A joint study between Jupiter Research and iProspect found that 50% of search marketers have their performance rating tied to total sales metrics, up 16% from 2005. In contrast, 86% of SEM pros said that agencies used search metrics as the primary gauge of their performance (up 19% from two years ago). Analysts at Jupiter are predicting the trend of sales and other true business-results-based SEM performance measurement to continue to rise, as more advertisers begin to understand the direct correlation between consumer search activity and retail sales.