What is the real value of SEM? European advertisers and agencies answer
There are lots of data around showing the unstoppable growth of Search Engine Marketing (whether organic listings or pay-per-click advertising) as the main and more profitable way to promote online travel services. However, there are far less informations on what is the actual perception and value of these activities from a client's point of view, especially within the European markets.
In January 2007, Sempo (a global non-profit organization serving the search engine marketing industry) asked JupiterResearch to conduct a formal survey of advertisers and agencies in France, Spain and Italy. Respondents were asked 26 closed-ended questions aimed at understanding how marketeers are investing in SEM, and what are the key metrics and overall perceived value of such activities across these countries.
Although the research (available for download here) is not specifically addressing the travel industry, there are some interesting findings that confirm the rising centrality of search engine marketing on one hand, and the low level of maturity of the market on the other.
For instance, while SEO strategy and paid search/SEO implementation are the most commonly used agency services by advertisers, approximately one third of advertisers are not aware of how much they are paying in agency fees. I think this is astonishing, if you consider how easy it is to measure search engine marketing activities and ask for accountability of revenues and fees.
Search marketing is bringing satisfying ROI to advertisers (72%) and agencies (79%) alike, and 62% of advertisers plan to increase search marketing spend over the next 12 months, their top objectives being to generate immediate online sales and building brand awareness.
Increasing competition for top rankings has been advertisers’ and agencies’ greatest problem with their search marketing efforts, but, both advertisers and agencies, especially agencies in Spain, are satisfied with the ROI from their search marketing activities.
These are surprising number, as I see a good share of SEM activities still being handled unprofessionaly (either by in-house teams or by not-so-specialised agencies): to put it mildly, if the majority of investors are happy with the results, just imagine what levels of satisfaction SEM activities would reach if optimisations were done brilliantly, looking at all aspects (architecture, content and landing environments) that affect conversion rates.
The focus is increasingly on SEO (vs. ppc) which is probably an indication of advertisers starting to measure the ROI over a longer period of time, therefore appreciating the decreasing cost-per-contact from a SEO activity (that pays back over time), against the steady cost of paid search (where you pay for every single new click)
The following two slides are particularly interesting: they list the top search marketing problems from the agencies'and advertisers' point of view. While competition and the rising cost for buying keywords are unavoidable market conditions, all the others worries (tracking, keyword selection, click fraud, declining ROI, campaing management across multiple languages and engines) are again a symptom of a low level of maturity and professionalism in this field, as all of those problems are exactly what a good agency should solve for you.
Finally, one good news: landing page optimisation is aknowledged to be the most effective strategy for improving ROI, meaning that finally the focus is shifting toward providing relevant (pre and post-click) contents and an overall satifying experience to new users.
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