SEMPO (the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) has released its annual industry survey, "The State of Search Engine Marketing 2006," in which it estimates that $9.4 Billion U.S. were spent across paid placement, paid inclusion, SEO and SEM.
According to SEMPO, Search spending was up a startling 62 percent in a year-to-year comparison with 2005, and the survey further predicts that spending will double by 2011 to a total of $18.6 Billion U.S.
Other findings include:
- SEO continues to be the most popular form of Search Engine Marketing (75 percent)
- Paid placement follows closely (71 percent)
- However, paid placement accounts for 86 percent of total Search spending: $8 Billion U.S.
- Google is the most popular engine for paid placement, with 96 percent of respondents using it, followed by Yahoo! at 86 percent
- MSN now ranks third after Google and Yahoo in paid placement, up from 26 percent to 68 percent
- SEM continues to drain marketing spend from other channels
SEMPO's numbers support Search as a powerhouse growth engine for the interactive marketing industry.
As other research entities, including the IAB and eMarketer, each ready their 2006 ad spend reports, it will be interesting to see whether or not the SEMPO numbers come out on the high side or are in keeping with other industry data. TNS Media Intelligence, ordinarily a reliable indicator of marketing spend, notably does not include Search spending in its research.
The study was conducted in November and December of last year by Radar Research, LLC and Intellisurvey.