Advertisers in the U.S and Canada have spent $5.75 billion on Search Engine Marketing in 2005. This is a 44% increase from 2004 spending.


Advertisers in the U.S and Canada have spent $5.75 billion on SEM in 2005, according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. This is a 44% increase from 2004 spending.

The report, called “The State of Search Engine Marketing 2005″, also predicts that SEM spending in North America will reach $11 billion by 2010.

The annual totals include payments made to search engines and search-related media companies, search engine marketing agencies and in-house expenditures related to such programs.

These programs include paid placement, paid inclusion, organic search engine optimization and search engine marketing technology platforms.

The survey also revealed that 83% or $4.7 billion out of the SEM spending in 2005 was spent on paid placement. Organic SEO comprised 11% of the overall spending and paid inclusion accounted for 4%.

SEMPO Research Committee Co-chair, Gord Hotchkiss, said: “The data shows that 2005 was a good year for search, but 2006 should be a great year. The growth shown has largely been driven by maturation in existing segments.

Future growth will be fueled by an increased search presence from major advertisers and new monetization strategies from the major engines. The increased competitiveness in the marketplace will really drive the industry forward in the coming year.” [Source]

Additional findings were:

a) Google and Yahoo were still the top picks for internet advertising.
b) Branding, sales, leads and traffic are the top objectives of paid placement programs.
c) Advertisers and agencies are approaching their pricing limits.

For more information on the report, click here.

 

 

 

 

Sharing is caring