In 2008, companies spent more money on paid search than search engine optimization
Christine Pepin
Media Coordinator
According to new research conducted by Radar Research, spending for paid placements in North America greatly exceeded that of organic search. Last year, $13.5 billion was spent on search engine marketing; 88% of which came from paid search and only 11% from SEO. The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) estimates that search marketing spending will increase to $14.7 billion next year. This figure is inclusive of paid placement, organic search, paid inclusion and SEM technology.
While SEO tends to be more cost-effective in terms of longer lasting results, it takes time for a site to achieve a high ranking or even a first-page ranking. Oftentimes, clients are either not willing to wait for this to occur or desire results that can be measured short-term. These factors, among others, attribute to the large gap between paid and organic search spending. However, as marketers begin to understand that users find organic listings to be more relevant than paid, they may realize the wait is worth long-term campaign results.
New features added to Google’s research tool.
Stefanie Berliant
Media Coordinator
Google has made some upgrades to its tool Google Insights for Search which launched August 2008. As a complementary tool to Google Trends, Google Insights is a research tool geared towards researchers and advertisers. These recent upgrades to this tool have made advertisers jobs easier and research more comprehensive. While other free research tools such as Compete and Quantcast offer similar features, the addition of new data sources, category sections and metros for the US take Insights capability above and beyond its competitors. The data sources differentiate between web, image, news, and product searches. The category suggestions offer other terms for which your search might be relevant. With the addition of metros within the US, researchers are able to drill down into specific geographies to see how interest levels vary by region. With a more robust research tool, advertisers are able to gain more knowledge about their audience and thus optimize their online marketing campaigns to be more effective.
A recent survey was conducted to find out how top marketing executives are altering their strategies to coincide with the current economy.
Ryan Moss
Media Coordinator
With the current state of the economy, marketing budgets are dwindling in many companies, thereby making the job of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) even more difficult. To help determine how these top marketing executives are responding to the tough times, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association (AMA) surveyed about 600 U.S. marketing executives during February 2009 for the "CMO Survey". The poll generated some very interesting findings, including the following.
For more information about the results of the survey see the links below.
Social networking now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time according to the latest Nielsen report, surpassing email in internet activity popularity.
Keith Vera
Account Manager
Social networking now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time according to the latest Nielsen report, surpassing email in internet activity popularity. The report “Global Faces and Networked Places” looks at data from December 2007 through December 2008, and finds that not only do “member communities” exceed email in participation; the sector is experiencing twice as much growth than any of the 5 most popular online spaces.
Much of this growth can be attributed to the increasing popularity of social networks among an older demographic. As reported by Christine Pepin in February, females over the age of 55 are one of the fastest-growing Facebook user segments, growing by 175% over the last quarter alone, with males over 55 growing over 137%. This new growth helps put over 45% of all Facebook users over the age of 26.
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