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Research

State of Search Marketing 2014Search Marketing Survey Report April 2014

State of Search Marketing 2014 Survey Report / 01© Regalix Research

State of Search Marketing 2014

While Marketing has undergone dramatic change in the last few years; Search Marketing undergoes massive changes every couple of months. Paid Search was changed inadvertently with the introduction of Mobile Advertisements which now have higher click-through rates than desktop PPC campaigns. Search Engine Optimization which traditionally focused on keyword research with content sometimes created to match the research is now content-first. It is crucial for marketers to keep abreast of these developments so as to prepare and tackle these changes in a way that buyers and business is not affected.

Regalix conducted survey interviews with Business Leaders, Senior Marketing Executives and Practitioners from around the world to analyze the current practices and standards followed in order to understand the state of Search Marketing as it stands today. The report also comes with actionable tips and recommendations to help marketers utilize Organic and Paid Search Marketing in their organizations effectively.

Key Takeaways

56% marketers integrate Content Marketing with SEO

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61% marketers use responsive web design as a part of their mobile SEO

» tweet this «76% marketers use Social Media to support and boost SEO

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71% marketers use broad-based information keywords to capture leads at the top of the purchase funnel

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47% B2B marketers believe that growth of Mobile Ads and Mobile content is not significant to them

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96% marketers use Search Engine Marketing to provide informational / educational content

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68% marketers use Paid Search to accelerate lead generation

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33%21%33%

23%25%19%25%

Content Marketing

Somewhat Integrated Not Integrated

56% 33%

Paid Search Marketing

27%

Social Media Marketing

Mobile Marketing

46%38%13%

Email Marketing

21%

Digital Display Marketing

42% 50%

50% 46%

Highly Integrated

Content Officially the Heart and Soul of SEO

Post-hummingbird it was clear that Google is now prioritizing enriching content over all other parameters for search rankings; marketers have now followed suit so much so that 56% report complete integration of Content Marketing with Search Engine Optimization practices. Content creation has surpassed other practices traditionally held to be the core of SEO such as meta tag research and deployment (68%) and link building (52%), which clearly points to the importance of valuable optimized content. 72 percent marketer create rich content as a part of their Organic Search Marketing.

Level of Integration Between Search Engine Optimization Efforts and Following Digital Marketing Disciplines.


SEO La

nding

Page

s

Con

tent C

reatio

n

Meta

Tags

Blogs

Socia

l Med

ia Int

egra

tion

Link B

uildin

g Re

spon

sive D

esign

Asse

t Tag

s Ri

ch Sn

ippet

Tags

XML S

itemap

Digital

Asse

t Opti

mizatio

n

Emplo

ying

a M

ulti-S

creen

Stra

tegy

Usin

g Str

uctur

ed D

ata a

nd M

arku

p La

ngua

ge

Mor

e Con

tent a

nd Le

ss Ke

ywor

d Cen

tric

75% 73% 69% 65% 54% 52% 42% 42% 29% 10% 8% 2% 2%8%

Tactics Deployed by Marketers as Part of Organic Search Marketing

76% 24%

When Google Plus results started getting included in Google’s search results, it was clear that Social Media activity is going to play a crucial role in a brand’s Organic Search rankings. Social Media activity has now become a crucial off-page tactic to attract Organic traffic. The importance of Social signals as ranking factors is now recognized by B2B marketers as 76% report using Social Media to support and boost their rankings on Search Engines. 96 percent of those who do report that LinkedIn is the most effective Social Media channel for SEO.

Marketers Using Social Media Channels to Boost SEO Efforts

Social Media and SEO

Social Media Channels Rated on the Basis of Usage and Effectiveness [On a Scale of 5. 0 Being Lowest, 5 Being the Highest]

2%

Facebook

3%

YouTube

3% 3%

Instagram

2% 1%

SlideShare

2% 2%

Quora

1% 2%

3%

LinkedIn

4% 3%

Twiter

4%

2%

Google+

2%1%

StumbleUpon

1%

Utilization Effectiveness


One Size Does Not Fit All: Mapping Keywords to Corresponding Stages of Customer Buying CycleIt was demonstrated in the survey that Search Engine Optimization is used by marketers to advance prospects and buyers through the purchase cycle and is not directed to any one stage in the purchase funnel. However, different keywords are used to target prospects/buyers at different stages:

• Awareness: This is the stage when a prospect might have identified her pain-point and is likely searching for solutions in a particular category or industry. 76 percent marketers use generic informational keywords to enhance awareness around brands, products and services and direct prospects to their site.

