Recent findings from eMarketer and X+1 show that companies are committed to search marketing despite the economic downturn and, allegedly, lack-luster results.
Despite the bad economy, search engine marketing (SEM) spending continues to grow in the US. According to the “Search Engine Marketing in 2009” report by [x+1], 65.4% of senior-level SEM executives plan to spend at least as much on SEM in 2009 as they did in 2008. In fact, 13.1% percent want to increase spending by more than 20%.
The article goes on to explain that 60% of companies who were using search as a lead generation tool, were not satisfied with the results. Only 1 in 5 expecting their search efforts to perform “very well”.
I would argue that this reveals not that search engine optimization and marketing efforts do not provide a valuable return, but instead that 4 in 5 search marketing agencies/consultants were not properly planning for, optimizing, measuring, and reporting the results of their clients’ search campaigns accurately.
While often a formidable task (particularly for non-ecommerce-based campaigns), assigning an ROI and showing the inherent value in paid and organic search efforts is pivotal to the effectiveness of the campaign. The idea that 60% of companies are not satisfied with search results, tells me that they are simply measuring the wrong things. Metrics such as ‘impressions’ or ‘clicks’ are all-to-often given a disproportionate amount of attention. And while these can be useful indices of search volume and intent, they do not represent the true value of paid and organic search campaigns.
Agencies and clients alike must move beyond impressions and clicks and instead focus on goal conversions and the potential synergies your campaigns gain from your search efforts.
For example, it has been found that combining paid and organic search efforts can result in significant lifts in brand affinity, brand recall, and purchase intent. However, if these are not being tracked or reported, these indirect benefits of search marketing will never be recognized.
In another example, users exposed to display advertising were 22% more likely to produce a sale than those who were not exposed (even if they did not click on the ad), according to a September 2008 study by Atlas Solutions. Nonetheless, if only the direct performance of the display ads (potentially quite dismal) is reported, it is easy to see how companies could think they are not worth the investment.
Properly establishing conversions, assigning monetary values to those conversions, and accurately measuring the direct and indirect results of paid and organic search engine marketing campaigns must be an inherent aspect of any company’s search marketing analytics and measurement strategy.
