eMarketer: SEO shows promise for marketers

With online ad budgets tightening, eMarketer expects one area to see growth: search engine optimization (SEO). According to a recent report search engine optimization will see increased growth because optimizing websites can help an online campaign post great ROI.

by Kristina Knight

According to the report SEO investments will grow while actual search campaigns will decrease. Forecasters expect paid search campaigns to decrease from 15.9% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2013; meanwhile SEO will grow from 17.7% to just over 20%. Overall search marketing is expected to reach just over $23 billion in 2013.

"Marketers who do SEO within their companies likely choose that option to keep costs down," said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the report. "Marketers sometimes find the SEO process complex. Many often called it a 'black box' technique, since optimization requires deciphering the hidden ranking algorithms of search engines."

The main reason is that marketers are seeing how SEO can improve organic listings; organic listings are preferred by most consumers because organic listings are seen as 'more relevant' than paid listings.

For marketers, investing in SEO is less of a gamble than other online ad tactics because the results outlast the typical campaign. Because optimized content remains on-site, even through updates, after a campaign is finished consumers can still find products or services because of the content on-site.