• Consideration: The stage when prospects are fully aware of the solution they want and are comparing your solution with those of other vendors. 52 percent marketers use keywords directing prospects to comparison pages on site to help prospects compare their solution with their competitors. 43 percent marketers also use keywords illustrating specific features such as cost, benefits etc.

• Intent: The stage when prospects have shown intent to purchase a product or service. Only 15% marketers use special offers or discounts to provide them with the necessary push to make a purchasing decision. 46 percent marketers use the same keywords directing prospects to comparison sites.

• Purchase: The stage when a prospect decides to purchase a solution. 50 percent of marketers use keywords indicating discounts or special offers to induce purchase.

• Consumption: The stage when a customer consumes or uses the product/service. Only 9% marketers make use of keywords that direct prospects to blog posts easing the consumption process.

• Satisfaction: The stage when a prospect is satisfied with the solution. 19 percent marketers use keywords that direct buyers to blog posts that create a positive impression in the minds of their customers, hence leaving them content and satisfied with their purchase.

• Engage: The stage when a buyer engages with the brand. 53 percent marketers use keywords that direct to blogs where buyers can engage with the brand directly.

• Repurchase: The stage when buyers return and repurchase from a brand. 25 percent marketers use keywords with special discounts and offers to existing customers to make them purchase more and keep returning to the brand.


Keyword Strategy Used by Marketers During the Corresponding Stages of Customer Buying Cycle

76% 39% 6% 6% 3% 3% 9% 0%

Using Generic Informational Keywords

24% 52% 46% 12% 0% 9% 15% 6%

Using Keywords Directing Prospects To Comparison Pages On Site

56% 41% 19% 9% 0% 16% 22% 16%

Gaining Editorial Traction In Third Party Publications

19% 44% 25% 41% 16% 9% 6% 13%

Specific Features Such As Cost, Benefits Etc

13% 25% 16% 50% 9% 19% 16% 25%

Special Offers And Discounts

41% 38% 28% 9% 9% 13% 44% 6%

Using Placement Targeting

56% 41% 25% 6% 9% 19% 53% 22%

Creating Blog Posts

Awareness

Consideration

Intent

Purchase

Consumption

Engagement

Repurchase

Satisfaction


Use Paid Search for Selling; Organic for Informational Purposes

Although organic Search Engine Marketing is used extensively to advance customers at each stage of the purchase funnel, marketers have a preference for using Search Engine Marketing during the latter stages of the buyers’ purchase journey. 95 percent marketers use Search Engine Marketing for promoting satisfaction and inducing loyalty among their existing customers. Paid Search Marketing on the other hand is used at the top of the funnel, majorly for enhancing lead generation. 68 percent marketers use Paid Search to accelerate lead generation; while 63% marketers use it to sell products and services online. Marketers use a variety of tactics for lead generation as a part of Paid Search Marketing. The majority, around 71% marketers use broad-based information keywords to capture prospects at the top of the funnel. The next most popular tactic is using “exact match” and “negative keywords” to avoid appropriate/irrelevant clicks, say 61% of marketers.

The top three goals for Search Engine Marketing are providing educational/informative content (96%), establishing oneself as a thought leader (86%) and enhancing brand reputation and awareness reported by 83% marketers surveyed.

Search Marketing Technique(s) Used by Marketers During the Different Stages of Customer Buying Cycle


Organic Search Paid Search (PPC)

52%

Purchase

70%

24%

Loyalty

91% 10%

Satisfaction

95%

52%

Intent (to purchase)

80% 22%

Consumption

87%54%

Consideration

86%

48%

Repurchase

73%

61%

Awareness

86%

39%

Engagement

83%

Tactics Deployed by Marketers as Part of Paid Search Marketing

Collate

loca

tion,

browsin

g and

purch

ase

histor

y for

bette

r targe

ting

Emplo

ying m

ulti-sc

reen c

ampa

igns

(smar

tphon

es, de

sktop

s, tab

lets e

tc.)

