It appears that no one told search marketing about the lean economic times at hand. Even as display CPMs are hitting a low point, search marketing continues to soar, according to reports from several SEM companies.

Search spending rose 27 percent in the third quarter, according to SearchIgnite. The big beneficiary of the search surge is, of course, Google, which controls the lion's share of the U.S. search market. According to a study by the search agency Efficient Frontier, Google made $1.14 for every $1 spent on SEM in the third quarter.

During that time frame though, retailers increased their search spending by just 1.5 percent. Search engines hardly need to worry, as a new report from JupiterResearch downplays the small increase in spending. According to that report, 92 percent of large search marketers said they would expand their SEM campaigns, if only they were easier to buy and manage.