UK Online retailers see benefits of SEO & PPC

According to a recent report by Internet Retailer, internet retailer (e-tailers) are shifting more and more of the marketing budgets to online marketing, in particular search engine optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC). The report was a result of a recent survey by Internet Retailer into such trends.

The report went on to state

• 30% of merchants said at least 50% of sales came via search engine marketing
• 82% of respondants did not have any plans to reduce pay-per-click spending for 2007
• 75% said search was working better than any other form of marketing activity
• Only 12% said it was underperforming compared with other online marketing activity.

However, suprisingly the report went on to say that many internet retailers prefered keeping their search marketing activity in house - somewhat suprising considering the current dearth of high quality search engine marketing specialists , with 66% going on to say that they had no plans to outsource such activity to external third parties.

Other trends were also highlighted during the survey

• 39% placed priority on paid search activity rather than SEO
• 34% focussed on SEO activity only

As regards sales activity, the following trends were significant

• 46% found that Organic search had a better ROI
• 37% said that PPC had better results
• 16% said both were equally as effective

The report concluded:

“Eighty percent of e-tailers are making changes to their website text to match what people are searching for. For the most poart, those engaged in PPC efforts plan to trim the number of keywords they manage but increase spending on those that survive the cull. ‘The intents is’ to improve ROI on the most effective keywords.”

With statistics such as this becoming the norm in many sectors, it is still suprising how many retailers are still cautious at embracing the Internet. Whilst, I am by no means saying that developing an online presence is a guaranteed route to success, it is however an important part in any marketing strategy. I would also go on to say that their is an educational factor with search marketing, which in many instances needs to be overcome, however as a ‘profession’ (which lets face it online marketing now is), this should be part of our remit.

1 comment May 17th, 2007