Using "

exac

t matc

h" an

d "ne

gativ

e key

words"

to av

oid in

appro

priate

/irrel

evan

t clic

ks

Focu

s on l

onge

r-tail k

ey-ph

rases

to

avoid

irrele

vant

click

s

Remark

eting

Creatin

g high

ly tar

geted

ad gr

oups

A/B te

sting l

andin

g pag

e con

tent

Use bro

ad ba

sed in

formati

on ke

yword

s to c

aptur

e

prosp

ects

at the

top o

f the f

unne

l

43% 43% 14% 29% 29% 43% 14% 14%


Top Three Goals Your Company is Trying to Achieve Through the Following Search Marketing Strategies

Enhance Brand Reputation and Awareness

Sell Products and Services Online

Accelerate Lead Generation

Drive Traffic to WebsiteProvide Educational /Informational Content

Establish Oneself asThought Leader

83%63% 67%63% 68%68%

83%63%83%63%83%63%

Organic SearchPaid Search (PPC)

Percent of Total marketing Budget that is Spent on the Following Search Marketing Disciplines

Budget Apportionment – Search on an Upward SwingWith content creation becoming an indispensable part of Search Marketing, marketers now spend a major chunk of their budget towards it. 42 percent marketers apportion 20 to 40% of their budgets towards content marketing. Less than 20% of budgets are apportioned towards display, paid and organic search.

As the results indicate, there is an emerging trend of decrease in Paid Search budgets in the coming months. This leads to a clear forecast that Organic Search may take over Paid Search. 48 percent marketers say that they will increase investment by 10 to 30% in 2014, while another 80% marketers indicate a reduction in spends by 10%. With Inbound marketing tactics such as content marketing now becoming more crucial to gaining traffic, marketers are now investing their funds in Organic Search Marketing which is more inbound and content-centric.

<20% 20 to 40% 40 to 60% 60 to 80% >80%

Paid Search

Organic Search

Content Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Display Advertising

54%

32%

50%

68%

21%

21%

43%

39%

25%

14%

18%

18%

4%

7%

4%

4%

7%

7%

0%

0%

4%

4%

0%

0%

61%


Paid Search Budget Changes Over the Next 12 Months

0-10%

10-30%

30-50%

50-70%

70-100%

INCREASE

44%

48%

4%

4%

0%

80%

10%

10%

0%

0%

DECREASE


Search Marketing Trends in Order of Significance for Your Company/Brand in the Year 2014

Organic and Paid Mobile Search Largely UntappedTraffic from mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets etc have been soaring for the past few years. Between 2011 to 2012, there was 103% growth in website traffic from these sources for businesses1. Professionals are using mobile devices for everything from searching for product information to interacting with partners/vendors. It is found that six out of ten global executives are using tablets1. Despite the surge in mobile usage and traffic, the sur-vey found that 47% of B2B marketers do not capitalize on this and believe that the continued growth of mobile ads and mobile content is not significant to them. As seen earlier, desktop PPC is decaying with marketers not gaining the desired results. Mobile Advertisements Provide B2B marketers with potential to reach mobile executives in a whole new way. Howev-er, marketers currently spend less than 10% of Paid Search budgets on Mobile Ads.

The good news is that marketers are not ignoring mobile altogether and use it for mobile SEO. 61 percent marketers use responsive web design as a part of their mobile SEO. Respon-sive web design refers to the type of design which adapts the size of the page, content etc. to the screen size used by the browser.

37%10%56%

21%0%47%29%

Continued Growth of Mobile ads and Mobile Content

24% 69%

Rise in the Quantity and Quality of Content Creation

37%

Increasing Importance of Knowledge Graph and Semantic SEO

Deeper Convergence with Social Media (Targeted ads, Contextual Suggestions etc)

33%64%28%

Surge in Video Searches

24%

Local SEO

31% 42%

8% 40%

Highly Signi�cant Signi�cant Not Signi�cant


1Can Your Business Really Afford to Ignore the Mobile Market, www.searchandmore.co.uk 1Global executives double their use of tablets, www.b2bmarketing.net

Tactics Predominately Used by Marketers as Part of Mobile SEO Efforts

33% 22%

Other

25% 61%

Resp

onsiv

e Web

Desi

gn

Using M

obile

Opti

mized K

eyword

s

Mobile

XML S

itemap



Important Metrics Used to Gauge the Success of Search Engine Optimization Efforts

Top Three Metrics Used by Marketers to Gauge Success of Search Engine Marketing (PPC) Campaigns

Metrics and Measurement

The top three metrics for gauging PPC campaigns’ performance are directly related to con-version rates. 88 percent marketers use conversion rates to measure the success of PPC cam-paigns, 76% who use number of leads and 56% marketers use cost per click metrics to deter-mine the return on PPC investments. When it comes to Organic Search Marketing, 92% marketers use site traffic metrics to deter-mine the success or failure of Search Engine Optimization efforts. Since SEO is used to target prospects/buyers during each stage of the buying cycle, marketers also use conversion met-rics to determine its performance.

