• Information Week, Friday, January 13, 2006 12 PM

New research shows that marketers have discovered the benefits of search marketing. The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, a trade group, said advertisers spent $5.75 billion on search marketing last year, a 44 percent increase over the previous year. The group also predicted spending to continue growing, reaching $11 billion in 2010. The survey of 553 respondents was conducted in November by Radar Research LLC and Intellisurvey. It revealed that the bulk of the spending was on paid placement, which accounted for 83 percent or $4.7 billion. Optimization of Web sites for better search rankings accounted for 11 percent of spending, paid inclusion 4 percent, and the remainder on agency solutions, in-house development and other tactics. The survey also found that Google and Yahoo commanded the "lion's share" of Internet advertising last year.

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