automation across larger enterprises, integration of IT services and in-house marketing, and improving measurement of SEO impact beyond just search result rankings. There’s a features comparison chart which includes technology integrations available with each tool, including web analytics packages and lead tracking through Salesforce.

Key Report Findings

• 85% of enterprise marketers plan on employing organic SEO strategies in the coming year.
• Automation tools work best for those with dedicated in-house resources, able to make strategic decisions using the data.
• Using standalone technology (opposed to agency tools) offers cost efficiencies to some organizations.
• Agency and Consultant partnerships with automation technology vendors may grow to offload tactical work.

While there’s nothing necessarily earth-shattering in the report, it is nice to see some information supporting SEO collaboration with IT departments and raise the value of SEO within larger organizations, so it’s worth a quick read.

Conductor, one of the vendors named in the report, purchased distribution rights to the report, and is offering a free download of the PDF to share with industry followers.

Additionally, the report also references The Search Marketing Vendor Landscape, 2010 also released today by Forrester, and available for $499. That report notes 47% of marketers total search budget is spent on agencies and technology. On average, 19% of the budgets go toward purchased technologies.