Cos

t Per

Click

Positi

on

Quality

Score

Conve

rsion

Rate

Cost P

er Acq

uisitio

n

Leads

56% 88% 52% 28% 32% 76%

Page Rank Customer Engagement

Profitability of Sales Others

41% 23% 3%39% 92%

Site Traffic Metrics

Conversion Rate

Number of Leads Acquired Position

49% 67%54%

Challenges

56 percent marketers find it challenging to stay abreast of changing Search Engine indexing algorithms and technology updates, which supersedes instances such as cross-channel integration. This ties with the challenge of measuring ROI. Return on PPC campaigns can be assessed by looking at cost and profitability metrics but measuring the return on SEO is slightly more challenging with most marketers still relying mostly on site metrics to measure performance. A direct tie of site traffic needs to be made with business goals such as revenue or cost to determine true ROI which with the state of measurement today poses a huge challenge for marketers.

Key Challenges Faced by Marketers when Managing Search Engine Optimization Efforts


Stayin

g Abre

ast o

f Sea

rch En

gines'

Index

ing A

lgorith

ms and

Tech

nolog

y Upd

ates

Cross-C

hann

el Int

egrat

ion W

ith

Other O

nline

/Offli

ne C

hann

els

Budg

et Con

strain

ts

Measur

ing RO

I

Others

Mobile

Opti

mizatio

n

Exec

uting

a Mult

i-Scre

en St

rateg

y

Choos

ing O

ptimal

Keyw

ord Ph

rases

56% 44% 46% 31% 31% 39% 56% 8%

Recommendations

Based on our analysis of current industry practices and trends, here is a list of recommendations to enhance your Search Marketing practices:

• Content is now the core of Search Engine Marketing and should be treated as such. Ensure that Content Marketing is tightly integrated with Search Engine Marketing

• Have pages on your site with keywords that cater to different stages of your buyer’s cus-tomer journey

• Utilize Social Media channels for Organic and Paid Search Marketing otherwise one faces the risk of losing crucial traffic

• Utilize Search Engine Marketing to retain buyers during the latter stages of the buying cycle

• Utilize Paid Search especially to accelerate lead generation

• Mobile Ads are a huge untapped potential for B2B marketers and should be tapped for capturing leads and buyers


About the Analysts

Belmond VictorSenior Analyst

Tabish KhanAssociate Director

Belmond Victor is a Senior Analyst serving marketing professionals.

He studies the evolution and role of search and social networking, the

new consumer behaviours they produce to help brands ride the digital

disruption wave. He advises both large and small B2B organizations on

how to capitalize on these trends through data driven innovation.

Tabish leads the Search Marketing strategy for Regalix and its

customers. His research is focused on the new best practices for strategy,

planning, execution, measurement, analysis, and optimization of Search

programs. He helps executives and organizations around the world

develop strategies that seize the competitive edge, find new customers

and develop more profitable relationships.


For more information

To find out how Regalix Research can help you, please contact our office, or visit us at http://www.regalix.com/

Regalix Research

1121 San Antonio Road, Suite # B200 Palo Alto, CA 9 4303 Phone: 650 - 331 - 1167Email: [email protected]

About Regalix Research

Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we help the CMO organization leverage emerging digital practices for creating marketing leverage as they bring new products and innovation to market. Regalix Research helps marketers through research-based insights, consulting and peer-to-peer programs that guide marketing strategy development and execution. Our focus is helping Technology companies leverage innovation and best practices to create real differentiation. Our analysts are practitioners with a successful track record of delivering real marketing results for both leading Fortune 500 companies as well as venture backed firms.

Regalix is an award-winning Global Innovation company that leverages technology and marketing to help companies grow. We create successful ventures with our clients through co-innovation and idea-driven frameworks that inspire companies to think different. We bring ideas to life by envisioning new companies, developing brands, engineering products, and designing technology platforms. Founded in 1998, Regalix is based in Palo Alto. Our Silicon Valley setting has enabled us to stay ahead of emerging trends in digital technology and marketing.

For over a decade, we have provided complete marketing services – Social, Mobile, Content, Multi-channel Campaigns, Technology Development, and Analytics – to companies such as CA Technologies, Citi, Apple, eBay, Cisco, VMWare, NetApp, Cypress, LSI, Keynote, and MetricStream.

search...using structured data and markup language 75% 73% 69% 65% 54% 52% 42% 42% 29% 10% 8% 8% 2%...

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