CONTENTS Executive Summary Current state of search marketing State of adoption Top search goals Key SEO elements Key Web properties in paid search Search marketing and social media integration Search marketing and content Search marketing and mobile Local search and its impact Obstacles to effective search marketing Success / ROI with search marketing Budgets allocated to search marketing Large vs. small companies Appendix A: Methodology / firmographics Appendix B: Supplemental materials High vs. low- search budgets Tech vs. non- tech sectors ROI vs. non- ROI sectors Sales cycles: short vs. long Appendix C: About BtoB 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 14 16 17 19 21 25 27 27 33 37 41 46 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Search Marketing: The State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices is designed to provide senior- level marketers with a thorough overview of the current state of search marketing, and insights into trends to watch going forward. This study addresses such issues as the following: The opportunities to marketers in using search tools, including search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search (also known as search engine marketing or PPC pay- per- click advertising) How desktop search practices may differ from mobile search queries and results, as well as variations in national vs. local search patterns An analysis of how marketing budgets are being earmarked for both organic and paid search efforts An analysis of obstacles to adoption of best practices in SEO and PPC search marketing A breakdown of study methodology is provided in the Appendix. We hope you find this study useful and wish you the best of success with your own search marketing initiatives. Bob Felsenthal, Publisher John Obrecht, Editor John DiStefano, Research Director 3
CURRENT STATE OF SEARCH MARKETING Search marketing is central to b- to- b marketing. It s a vast industry, projected by Forrester Research to exceed $24 billion in expenditures in 2012 and reach about $32 billion by 2014 for both organic and pay- per- click efforts. While the numbers already are impressive search expenditures on average account for about two- thirds of interactive marketing budgets it appears that paid search in particular is poised for more rapid growth than organic search engine optimization (SEO). One reason for the centrality of search within the marketer s toolkit is how integrated it is with overall marketing goals and other channels. Both SEO and PPC search are considered powerful enablers of Web traffic building, lead generation and branding, while a variety of other goals increasing revenue, product development and promotion, community building, competitive intelligence and customer feedback, to name a few are aided greatly by search marketing. Search also is a key facilitator of content marketing (and vice versa), which is driving the new paradigm of what Google has termed the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT). Here, prospects and customers conduct their research online before ever contacting (or wishing to be contacted by) a sales person. Search queries find content of all kinds, good and bad. The bad either is discarded rapidly or lingers to sully a company s reputation. Meanwhile, the good finds greater purchase among searchers, and is shared within and between social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. 4
THE STATE OF ADOPTION OF SEARCH MARKETING Search engine optimization organic or natural search is further along in the search marketing marketplace than is paid search. SEO practices are older than paid search ad opportunities, and many marketers address the optimization of their websites first before embarking on optional PPC paid- search campaigns. In the BtoB study, 74% of respondents said they are at least moderately involved with SEO search marketing, vs. just 44% who reported the same for paid search activity. Chart: Determining the stage marketers are at with their SEO adoption Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 As the chart above indicates, only 5% of marketers haven t employed SEO best practices at all. Also, as seen in the chart below, fully 35% are not engaged whatsoever in paid search. However, there is a fairly steady adoption of paid search by marketers who are somewhat to very involved with PPC search, with 6% reporting they are fully integrated, centering their business operations around PPC marketing. Chart: Determining the stage marketers are at with their paid search adoption Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 5
TOP GOALS SOUGHT BY SEARCH MARKETERS The goals marketers ascribe to SEO on the one hand, and paid search on the other, are very similar to each other. In the chart below, the same goals generally are cited by marketers for both SEO and PPC together, but with a slight but significant difference when PPC is considered. For SEO, increasing website traffic is No. 1. For PPC, increasing lead generation ranks highest. Chart: The importance of search to achieving marketing goals Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 The No. 1 SEO goal of website traffic and the No. 1 PPC goal of lead generation both are fully in keeping with the intent of each activity. The passive deployment of SEO best practices is intended generally to help drive visitors to a corporate site or, in a better- case scenario, to a specific product landing page. Yes, harder metrics such as increasing revenue, ROI and optimizing offline revenue are cited as goals for SEO, but in practice the softer metrics of website traffic and brand awareness are recognized as its key strengths. Paid search, on the other hand, is a much more pointed and aggressive channel, with a few keywords and phrases developed within a very small space to feature specific, compelling offers and content in other words, to encourage some form of conversion. This in turn enhances lead generation and the feeding of the marketing and nurturing pipeline. The overwhelming majority of marketers, 70%, manage their search campaigns in- house, with 26% outsourcing the task to third- party suppliers such as agencies. 6
