2012 Search Marketing - SEO Edition

$447

BENCHMARK
REPORT
2012 Search Marketing - SEO Edition

Research and Insights on
Creating and Capitalizing on a
Rich End-User Search Experience
sponsored by

MarketingSherpa 2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report – SEO Edition

2012 Search Marketing – SEO Edition
Benchmark Report
Research and Insights for Creating and Capitalizing on a Rich End-User Search
Experience

Author
Kaci Bower, Research Analyst

Contributors
Sergio Balegno, Research Director
Jen Doyle, Senior Research Manager
Jeff Rice, Senior Research Analyst
Adam Sutton, Reporter
Amie Bolton, Research Analyst

Production Editor
Brad Bortone, Associate Editor

2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report –
SEO Edition
US $447 / ISBN: 978-1-936390-17-5
Copyright © 2011 by MarketingSherpa LLC

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i
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... ii

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 1
New Research and Insights for Creating and Capitalizing on a Rich End-User Search Experience ..... 1
Key finding: Developing a strategy is a top challenge … but a bottom objective ................................. 2
Chart: Comparing most frustrating SEO challenges with most important SEO objectives ............. 2
Key finding: Content creation works the best, but takes the most work ............................................... 3
Chart: Three-dimensional view of SEO tactics .............................................................................. 3
Key finding: Incremental SEO improvements add up to large gains .................................................... 4
Chart: Organic traffic lead quality and conversion rates, by SEO maturity phase .......................... 4
Key finding: Future investments in SEO backed by having SEO process in place .............................. 5
Chart: Expected 12-month SEO budget change, by SEO maturity phase ..................................... 5
Key finding: Local business listing tactics are underutilized ................................................................. 6
Chart: Local business listing tactics used for local search purposes ............................................. 6

Chapter 1: SEO Objectives and Challenges ........................................................................ 7
Informal processes still define SEO marketing maturity ........................................................................ 7
Chart: Organizations with a process for planning, executing and measuring SEO programs ........ 7
Chart: Organizations in each phase of SEO marketing maturity, by primary channel ................... 8
Chart: Organizations in each phase of SEO marketing maturity, by industry ................................ 9
Challenges hampering SEO effectiveness over last 12 months.......................................................... 10
Chart: Web traffic and lead generation are top challenges for SEO ............................................ 10
Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by SEO maturity phase ................................................ 11
Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by primary channel ...................................................... 12
Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by organization size ..................................................... 13
Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by industry ................................................................... 14
Objectives for SEO programs in next 12 months ................................................................................ 15
Chart: Increasing Web traffic and lead generation top the list for SEO objectives ....................... 15
Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by SEO maturity phase .................................................. 16
Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by primary channel ......................................................... 17
Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by organization size ....................................................... 18
Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by industry...................................................................... 19
Marketer insights on developing SEO marketing strategies ................................................................ 20
Trial Phase Marketers.................................................................................................................. 20
Transition Phase Marketers ......................................................................................................... 20
Strategic Phase Marketers .......................................................................................................... 22

Chapter 2: SEO Tactics........................................................................................................ 25
Majority of organizations run SEO campaigns in-house ..................................................................... 25
Chart: Popularity of in-house versus outsourced SEO campaign management .......................... 25
Chart: SEO campaign management, by SEO maturity phase ..................................................... 26

ii


Chart: SEO campaign management, by primary channel ............................................................ 27
Chart: SEO campaign management, by organization size .......................................................... 28
Chart: SEO campaign management, by industry ......................................................................... 29
Keyword-focused tactics are the most popular ................................................................................... 30
Chart: SEO tactics used by organizations cover many angles .................................................... 30
Chart: SEO tactics, by SEO maturity phase ................................................................................ 31
Chart: SEO tactics, by primary channel ....................................................................................... 32
Chart: SEO tactics, by organization size...................................................................................... 33
Chart: SEO tactics, by industry .................................................................................................... 34
Good content is great link bait…but difficult to create ......................................................................... 35
Chart: SEO tactics vary widely in their degree of difficulty to execute ......................................... 35
Chart: SEO tactics deemed very or somewhat difficult, by SEO maturity phase ......................... 36
Chart: SEO tactics deemed very or somewhat difficult, by primary channel ................................ 37
Chart: SEO tactics deemed very or somewhat difficult, by organization size .............................. 38
Chart: Top 8 SEO tactics deemed very or somewhat difficult, by industry................................... 39
Content creation may be difficult, but it is effective ............................................................................. 40
Chart: Content creation and keyword research considered most effective SEO tactics .............. 40
Chart: SEO tactics deemed very effective, by SEO maturity phase ............................................ 41
Chart: SEO tactics deemed very effective, by primary channel ................................................... 42
Chart: SEO tactics deemed very effective, by organization size .................................................. 43
Chart: Top 8 SEO tactics deemed very effective, by industry ...................................................... 44
Marketer insights on success with SEO tactics ................................................................................... 45

