SEMPO Study Shows SEM Spending Growing

Despite the probable recession, spending on search engine marketing exceeded projections in 2007 and is expected to see continued growth in 2008, according to the 2007 State of the Market survey by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), www.sempo.org, released at a recent Search Engine Strategies conference.

Did-It President and SEMPO Board Member Kevin Lee told Search Engine Watch the growth in Search Marketing indicated by the research may be coming from unexpected places:

"I'm surprised we're not seeing as big a shift from TV. Search is getting more budget from offline media that are usually used to narrow-cast, instead of TV and radio, which are broadcast media," Lee said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense, but maybe it's because it's being moved from something niche-y to something else that's niche-y? As search becomes more recognized as something that brand advertisers can use, I'd expect to see more TV and radio dollars shift as well."

Radar Research surveyed 867 search engine advertisers and SEM agencies through research administered by IntelliSurveyInc.

Here are key findings:

• "The North American SEM industry grew from $9.4 billion in 2006 to $12.2 billion in 2007, exceeding earlier projections of $11.5 billion for 2007.
  
  
• North American SEM spending is now projected to grow to $25.2 billion in 2011, up significantly from the $18.6 billion forecast a year ago.
  


• Marketers are finding more search dollars by poaching budget from print magazine spending, website development, direct mail and other marketing programs.


• Paid placement captures 87.4% of 2007 spending; organic SEO, 10.5%; paid inclusion, .07%, and technology investment, 1.4%."

Search Engine Watch - Search Spend Seems Healthy Despite Slowing Economy by Kevin Newcom

Search Engine Land
The State Of Search Engine Marketing 2007 by Chris Sherman