KEY SEO ELEMENTS EMPLOYED IN SEARCH OPTIMIZATION The range of SEO elements used by marketers today include the most obvious and popular, such as keywords and phrases, but there are a variety of other means marketers use to drive their websites and landing pages to the top of search query results. These include meta description tags, title tags and internal linking. Chart: The range of SEO elements that organizations are using Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 These results detail not only the traditional elements that marketers are optimizing to improve their search query results, but also the extra- URL elements that are driving marketing today. Content creation, social media integration, blogging and other types of content (videos, photos, etc.) have all been integrated into what was formerly a rather functionary process of website optimization. This is particularly important given the rise of universal search, meaning that search engines have evolved to show much more than simply URLs. News, premium content, social mentions, photos, videos and in particular any of these items that are shared socially are making their way higher and higher on search query pages. Marketers are becoming aware of this and optimizing these elements as well to support their SEO efforts. It is surprising that external link- building, cited by 42% of marketers, isn t more prominent on this list, since it has long been considered key to strong Google rankings. A more aggressive inbound link- building effort may pay off in a competitive advantage over slower- to- adopt companies. 7
A related topic is how marketers view the success quotient for each of the search marketing elements used by their organizations. Chart: The elements that lead to search marketing success Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Also, when asked to cite their success for each of the search marketing elements used by their organizations, cited above, marketers say that content creation (55%) is most successful in support, followed by their efforts in determining effective keywords and keyword phrases (54%), and their use of title tags (48%). Note that content in various forms images, videos, webinars and blogs also rank highly as contributing to a successful search marketing program. In general, it can be said that marketers who spend time optimizing these elements are more likely to experience greater success than those who do not. Success factors and ROI will be dealt with more fully below. 8
KEY WEB PROPERTIES USED FOR PAID SEARCH CAMPAIGNS For paid search campaigns, keywords and phrases are as important as they are for SEO efforts (as, of course, are compelling content and social buzz). But marketers also are focused on finding the most appropriate advertising venues, those where their key market constituents are spending considerable time. For b- to- b marketers, the venue of choice overwhelmingly is Google: Chart: Web properties where marketers run paid search campaigns Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Google is the dominant search engine by market share among the top three search engines in the U.S., which include Yahoo (powered by Bing) and the Bing search engine alone. At the end of 2011, Google commanded roughly a 65% market share of all search queries conducted in the U.S., compared with about 15% each for Bing and Yahoo. It s no surprise that Google s more than two- to- one advantage in market share over Bing and Yahoo combined is propelling marketers to place their paid ads on Google properties. Marketers confidence in Google is so pronounced that the proportion of paid search expenditures on Google s various pages, 69% of all search expenditures, is in excess of its 65% market share. By contrast, the Bing- Yahoo combination, with a 30% market share, underperforms here, attracting just 22% of search expenditures. YouTube, considered a Google Site since it s owned by the search giant, is often cited as the second most visited site producing search queries, behind only the main Google search engine. With the increasing importance of Internet streaming video and its engagement factor with viewers, YouTube search spend should increase in the future. 9
INTEGRATING SOCIAL MEDIA WITH SEARCH MARKETING Another important element in the apportionment of paid- search budgets, as seen in the chart on the previous page, is the prominence of ads on Facebook and Twitter, cited by 28% and 15% of marketers, respectively. Both social sites have search functions, and both return regular organic timeline results as well as paid results via search queries. Social users may search for information about people, brands and products on social sites as readily as they do on real search engines, and, as a result, social media has rapidly become a key element in the overall search landscape. With social media becoming a force to be reckoned with in the deployment of both organic and paid search campaigns, marketers are becoming clear about what they want their social outreach to do for them. Chart: Goals for integrating social media in search marketing Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Here, the rise of universal search, which returns all Internet content within search query results in particular social media activity, and not merely URLs as in the past is clearly recognized. Far and away, marketers credit their social media activities with improving their search rankings. Inbound linking has long been considered the key determinant used by Google to assess the value of a Web page. Since social comments often link to cited content or Web pages (this is particularly so on Twitter), increasing the number of inbound links is cited as important. Since content is considered a main driver of social interaction and sharing, it also is listed high. Universal search is given its due, since real- time social comments and sharing are now showing up regularly at the top of search results. 10
