Search marketing spend ‘increases’
Businesses are spending more on search marketing this year than they were 12 months ago, a new report from Marketing Sherpa has indicated.
The total global search marketing spend has risen by 30 per cent in the past year, with paid ads, search engine optimisation (SEO) and search campaigns attracting about 50 per cent of total online marketing budgets, according to the 2009 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide.
"We’re seeing a sea change in the credibility and practice of SEO," the report’s authors noted in its executive summary.
"Once considered something of a ‘dark art’, SEO is joining PR and email marketing as legitimate forms of inexpensive marketing."
Meanwhile, a report released by Dr Dave Chaffey of E-consultancy earlier this month indicated that the digital marketing spend in the UK has doubled since 2005.
Some 23 per cent of the country’s total communications budget is now invested in digital marketing channels, a figure which is further supported by the new Marketing Sherpa data.
