Outlook healthy for U.K. search engine marketing

U.K. spending on paid search is continuing to rise at more than 50 percent a year, according to e-consultancy’s recently released report. This year alone, the value of paid search will come close to $4 billion, up 56 percent on last year.

Spending on search engine optimisation (SEO) in the U.K. will also grow, albeit from a much smaller base. The report forecasts that spending on SEO will account for 11 percent of the overall U.K. search market, rising 68 percent to just over $500 million this year.

Increased competition and keyword inflation are the main reasons behind marketer’s shifting their budgets from paid search to SEO. According to Rosie Freshwater, director of Leapfrogg, companies are “far more willing to allocate their marketing budget to natural SEO, rather than the instant gratification of PPC. More companies are seeing the benefit of long term SEO campaigns to build an established presence over a period of time.”

Tags: e-consultancy, paid search, search engine optimization, search marketing, SEO