THE ROLE OF CONTENT IN REINFORCING SEARCH MARKETING Research indicates that content is the new powerful driver of inbound marketing. According to the Google ZMOT model, prospects and customers do most of their research online prior to engaging in one of the traditional conversion metrics such as downloading a whitepaper, viewing a product page or contacting a company. The implication: Engaging, compelling content, whether in the form of a product features sheet, whitepaper, research report, video or other element, reigns supreme for driving search results. Chart: The mix of content used in achieving effective search marketing Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Here, website content by far is considered most important in driving higher rankings in search queries. That s not surprising. Well- informed website content is characterized by an acknowledgment of prime keywords and phrases that a company s targeted audiences actually are searching for. To the extent that page titles and meta tags also reflect those keywords, marketers feel that these as well will help their corporate websites and specific landing pages rise to the top of search query results. Other forms of content that rank high on marketers checklists leading to strong search- marketing results include material developed specifically for social media consumption, well- optimized press releases, e- newsletters, videos, case studies, whitepapers, photos, microsites and webinars. 11
It is worth noting that good content, which draws plenty of social referrals and links, tends to rise to the top of search query results. This is particularly true given the series of Panda updates recently implemented by Google that are intended to lower the search query rankings of low- quality sites and push higher- quality sites nearer to the top of the search results. MOBILE S IMPACT ON SEARCH MARKETING While still a nascent channel for b- to- b marketers, mobile marketing is increasing in relevance and importance. The growing use of smartphones, plus the mobile revolution wrought by Apple s ipad table computer and the array of competing tablets from other suppliers, mean that prospects and customers are accessing information online wherever they are, and not just at their desks. However, while three- quarters of marketers responding to the BtoB survey said they are cognizant of the importance of mobile devices to their target audiences, only 23% said mobile is either important or critical to their search marketing objectives. Chart: The importance of mobile search to search marketing objectives This general indifference to search marketing optimized for mobile devices seems poised to change. If marketers wish to reach out to prospects and customers where they are, it is inevitable that they will come to see mobile as a crucial element of their future search marketing campaigns. It is fair to say that the influence of mobile on search marketing will only increase going forward, as the adoption of smartphones and tablet Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. computers makes communications on Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 the go the norm and not the exception. Marketers who move quickly into mobile search marketing may have a competitive advantage over their competitors who lag in implementing a comprehensive mobile search effort. 12
Of those marketers who are determined to exploit the new mobile marketing reality in support of their search marketing efforts, most are focusing on developing a mobile version of their websites: Chart: Mobile tactics used in support of search marketing Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N- =20 This is not surprising as user experience is crucial. For a prospect or customer who conducts a search on a mobile device, finding the appropriate landing page is only part of the equation. Finding a page that is effectively optimized for mobile devices is quite another. As seen in the chart above, only about half of marketers consider mobile versions of their websites or landing pages to be important. This represents a misstep, and a potential boon for those who jump in ahead of the competition with well- designed, mobile- optimized websites and landing pages. 13
LOCAL SEARCH AND ITS IMPACT Local search is critical to locally focused businesses as well as companies with local reps, resellers or franchises. Thirty percent of respondents to the BtoB survey said local search is important or critical to their plans, and 68% indicated it has at least some role to play. Some of this may be due to the demographics of the survey, which attracted a large number of small- to- midsized companies (see the Appendix for firmographic information). Chart: Importance of local search to search marketing objectives Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 While few companies have claimed their local business listings on search engines, this may be reflective of the proportion of companies with a local orientation. Chart: Proportion of businesses that have claimed a local business listing on a search engine Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 14