Chapter 3: Monitoring and Tracking Metrics ..................................................................... 47
Web conversion often defined as multiple-field form completion ........................................................ 47
Chart: How organizations define a website conversion ............................................................... 47
Chart: Definition of website conversion, by primary channel ....................................................... 48
Chart: Definition of website conversion, by industry .................................................................... 49
Median conversion rate on organic traffic is 4%.................................................................................. 50
Chart: Organizations experience wide variability in conversion rates on organic traffic ............... 50
Page 1 of SERPs not out of reach for most marketers ....................................................................... 51
Chart: Targeted key terms yield good rankings for many ............................................................ 51
Chart: Organic ranking for targeted key terms, by SEO maturity phase ...................................... 52
Chart: Organic ranking for targeted key terms, by primary channel ............................................. 53
Chart: Organic ranking for targeted key terms, by organization size ........................................... 54
Chart: Organic ranking for targeted key terms, by industry .......................................................... 55
Organic search plays minor role in total lead volume .......................................................................... 56
Chart: Percentage of total lead volume from organic search ....................................................... 56
Chart: Percentage of total lead volume from organic search, by SEO maturity phase ................ 57
Chart: Percentage of total lead volume from organic search, by primary channel ....................... 58
Chart: Percentage of total lead volume from organic search, by organization size ..................... 59
Chart: Percentage of total lead volume from organic search, by industry .................................... 60
Organic search yields mixed results for lead quality, with some standouts ......................................... 61

iii


Chart: Quality of leads from organic search ................................................................................. 61
Chart: Quality of leads from organic search, by SEO maturity phase .......................................... 62
Chart: Quality of leads from organic search, by primary channel ................................................ 63
Chart: Quality of leads from organic search, by organization size ............................................... 64
Chart: Quality of leads from organic search, by industry ............................................................. 65
Free analytics solutions are the most widely used .............................................................................. 66
Chart: Analytics and monitoring solutions for tracking SEO metrics ............................................ 66
Chart: SEO analytics and monitoring solutions, by SEO maturity phase ..................................... 67
Chart: SEO analytics and monitoring solutions, by primary channel ........................................... 68
Chart: SEO analytics and monitoring solutions, by organization size .......................................... 69
Marketer insights on using analytics to optimize SEO performance ................................................... 70

Chapter 4: Planning and Tracking Budgets ...................................................................... 73
Biggest budget increases expected in inbound marketing .................................................................. 73
Chart: Expected marketing budget changes over 12 months ...................................................... 73
Chart: Percentage of organizations increasing budgets over 12 months, by SEO maturity phase74
Chart: Percentage of organizations increasing budgets over 12 months, by primary channel ..... 75
Chart: Percentage of organizations increasing budgets over 12 months, by organization size ... 76
Chart: Percentage of organizations increasing budgets over 12 months, by industry ................. 77
Half of marketing budgets go to online marketing, on average ........................................................... 78
Chart: Percentage of total marketing budget allocated to online marketing varies widely ........... 78
PPC, SEO and Website take big share of online marketing budget .................................................... 79
Chart: Allocation of online marketing dollars ................................................................................ 79
Chart: Percentage allocation of online marketing dollars, by SEO maturity phase ...................... 80
Chart: Percentage allocation of online marketing dollars, by primary channel ............................. 81
Chart: Percentage allocation of online marketing dollars, by organization size ........................... 82
Chart: Percentage allocation of online marketing dollars, by industry.......................................... 83
Staff salaries comprise the largest portion of total SEO budgets ........................................................ 84
Chart: Total SEO budget allocation, by SEO maturity phase....................................................... 84
SEO budgets expected to stay the same or grow ............................................................................... 85
Chart: Expected 12-month SEO budget change, by SEO maturity phase ................................... 85
Chart: Expected 12-month SEO budget change, by industry ...................................................... 86
Marketer insights on the value returned from SEO budget invested ................................................... 87
Trial Phase Marketers.................................................................................................................. 87
Transition Phase Marketers ......................................................................................................... 87
Strategic Phase Marketers .......................................................................................................... 89

