SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT

Monthly Research Series Conducted in Partnership with Leading Marketing Solution Providers

MARKETING PRACTICES AND PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization Survey Summary ReportAscend2 Monthly Research Series Conducted in Partnership with Leading Marketing Solution Providers.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Gaining favorable search engine rankings 4

Most important objectives 5

Rating SEO success 6

Obstacles to success 7

Most effective tactics 8

How effectiveness is changing 9

Most difficult tactics 10

SEO resources used 11

Effectiveness versus difficulty 12

Most useful metrics 13

Survey methodology and demographics 15

About Ascend2 16

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GAINING FAVORABLE SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS

It's no secret that most website traffic is driven by top search engines like Google and Bing.

But how are marketers optimizing websites to gain favorable search engine rankings?

To find out, Ascend2 and our Research Partners fielded the Search Engine Optimization Survey and completed interviews with 286 marketing, sales and business professionals from around the world. We thank them for sharing their valuable insights with you.

The charts in this edition of the study titled Search Engine Optimization Survey Summary Report represent the average of all market segments responding to the survey. Specific market segments are reported on exclusively by our Research Partners.

This research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy planning and presentation materials. Clip the charts and write about them in your blog or post them on social media. Please share this research credited as published.

Sergio BalegnoPartner / CEO

Research-Based Demand Generation for Marketing Solution Providers+1.800.762.1595www.Ascend2.com

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MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES

Improving search rankings is the top priority for search engine optimization because more favorable rankings result in an increase in website traffic and an increase in lead generation, the next most important objectives of an SEO strategy.

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RATING SEO SUCCESS

Search engine optimization achieves important objectives to some extent for 89% of companies surveyed. Like many marketing tactics, achieving objectives is in direct proportion to the effort applied. The lack of SEO success for 11% of companies may be due in part to insufficient effort.

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OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS

There are many obstacles to SEO success. Some are technical challenges like keeping up with changing search algorithms. Others relate to corporate limitations like budget constraints. For some, a more effective SEO strategy would help overcome the most challenging obstacles.

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MOST EFFECTIVE TACTICS

Search engines love relevant content that correlates to the keywords and phrases used. Creating relevant content is the most effective tactic used by 72% of SEO marketers. Nearly half of the companies surveyed (48%) say researching keywords and phrases is the second most effective.

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HOW EFFECTIVENESS IS CHANGING

The effectiveness search engine optimization is improving for 71% of companies. SEO effectiveness is not improving for everyone but the good news is only 11% find that SEO effectiveness is worsening. SEO effectiveness has reached a plateau for another 18% of companies.

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MOST DIFFICULT TACTICS

SEO marketers often refer to “white-hat” and “black-hat” techniques, particularly when it comes to link building. Applying white-hat techniques may be more difficult but will create a long term, sustainable link building strategy that will avoid search engine penalties and eventual banning.

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SEO RESOURCES USED

Effective search engine optimization often relies on specialized expertise and capabilities not found internally. That’s why 81% of companies surveyed outsource all or part of their SEO tactics. The other 19% of companies use only in-house resources to execute search engine optimization.

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EFFECTIVENESS VERSUS DIFFICULTY

Creating relevant content is not only the most effective tactic used for search engine optimization purposes, it is also one of the most difficult tactics to execute. On the other hand, keyword or key phrase research is the second most effective tactic but one of the least difficult to execute.

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MOST USEFUL METRICS

SEO marketers find that website visitor tracking is the most useful metric for measuring performance. Tracking visitor behavior enables the improvement of visitor conversion rates that will increase the number of leads generated, the third and second most useful metrics respectively.

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NOTES

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SURVEY METHODOLOGY AND DEMOGRAPHICS

Ascend2 benchmarks the performance of popular digital marketing strategies and practices using a standardized questionnaire, research methodology and proprietary 3-Minute Survey format. Findings are examined in a quantitative context by experienced analysts and reported objectively.

This survey was conducted online from a panel of more than 50,000 US and international marketing, sales and business professionals representing a range of demographic roles, channels and company sizes as follows:

Number of Employees

More than 500 14%

50 to 500 22%

Fewer than 50 64%

Role in the Company

CEO / COO / CMO / CSO etc. 39%

Marketing VP / Director / Manager 27%

Sales VP / Director / Manager 4%

Marketing or Sales Staff 18%

Other 11%

Primary Marketing/Sales Channel

B2B (Business-to-Business) 71%

B2C (Business-to-Consumer) 29%

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ABOUT ASCEND2

Research-Based Demand Generation for Marketing Solution Providers

If marketing professionals are your ideal prospects, we can help you find more of them. Marketing software, data and media companies, and digital marketing agencies partner with Ascend2 to reliably generate demand and supplement marketing content for their firms. Our Research Partner Programs are transparent – spotlighting your brand and the interests of your market.

Learn more at www.Ascend2.com

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ASCEND2 RESEARCH-BASED DEMAND GENERATION

Research Partner Programs provide white label reports and a guaranteed number of leads in two simple steps:

1. Choose the topics of interest to your target market

2. Choose an exclusive research segment for each marketing topic

• Benchmarks for Success [Research data from the successful program segment]

• B2B Benchmarks [Research data from the business-to-business segment]

• B2C Benchmarks [Research data from the business-to-consumer segment]

• Enterprise Benchmarks [Research data from the large company segment]

• SMB Benchmarks [Research data from the small and medium business segment]

• Agency Benchmarks [Research data from the marketing agency segment]

• Leadership Benchmarks [Research data from the marketing leadership segment]

• Other Benchmarks [Research data unique to a specific topic when available]

If marketing professionals are your ideal prospects, watch this 90 second video.

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