Marketers deploy a number of optimization tactics to help ensure that their businesses, branches, reps, channel partners and other local entities are found via local search. Most prominent here is to include the local business address on specific landing pages, which helps drive these toward the top of search results when particular neighborhoods or cities are queried along with other search terms, such as brands or services. Chart: Local search optimization tactics used by marketers Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Many of the same optimization practices used in general search tactics also are employed when businesses want their local entities to rank highly on results pages, but the results above detail more specific approaches marketers are taking, making sure lengthy keyword search phrases such as backup and storage services, Newark, New Jersey, to cite a possible locally oriented phrase are optimized for on a company s website and/or landing pages. In addition to adding local business addresses, best practices here include adding local keywords in internal links and including locally specific verbiage on website page copy or social media, etc. Notice in the chart above that such tactics as submitting listings to local directories, such as Business.com and Internet Yellow Pages, lags. Along with the failure of two- thirds of marketers to claim local business listings on the search engines, this appears to be a significant differentiator between best- in- class local search marketers and also- rans. 15
OBSTACLES TO EMPLOYING EFFECTIVE SEARCH MARKETING PRACTICES While search marketing generally is viewed as central to marketing outreach, there are disconnects in optimum search- marketing practices. These include: Pay- per- click search advertising lags behind SEO. A lagging use of paid search investments with the Bing- Yahoo combination when their combined market share is taken into account. A less- than- aggressive inbound link- building effort, despite the recognition that inbound links are central to Google s algorithm used to rank Web pages. The generally slow adoption of mobile marketing. What obstacles are contributing to these disconnects, and the fuller implementation of effective search marketing tactics? Chart: The biggest challenges marketers face in implementing search marketing Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 16
Given the impetus to do more with less, it is not surprising that the No. 1 obstacle cited by marketers in deploying optimum search marketing practices in their companies is a lack of resources (46%). Other significant challenges include too low a priority for management, and lack of knowledge about search. Some of the other challenges are more surprising. For example, the No. 2 obstacle cited is that search marketing fails to increase lead generation (34%). Other perceived challenges include that search is a poor performer in increasing Web traffic (30%), poorly integrates into an effective and methodical strategy (29%) and fails to obtain or increase measurable ROI (20%). SUCCESS AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) WITH SEARCH MARKETING Despite the perceived challenges cited above, marketers generally are fairly satisfied with their ability to measure search s return on investment. Chart: Satisfaction with company s ability to measure search ROI Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 According to the survey, 67% of marketers are satisfied with their search marketing metrics. We can anticipate that this satisfaction level will only increase as the adoption of marketing automation solutions and Web analytics tools grows. The free tool Google Analytics is a powerful solution for determining the source of Web traffic and measuring the performance of search campaigns. Importantly, search marketing is the quintessential digital program. The abiding value of digital marketing is that it is measurable and fully 17
accountable; with the correct tools in place, there is little reason to guess about the value of programs. Feedback is readily available for quick adjustments as necessary. Chart: Time it takes to be effective in search marketing Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 For the most part, marketers see the time it takes to be effective with search marketing to be a little less than a full year, although a significant percentage (16%) indicate that 12 to 24 months is more appropriate. Nineteen percent say two to six months is sufficient to gain enough knowledge from search metrics to ascertain effectiveness. 18
BUDGETS ALLOCATED TO SEARCH MARKETING In general, search marketing seems to be a frugal exercise for many companies. Thirty- six percent spent less than $10,000 during their last budgetary year on search marketing, a fact that can be attributed, at least in part, to the predominance of small companies among the BtoB survey respondents. On the other hand, 11% invested $100,000 to $499,000, and 9% spent more than $500,000. Chart: Search marketing expenditures over the past year Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 In addition, marketers are voting with their dollars in favor of search marketing: 46% said their SEO budgets will increase in 2012, and 50% indicated no change. A meager 4% indicated that search budgets would decrease for 2012. Chart: Change in SEO budgets projected for 2012 Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 19
The budget allocation projections for paid search (PPC) are virtually identical to these results: 48% of marketers said their budgets would increase, and just 5% indicated they would shrink. Among those companies that will increase their SEO budgets, 37% plan to boost spending by 10% or more. The average search engine marketing budget increase (among those that will increase spending) is 9%. Chart: The amount of budgetary increase for search marketing Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Once again, these SEO percentages are consistent with PPC budget plans: 42% of marketers plan to increase their PPC spending by 10% or more. Among those marketers who will increase their paid search budgets in 2012, the average boost is 10%. 20
