Search marketing is such a burgeoning area of interactive marketing and media that there are entire conferences on the subject. I'm referring, of course, to Search Engine Strategies 2004, the
Jupiter Media conference taking place March 1-4 in New York City.
The four-day agenda appears to cover just about every aspect of search - from "Setting & Managing Your Ad Budget" and "Buying
Search Engine Advertising," to more arcane topics like "Successful Site Architecture" and my favorite so far, "Leggo My Trademark: A Search Engine Legal Update," a discussion on the hot-button
issues of trademarks in search marketing. In terms of search, it doesn't get more exhaustive than this.
The composition of attendees may be just as interesting as the panel discussions. I'm
curious as to who will be there. Yahoo!'s latest moves in the search arena, Google's next moves, and MSN's never-to-be-underestimated sleight of hand, are only a couple of the reasons why
interactive media hounds need to be on the scene.
Search is expected to represent more than one-third of all online ad spending in 2004, according to eMarketer's Search Engine Marketing report.
The growth in search is phenomenal - it comprised a measly 1.3 percent of total online ad spending in 2000, 15.4 percent in 2002, and 30 percent last year, eMarketer says. The data aggregator also
projects that advertising via paid search could exceed $2.5 billion this year.
US Bancorp Piper Jaffray estimates search could become a $7 billion market globally by 2007.