Chapter 5: The Importance of Content in a Search Marketing Strategy ......................... 91
Web pages and social media are the most used content products ..................................................... 91
Chart: Mix of content products used as part of total search marketing strategy .......................... 92
Chart: Content marketing products, by SEO maturity phase ....................................................... 93
Chart: Content marketing products, by primary channel .............................................................. 94
Chart: Content marketing products, by organization size ............................................................ 95
Chart: Top 12 content marketing products, by industry ............................................................... 96

iv


Many content products require high level of time, effort, expense ...................................................... 97
Chart: Degree of difficulty required in creating content products ................................................. 97
Content products deemed very or somewhat difficult to create, by SEO maturity phase............. 98
Chart: Content products deemed very or somewhat difficult to create, by primary channel ........ 99
Content products deemed very or somewhat difficult to create, by organization size ................ 100
Top 12 content products deemed very or somewhat difficult to create, by industry ................... 101
Customer reviews considered the most effective content product .................................................... 102
Chart: Level of effectiveness in achieving marketing objectives, by content product ................. 102
Chart: Content products deemed very effective in achieving marketing objectives, by SEO maturity
phase ......................................................................................................................................... 103
Chart: Content products deemed very effective in achieving marketing objectives, by primary
channel ...................................................................................................................................... 104
Chart: Content products deemed very effective in achieving marketing objectives, by organization
size ............................................................................................................................................ 105
Chart: Top 12 content products deemed very effective in achieving marketing objectives, by
industry ...................................................................................................................................... 106
Chart: The effect of content creation as an SEO tactic on lead quality and conversion rates .... 107

Chapter 6: Integrating Social Media and SEO ................................................................. 109
Chart: Top goals for integrating social media with SEO ............................................................. 109
Chart: Goals for integrating social media with SEO, by SEO maturity phase ............................ 110
Chart: Goals for integrating social media with SEO, by primary channel ................................... 111
Chart: Goals for integrating social media with SEO, by organization size ................................. 112
Chart: Goals for integrating social media with SEO, by industry ................................................ 113
Blogs considered most effective social media platform ..................................................................... 114
Chart: Level of effectiveness by social media platform .............................................................. 114
Chart: Social media platforms deemed very or somewhat effective, by SEO maturity phase .... 115
Chart: Social media platforms deemed very or somewhat effective, by primary channel .......... 116
Chart: Social media platforms deemed very or somewhat effective, by organization size ......... 117
Chart: Social media platforms deemed very or somewhat effective, by industry ....................... 118
Inbound marketing lead sources are growing in importance ............................................................. 119
Chart: Lead sources increasing and decreasing in importance over last 12 months ................. 119
Chart: Lead sources growing in importance over last 12 months, by SEO maturity phase ........ 120
Chart: Lead sources growing in importance over last 12 months, by primary channel .............. 121
Chart: Lead sources growing in importance over last 12 months, by organization size ............. 122
Chart: Lead sources growing in importance over last 12 months, by industry ........................... 123
Inbound leads cost 66% less than outbound leads, on average ....................................................... 124
Chart: Cost of inbound versus outbound lead ............................................................................ 124
Social search viewed as having some impact on objectives ............................................................. 125
Chart: Degree of importance social search plays in achieving search marketing objectives ..... 125

Chapter 7: Capitalizing on Local Search ......................................................................... 127
Local search viewed as having positive impact on objectives ........................................................... 127
Chart: Degree of importance local search plays in achieving search marketing objectives ....... 127
Many still have no local business listing on search engines.............................................................. 128

