Online Marketing Blog

SEMPO is running their State of the Search Marketing Industry survey again and I would encourage anyone working in the field to take a few minutes and fill it out. The survey provides excellent insight into the direction of search marketing budgets, tactics and trends.¬† I know I’m curious to see how it compares to the Marketing Sherpa Benchmark Guide 2007 data.

Also, there’s a giveaway for those of you that need that kind of incentive.¬† “As a thank you to everyone who participates in the survey, each respondent will be eligible to win one free full-conference pass to any Search Engine Strategies (SES) event in 2007.” SES conferences passes are in the range of $1200-$1500 so that is a nice prize.

Here are highlights from SEMPO’s 2005 Annual State of Search Survey, or as I heard Dana Todd call it at SES Chicago, "the SEMPO Big Ass Survey".

• SEM was a $5.75 billion industry in North America in 2005, and will grow to $11.1 billion in 2010
• Brand awareness is advertisers’ top objective for SEM programs, particularly large firms
• Organic SEO is the most popular form of SEM, with 4 out of 5 advertisers using this method, with paid placement a close second at 76%

After the last session about advanced keyword research, SEMPO held a reception where they were to announce some of the preliminary findings of what Dana Todd called their annual "big ass survey". 

The SEMPO state of the industry survey run last year provided some very interesting and insightful statistics about how marketers are using search marketing as well as future expectations.

The 2004 SEMPO survey indicated search marketers planned to spend about $4 billion on paid search, organnic and paid inclusion. The 2005 SEMPO survey reports that number to rise to $5.7 billion as announced by Kevin Lee of SEMPO’s Research Committee. Confetti flew at the SEMPO reception as Kevin announced more statistics out of the survey.