Advertisers in the U.S. and Canada spent $5.75 billion on search engine marketing (SEM) in 2005, a 44% increase over spending in 2004, according to a report from the Wakefield, MA-based Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). What’s more, the organization projects that SEM spending in North America will reach $11 billion in 2010.
SEM — both paid advertising and search engine optimization (SEO), also known as unpaid or organic search marketing — have become crucial components of multichannel marketing plans. That’s why Multichannel Merchant and DIRECT decided to take a closer look at what marketers are doing in the SEM space and what they plan to do with it in the future. Our exclusive benchmark survey reveals what respondents budget for SEM, how they manage the various SEM components, where they run pay-per-click ad campaigns, and who handles the search marketing functions.
It’s hard to keep track of the fast-changing search industry, but taking the pulse of practitioners via surveys helps. One thing is for certain: Marketers aren’t likely to lose interest in SEM anytime soon.