v


Chart: Organizations claiming local business listing on search engines .................................... 128
Optimizing for local terms is not commonly practiced by most .......................................................... 129
Chart: Organizations optimizing for local terms as part of organic search strategy ................... 129
Chart: Organizations claiming local business listing vs. optimizing for local terms as part of organic
search strategy, by SEO maturity phase ................................................................................... 130
search strategy, by primary channel .......................................................................................... 131
search strategy, by organization size......................................................................................... 132
search strategy, by industry ....................................................................................................... 133
Many local business listing tactics are not being put into play .......................................................... 134
Chart: Local business listing tactics used by those with local business listing ........................... 134
Chart: Local business listing tactics used for local search, by SEO maturity phase .................. 135
Chart: Local business listing tactics used for local search, by primary channel ......................... 136
Chart: Local business listing tactics used for local search, by organization size ....................... 137
Chart: Local business listing tactics used for local search, by industry ...................................... 138
Developing local content is top local optimization tactic .................................................................... 139
Chart: Top local search optimization tactics .............................................................................. 139
Chart: Local search optimization tactics, by SEO maturity phase .............................................. 140
Chart: Local search optimization tactics, by primary channel .................................................... 141
Chart: Local search optimization tactics, by organization size ................................................... 142
Chart: Local search optimization tactics, by industry ................................................................. 143
Marketer insights on the challenges of optimizing for local search ................................................... 144
Marketer insights on successfully optimizing for local search ........................................................... 147

Chapter 8: Making Sense of Mobile Search..................................................................... 149
Mobile search viewed as having positive impact on objectives ......................................................... 149
Chart: Degree of importance mobile search plays in achieving search marketing objectives .... 149
Less than half of organizations have a mobile version of their website ............................................. 150
Chart: Mobile search tactics are not widely exercised ............................................................... 150
Chart: Mobile search tactic usage, by SEO maturity phase ....................................................... 151
Chart: Mobile search tactic usage, by primary channel ............................................................. 152
Chart: Mobile search tactic usage, by organization size ............................................................ 153
Chart: Mobile search tactic usage, by industry .......................................................................... 154
Marketer insights on their challenges with mobile search ................................................................. 155
Marketer insights on their successes with mobile search ................................................................. 157

Chapter 9: Search Marketing Success Stories ............................................................... 159
Case Briefing: Optimizing early to capture future seasonal traffic lifts .............................................. 159
Case Briefing: Finding and testing niche content increases organic traffic 40% ............................... 160
Case Briefing: Content marketing campaign generates surge in traffic ............................................ 161
Case Briefing: Turning a YouTube channel into a powerful inbound marketing hub ......................... 162
Case Briefing: Revamped and optimized web content doubles lead conversions ............................ 163

vi


Chapter 10: Agency Perspectives .................................................................................... 165
Client investment in SEO is driven by measurable ROI .................................................................... 165
Chart: Client perception of SEO's ability to produce ROI ........................................................... 165
Majority of client organizations get Page 1 organic rankings ............................................................ 166
Chart: Typical organic ranking on targeted key terms ................................................................ 166
Agencies and clients agree on Top 3 most effective SEO tactics ..................................................... 167
Chart: Level of effectiveness of SEO tactics, rated by agencies ................................................ 167
Agency insights on their successes with SEO campaigns ................................................................ 168
Agency insights on most effective tactics for improving rankings...................................................... 172
Social media part of search marketing mix for over 50% of clients ................................................... 176
Chart: Extent of social media integration by clients ................................................................... 176
Clients expected to increase usage of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter ................................................ 177
Chart: Expected usage levels of social media platforms by clients ............................................ 177
Agency insights on using Inbound Marketing tactics for extraordinary results .................................. 178

Appendix .............................................................................................................................. 181
Benchmark survey demographics ..................................................................................................... 181
Chart: In which geographic region is your organization based? ................................................ 181
Chart: Which best describes the type of organization you work for? ......................................... 182
Chart: Which best describes your organization's primary sales channel? ................................. 183
Chart: Please select the approximate number of employees in your organization. ................... 184
Chart: Which best describes your role and decision-making authority in the organization? ...... 185
Search Engine marketing glossary ................................................................................................... 186
An A-to-Z glossary of common search marketing terms ........................................................... 186

vii


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NEW RESEARCH AND INSIGHTS FOR CREATING AND CAPITALIZING ON A RICH END-USER
SEARCH EXPERIENCE
A rich end-user experience has become the hallmark of search marketing. Searchers now receive instant,
real-time, personalized and local information. Blended search supports these developments by generating
results pages that include not only blue links, but also video, images, news, press releases, customer
reviews and real-time social media content.

