UK companies are forecast to spend £2.75 billion on search engine marketing in 2008, up 24% year on year, according to new research from E-consultancy.
This year’s £2.75 billion spend is estimated to include £2.42 billion on paid search – a 23% increase on 2007.
The remaining £330 million comes from spend on search engine optimisation, predicted to increase 32% year on year.
Chris Lake, editor-in-chief of E-consultancy, said: “Search spending is continuing to increase at a healthy pace, although the growth rate will not match the increases seen over the last few years.
“Economic concerns will affect the overall ad industry, and search isn’t entirely immune from a dip in budgets. Marketers and agencies are savvier than ever, so scope for growth in ROI is limited. And growth in consumer internet usage is flattening out.
“But the sector is certainly more robust than other media channels which have a less measurable return on investment, and should continue for years to come.”
A recent iProspect study, conducted by JupiterResearch, found that 45% of search engine marketers do not integrate their search marketing efforts with offline channels (see Search Engine Marketers Not Integrating With Offline Channels).
Robert Murray, iProspect president, said: “Unfortunately, by failing to integrate their efforts with offline, search marketers are essentially ignoring the very channels that drive users to search. Obviously, there is a big disconnect between search marketing strategy and search engine user behaviour.”
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