SEMPO's State of Search Survey

As you probably know, DBE is a member of SEMPO – the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization – and have been so for as long as the organization has existed.

We view SEMPO as a critical player and thought leader helping educate believers and non-believers alike on best practices in this ever-evolving industry.

That’s why we’re not just a member of SEMPO -- we’re an active member attending sponsored events, getting SEMPO Institute certification, and participating on various committees. Currently, I am serving on the Research Committee as the lead on SEMPO’s Sixth Annual State of Search Survey.

This important initiative is unique in the way it provides parallel tracks for advertisers and agencies as it probes for the latest trends in search marketing strategies, tactics, budgets, metrics and more. I have used the results from previous surveys to help our internal teams as well as our clients gain a better appreciation of the value of their search marketing efforts as well as a sense of perspective for where they fit in comparison with others. That’s one of the real values of a long-term tracking study like this and, for that reason, this year’s version has retained many of the same questions as the past surveys.

However, as previously mentioned, search is an evolving industry and so there are also some new questions in this year’s survey that were added based on emerging trends. For example, there are more in-depth questions about social media as part of the search marketing mix and about how metrics are being used to illustrate return-on-investment (ROI) during this period of heightened spending scrutiny spurred by economic conditions.

I invite all our clients, our partners and our friends in the search industry to take part in the survey -- http://bit.ly/SEMPO-search. You don’t have to be a member of SEMPO to take the survey and all respondents will have access to the final report. It takes only about 10 minutes and the more participants we get, the more valuable the results will be for all to see. Thank you and be sure to check back here in March for my analysis of the results.