This colorful backdrop of search activity is the setting for MarketingSherpa’s eighth annual benchmark
report of search engine marketing. Last year’s study looked at managing the evolving search and social
climate to achieve optimal results; this year’s report builds on that by examining the fast-paced and
growing shift to inbound marketing efforts. The role of content, including optimized local content, also
comes under study. Marketers rated content creation as the most difficult (yet most effective) SEO tactic.
This comes as no surprise, since content marketing sits at the intersection of search and social. To achieve
good organic rankings and ensure that their products and services are found across all formats and venues,
organizations must be strategic with their planning and processes,
and ever-savvy with the creation and optimization of all digital
assets. Simply put, good content makes for a better end-user Benchmark Report
experience.
MarketingSherpa Benchmark
Organized for fast and easy reference Reports provide marketing
executives and practitioners the
The 2012 Search Marketing Benchmark Report – SEO Edition is a
comprehensive research data
comprehensive reference guide containing more than 150 charts
and insights needed to compare
with analytical commentary, hundreds of informative insights from
an organization’s practices and
your peers, several abridged case studies of real-life search and
performance against industry
inbound marketing campaigns and more. To help you quickly locate
benchmarks in order to guide
the information most relevant to your marketing situation, we have
strategic decisions and tactical
segmented data throughout this report by:
planning.
 Average of all respondents
 Phases of SEO marketing maturity
 Primary marketing channels
 Organization size
 Key industry sectors

Highlights of this year’s study

 The alignment of search marketing objectives against the most difficult SEO challenges
 The usage, effectiveness and level of effort required for SEO tactics and content products
 How organizations are allocating marketing dollars and where they are shifting their efforts
 What marketers are doing to fare well in local and mobile search results
 How agencies view their clients’ SEO and inbound marketing efforts

1


KEY FINDING: DEVELOPING A STRATEGY IS A TOP CHALLENGE … BUT A BOTTOM OBJECTIVE
In planning for the upcoming year, marketers’ SEO program objectives frequently addressed the previous
year’s challenges head-on. Bringing in more website traffic and increasing the volume and quantity of leads
generated were cited as last year’s top challenges. These now are top objectives for the coming year.

Developing a strategy should be a top objective, especially in light of the fact that developing an effective
strategy had been a top challenge for the previous 12 months. A strategy would also serve to guide
prioritization decisions for other objectives. Nevertheless, many organizations sidestepped this and zeroed
in on clear revenue drivers such as Web traffic, leads, online sales and brand awareness. Interestingly,
increasing measurable ROI ranked higher as an objective than developing an actual strategy to do so!

Chart: Comparing most frustrating SEO challenges with most important SEO objectives

53%
Increasing website traffic
72%

48%
Increasing lead generation
62%

Developing an effective 42%
and methodical strategy 27%

39%
Achieving or increasing measurable ROI
47%

37%
Integrating with social media
38%

Improving brand/product 31%
awareness or reputation 55%

29%
Increasing online sales revenue
44%

Integrating search marketing 27%
analytics into a single dashboard 14%

Integrating search marketing data 26%
with CRM and other marketing systems 20%

17% Challenges from last 12 months
Increasing offline sales revenue
20% Objectives for next 12 months

11%
Improving public relations
11%

Source: ©2011 MarketingSherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Survey
Methodology: Fielded April 2011, N=1,530

2


KEY FINDING: CONTENT CREATION WORKS THE BEST, BUT TAKES THE MOST WORK
Keyword and keyphrase research is an old standby. When done well, this research delivers results and
creates a competitive advantage, explaining its popular levels of usage. Creating title tags is another
keyword-related and commonly used tactic – one which marketers considered to be equally effective.

Content creation stands apart in the cluster of tactics, both for its difficulty and its effectiveness. Good
content creates buzz and attracts links. For this reason, marketers who commit to the effort required in
creating quality content can improve their SEO positions.

Chart: Three-dimensional view of SEO tactics

Sphere size indicates level of usage
60%

Content
50%
creation
Keyword and
Title tags keyphrase
40% research SEO landing
pages
External
Level of Effectiveness

URL link building
Meta
30% description tags structure Digital
asset Social
optimization media Blogging
Internal integration
20% linking

Competitor
Benchmarking
10%

0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Degree of Difficulty


But, what is good and effective content? From the perspective of marketers surveyed, Web pages ranked
highly, with half of marketers stating that they are very effective in helping them achieve their marketing
objectives. Many Web pages also act as SEO landing pages if they serve as an entry point from search
results. When pages have strong customer-oriented language, good layouts and clear call-to-actions, there
is a greater likelihood of “clickthrough” than “click back.”

Webinars and whitepapers were other leading examples of good content, with 46 percent and 40 percent
of marketers, respectively, rating these as very effective content products.