LARGE VERSUS SMALL COMPANIES The search marketing needs of large ($500 million plus) and small (under $100 million) companies differ slightly in their deployment of SEO and PPC ad expenditures. Larger companies often are ahead of their smaller counterparts in search marketing adoption, but smaller companies have specific edges in certain areas. Since SEO is widespread, it s little surprise that the gap of adoption between large and small companies is relatively small. The variance is more pronounced when its come to paid search. Chart: The stage of adoption of search engine optimization (large versus small companies) Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 Chart: The stage of adoption of paid search (large versus small companies) Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 21
The goals of large vs. small companies vary slightly when it comes to SEO. Larger companies give greater weight to increasing measurable ROI and online revenue. Smaller companies are more focused on achieving greater brand/product awareness and increasing lead generation through their SEO efforts. Chart: Companies main search engine optimization goals (large versus small companies) Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 22
As for paid search, the goals of large vs. small companies again are somewhat similar, but here the larger companies that are engaged in paid search campaigns are generally more likely to value such metrics as lead generation, website traffic, brand/product awareness and increasing online sales revenue. Chart: Companies main search engine optimization goals (large versus small companies) Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 23
Lastly, both large and small companies are fairly consistent in the ways they rank successful search marketing elements. In the chart below, keywords and keyword phrase research is seen as most important in leading to success, followed by content creation, effective title tags, and various digital content that includes images, videos and webinars. However, there are some interesting variations in how large and small companies view the success levels of particular search marketing elements. While there is fairly consistent tracking of those elements that provide search marketing success for both large and small marketers, small companies tend to see greater success with meta description tags, internal linking, blogging and XML sitemaps. Chart: Success of search marketing elements (large versus small companies) Source: 2012 BtoB s State of B2B SEO and PPC Practices survey. Fielded September and October 2011, N=320 24
APPENDIX A METHODOLOGY / FIRMOGRAPHICS In September- October 2011, a true population of b- to- b marketing professionals in the U.S. were surveyed with a 25- question online poll. A representative sample of the b- to- b audience was invited to participate in the survey via email, with 508 completes achieved. The confidence interval was 97.5%,with a margin of error of +/ 5%. Methods and procedures adhered to the standards and ethics established by the Market Research Association. Results are reported in aggregate only. 25
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APPENDIX B SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS Included here are a variety of other findings from BtoB s report on the State of SEO and PPC practices among b- to- b companies. These findings from the survey are broken out by the following criteria: High vs. low search budget companies Tech companies vs. non- tech sector companies Companies with ROI measurements in place vs. companies with no ROI measurement Companies with short sales cycles vs. those companies with long sales cycles Trends in organic and paid search budgets Miscellaneous findings High vs. Low Search Budgets Understandably, those with a high search budget are much further along in their search engine optimization (SEO, or organic) adoption than are smaller companies. Similarly, paid search is more attractive to those with a high search budget than their low budget counterparts. In terms of SEO goals, lead generation and increased website traffic are preferred by companies with low search budgets, compared with those with high budgets. Increasing ROI and online sales revenue are preferred to a greater extent by high search budget companies when compared with companies with a low budget. In terms of search engine marketing (paid search) goals, increasing lead generation (60%) and website traffic (58%) are much more preferred by high search budget companies, vs. their low search budget company counterparts. In addition, high search budget companies tend to be more successful in their search marketing efforts with social media integration, SEO landing pages and digital content optimization. In terms of effectiveness to achieve marketing goals, companies with a high budget report that lead generation and customer feedback are more likely to be better served through search at those companies with high search companies, when compared with companies with low search budgets. 27
Chart: What stage is your company with reference to SEO (high- vs. low- budget companies)? Chart: What stage is your company with reference to paid search (high- vs. low- budget companies)? 28
Chart: What are your organization s goals for employing SEO (low- vs. high- budget companies)? 29
Chart: What stage is your company at with reference to SEM / paid search (low- vs. high- budget companies)? 30
Chart: Indicate the success you ve had with various search marketing elements (low- vs. high- budget companies). 31
Chart: Choose how important search marketing is for achieving these marketing goals (low- vs. high- budget companies). 32
