Search marketing spending sees 30% rise

24/07/2008

Global spending on search engine marketing campaigns rose has risen by 30 per cent this year, according to a new report.

MarketingSherpa's 2009 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide revealed that expenditure on initiatives such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click and other search marketing campaigns account for half of all online ad spending.

The report also indicated that the issue of branding is becoming more important to search marketers as more consumers conduct online research ahead of making purchases.

"We're seeing a sea change in the credibility and practice of SEO," the report's authors state in the executive summary.

"Once considered something of a 'dark art', SEO is joining PR and email marketing as legitimate forms of inexpensive marketing."

A recent E-consultancy report showed that spending on digital media now accounts for almost a quarter of UK ad budgets on average, compared with 11 per cent in 2005.