3


KEY FINDING: INCREMENTAL SEO IMPROVEMENTS ADD UP TO LARGE GAINS
Organizations that routinely follow a formal process and thorough guidelines for their SEO practices and
programs reap the biggest bottom-line benefits. One example is lead quality. Organizations in the Trial or
Transition phases for SEO performance management each had a percentage of natural search leads
deemed "low-quality." In contrast, only organizations in the Strategic phase could declare that all leads
from natural search traffic were either of the highest quality or of mixed quality.

Chart: Organic traffic lead quality and conversion rates, by SEO maturity phase

% Organizations Rating Leads from Organic Search as Highest-Quality
Median Conversion Rate on Organic Traffic
Average Conversion Rate on Organic Traffic
12% 30%

10%
10% 25%
9%

8%
8% 20%

6% 15%
5%

4%
4% 10%

2%
2% 5%

3% 24% 27%
0% 0%
TRIAL TRANSITION STRATEGIC
We have no process or We have an informal process We have a formal process
guidelines for performing SEO with a few guidelines we with thorough guidelines we
sporadically perform routinely perform


Not only do the efforts of strategically minded organizations pay off through a larger percentage of high-
quality leads from organic search traffic, but they also convert more of these leads. When looking at
median conversion rates, Strategic organizations tend to convert 150 percent more leads than Trial
organizations and 25 percent more than Transition organizations, or those with informal processes and
guidelines.

4


KEY FINDING: FUTURE INVESTMENTS IN SEO BACKED BY HAVING SEO PROCESS IN PLACE
Who doesn’t like to get the biggest bang for the buck? Organizations in the Transition and Strategic phases
of SEO maturity convert more high-quality leads from natural search visits. As such, it makes sense for
organizations to put more money into these programs.

Chart: Expected 12-month SEO budget change, by SEO maturity phase

5% 3%
9%
11%
16%
18%
Increase > 50%
5%
28% Increase 20% to 50%

14% Increase < 20%
No change
Decrease < 20%

47% Decrease 20% to 50%

36%
44%

5% 5%

We have no process or We have an informal We have a formal process
guidelines for performing process with a few with thorough guidelines
SEO guidelines we sporadically we routinely perform
perform


Organizations that are relatively immature with their SEO processes are still investing money into SEO. The
overwhelming majority of these organizations spend their SEO budgets on staff salaries, whereas Transition
and Strategic organizations tend to divide their budgets across staff salaries, outsourced agency services,
and for-fee SEO marketing and analytics tools.

5


KEY FINDING: LOCAL BUSINESS LISTING TACTICS ARE UNDERUTILIZED
Local business listings and reviews now sit atop natural search results; therefore, it is critical to be found
through local search. Despite this reality, only 37 percent of organizations surveyed claimed a local business
listing on one or more search engines. Of those, most did not fully employ available listing tactics.

Chart: Local business listing tactics used for local search purposes

Phone number included with listing 81%

Listing description optimized
60%
with target keywords

Images added to listing 48%

Listing enhanced with custom details 48%

Google Tags 47%

Listing associated with a range of
43%
related business categories

Videos added to listing 20%

Coupons added to listing 16%

Google Boost 11%

Mobile coupons added to listing 5%


Even fewer organizations – 27 percent – had optimized for local search as part of their organic search (SEO)
strategy. Adding local content to Web pages, blog posts and titles was the most popular local optimization
tactic for this group, with 81 percent committed to this effort. By contrast, posting customer reviews or
making customers aware of a customer review site (e.g. Yelp, Places) were efforts that ranked low in their
execution. With local search algorithms placing weight on the quantity of reviews and citations, the
importance of encouraging more (unbiased, non-incentivized) reviews cannot be overrated. Interestingly,
marketers indirectly agreed with this in another question, where 88 percent said that customer reviews
were the most effective content product for helping them achieve their marketing objectives.

6


CHAPTER 1: SEO OBJECTIVES AND CHALLENGES
Increasing traffic and generating more qualified leads are the top two challenges and objectives for
organizations with respect to SEO campaigns. Organizations that have been most successful at facing down
these challenges over the last year are those with a process in place for planning, executing and measuring
the performance of their SEO programs.

INFORMAL PROCESSES STILL DEFINE SEO MARKETING MATURITY
Chart: Organizations with a process for planning, executing and measuring SEO programs

Q. Which statement best describes the process your organization uses to plan, execute and measure the
performance of your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) programs and practices?