Tech vs. Non- Tech Sectors In terms of SEO (organic) adoption, there is very little difference between the tech sector and the non- tech sector. However, when we examine the adoption of paid search, we find that the tech sector is somewhat further along. For increasing Web traffic, increasing lead generation and improving brand/product awareness or reputation, SEO is preferred by tech companies compared with non- tech companies. In contract, it is the non- tech companies who feel SEO is most valuable in increasing online sales revenue, which may be reflective of the longer sales cycles of tech companies. Overall, tech companies rate the success of search much higher, based on such techniques as keyword/key phrase research, content creation, external link building and competitive benchmarking. Similarly, when considering the effectiveness of search to achieve marketing goals, in almost every metric tech companies score higher than non- tech companies. This includes such considerations as lead generation, branding, website traffic building, community building, customer feedback and product development. In the categories to follow, tech companies include those involved in computers and peripheral hardware and software, manufacturers and distributors, software design, computer and data processing services, telecommunications and Internet/online services. Chart: What stage is your company in implementing search engine optimization (tech vs. non- tech companies)? 33
Chart: What stage is your company in implementing paid search marketing (tech vs. non- tech companies)? Chart: What are your organization s goals for employing SEO? (tech vs. non- tech companies)? 34
Chart: What goals does your company have for paid search (tech vs. non- tech companies)? Chart: How successful has search been in using these marketing elements (tech vs. non- tech companies)? 35
Chart: How important is search marketing for achieving these marketing and communications goals (tech vs. non- tech companies)? 36
ROI vs. Non- ROI Sectors For search engine optimization (SEO), it is clear that those companies with a return on investment (ROI) metric in place are further along with SEO adoption. This suggests that SEO is performing well for marketers. When we examine the paid search stage of adoption, the same trend is evident. This also suggests that paid search performs well and that this is evident when measured through some degree of return on investment. As for SEO goals, both companies those with ROI measurements in place and those without look for the same objectives. SEO s role in increasing lead generation is a more important goal for the companies with an ROI metric in place than for those that do not measure ROI. However, in all other goals the similarity between ROI and non- ROI companies is quite similar. Significantly, and by a wide margin more than 20 percentage points companies with an ROI metric in place report higher success with various search market techniques. Chart: What stage is your company at with regards search engine optimization (SEO) (ROI companies vs. non- ROI companies)? 37
Chart: What stage is your company at with regards paid search (ROI companies vs. non- ROI companies)? Chart: What are your organization s goals for employing search engine optimization (SEO) (ROI companies vs. non- ROI companies)? 38
Chart: What are your company s goals regarding paid search (ROI companies vs. non- ROI companies)? Chart: How successful are each of these search marketing elements (ROI companies vs. non- ROI companies)? 39
Chart: How important is search marketing for achieving these marketing and communications goals (ROI companies vs. non- ROI companies)? 40
Sales cycles: Short vs. Long Regardless of whether companies have short or long sales cycles, there is no difference in the adoption of search engine optimization (SEO). However, when it comes to the goals put forth for SEO, those companies with longer sales cycles are much more likely to eye such objectives as increasing website traffic, increasing lead generation and improvement brand product awareness or reputation. By contrast, increasing online sales revenue is strongly favored among companies with shorter sales cycles. As for paid search (PPC, or SEM) goals, the same trend is found and the interest in increasing online sales revenue is intensified. At companies with short sales cycles, content creation and external link building are much more successful than at their long- sales counterparts. In evaluating the effectiveness of search to achieve marketing goals, those companies with a short sales cycle don t seem to report as much success in using search to achieve such marketing goals as website traffic building, branding and lead generation. Chart: What stage is your company at with search engine optimization (SEO) (short- vs. long- sales cycle companies)? 41
Chart: What stage is your company with reference to paid search (PPC) (short- vs. long- sales cycle companies)? 42
Chart: What are your organization s goals for employing search engine optimization (SEO) (short- vs. long- sales cycle companies)? 43
Chart: What stage is your company with regards paid search (short- vs. long- sales cycle companies)? Chart: What success have you had with these search marketing elements (short- vs. long- sales cycle companies)? 44
Chart: How important is search marketing for achieving these marketing and communications goals (short- vs. long- sales cycle companies)? 45
APPENDIX C ABOUT BTOB BtoB is the only media brand dedicated to integrated business- to- business marketing. The magazine is read by 100,000 b- to- b marketers, with every issue filled with game- changing strategies and tactics needed for success, including news, analysis, benchmarks and best practices. BtoB also publishes a wide variety of e- newsletters addressing specific areas of b- to- b marketing, and hosts webinars, virtual trade shows and live events. In addition, BtoB publishes Media Business for business publishing executives. BtoB is published by Crain Communications Inc., which publishes more than 20 business, trade and consumer publications and related websites in North America, Europe and Asia. OFFICES BtoB and BtoBOnline.com Advertising offices 711 Third Avenue, 3rd Floor New York, NY 10017 212-210- 0100 www.btobonline.com btobwebinfo@crain.com BtoB and BtoBOnline.com Editorial offices 360 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago IL 60601 312-649- 5200 www.btobonline.com btobwebinfo@crain.com Crain Communications Inc. Corporate headquarters 1155 Gratiot Avenue Detroit, MI 48207 313-446- 6000 www.crain.com 46