Many use online search marketing; fewer measure results, survey finds
Search engine marketing is huge – the third largest online market after advertising and e-commerce, according to a recent U.S Bancorp Piper Jaffray report – but while marketers may be spending on search, many still have a lot to learn about how to use it most effectively. That’s the conclusion of analytics provider WebTrends/NetIQ Corp. and search engine optimization provider iProspect. The two companies recently partnered to gather data on search engine marketing practices from some 800 online marketers.
41% of those surveyed said they are currently running paid search campaigns, including 23% who identified it as significant part of their marketing mix and 18% who said it’s a small part. Another 35% said they’re currently evaluating a paid search campaign.
But indications are that a measure of online data from the campaigns is going unused. 31% of all surveyed don’t measure their search engine marketing activities at all. Of those that do measure, 60% measure only basic click-through results and traffic. 27% are measuring search engine marketing results beyond click-throughs to conversion, but only 11% are conducting detailed ROI analysis that calculates revenue by keyword and lifetime value.
Survey results, according to the survey sponsors, clearly indicate the need for search engine marketing education and tools so marketers can determine how to spend marketing dollars most effectively, including the ability to compare the return on different types of online campaigns and to understand a campaign’s specific value beyond click-throughs.
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