48%

29%

21%

We have no process or We have an informal process We have a formal process with
guidelines for performing SEO with a few guidelines we thorough guidelines we
sporadically perform routinely perform


The disciplined application of a methodical process for planning, executing and measuring SEO programs
still eludes many organizations. Twenty-one percent of organizations have no defined process for their SEO
programs, essentially adopting a “hit-or-miss” approach. Strategic organizations, by comparison, view SEO
as part of a larger marketing strategy. Planning to this degree requires more of a coordinated and
integrated effort. As such, only 29 percent of organizations claim to be in this phase.

7


Chart: Organizations in each phase of SEO marketing maturity, by primary channel

19% 18%
23%

We have no process or
guidelines for
performing SEO
42%
50% We have an informal
50%
process with a few
guidelines we
sporadically perform

We have a formal
process with thorough
39% guidelines we
28% routinely perform
26%

B2B B2C B2B/B2C
(Business) (Consumer) (Business/Consumer)


Search engine optimization plays out differently for B2B and B2C companies. The SEO goal for a B2C
organization is typically more immediate, often just to generate an online sale in a single visit. The SEO goal
for a B2B organization, by contrast, is inclusion in the consideration set of providers for every step of the
purchase path. Business purchasers do much more research as part of the buying process, and they often
use different search terms for different phases of the cycle. To be successful with SEO, B2B organizations
need to optimize for this broad set of search behaviors. This takes focused planning and execution. For this
reason, only 26 percent of B2B organizations have made the leap to the Strategic phase.

“We develop content by business customer pain points and integrate key
words. We outsource this to SEO firm. They submit keyword-rich articles 'off
page' to link to our site. We also utilize on-page optimization with a blog,
articles, product descriptions, meta tags, and URLs.” – Marketer insight

8


Chart: Organizations in each phase of SEO marketing maturity, by industry

22% 19%
25% 24% 25%
We have no process
or guidelines for
performing SEO

42% 50%
46% 43% We have an informal
51% process with a few
guidelines we
sporadically perform

We have a formal
35% process with thorough
27% 30% 30% guidelines we
22% routinely perform

Software/ Professional Retail or Media or Education or
SaaS or Financial E-commerce Publishing Healthcare
Services


Software companies are the most strategic with their SEO programs and practices. This is a competitive
industry, marked by many small- and mid-sized players racing to be first to market with their product
releases. For many of them, the Internet is their main (or even only) source of orders. Thus, software
companies turn to SEO to help them reach potential customers.

By contrast, educational institutions and healthcare organizations trail in their ability to formalize SEO
practices. Many educational institutions rely on
directory sites which generate traffic for “We don't have a process in place. We are just
competitive educational search terms and then now updating/optimizing our site to work within
resell the leads. Unfortunately, instead of an SEO world and hope to educate ourselves
optimizing their own websites to bring students about strategies to employ.” – Marketer insight
to an environment where they can control the
message and experience, many educational institutions rely on these lead gen sites for the majority of their
Web traffic. In doing this, they forfeit a valuable opportunity to reach prospective students and create and
maintain a strong online name and reputation.

9


CHALLENGES HAMPERING SEO EFFECTIVENESS OVER LAST 12 MONTHS
Chart: Web traffic and lead generation are top challenges for SEO

Q. Which were the MOST FRUSTRATING CHALLENGES with respect to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
effectiveness for your organization in the last 12 months?

Increasing website traffic 53%

Increasing lead generation 48%

Developing an effective and methodical strategy 42%

Achieving or increasing measurable ROI 39%

Integrating with social media 37%

Improving brand/product awareness or
31%
reputation

Increasing online sales revenue 29%

Integrating search marketing analytics into a
27%
single dashboard

Integrating search marketing data with CRM and
26%
other marketing systems

Increasing offline sales revenue 17%

Improving public relations 11%


Increasing website traffic and lead generation top the list for the most frustrating challenges with respect to
SEO effectiveness. Traffic follows good rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs), and leads follow
traffic. Organizations struggling in these areas need strategic solutions, evidenced by 42 percent of
organizations stating that the development of an effective and methodical SEO strategy was their third-
most frustrating challenge.

Increasing lead generation posed a greater challenge than increasing online sales revenue. This suggests
that organizations are better at converting leads than they are at generating them.

10


Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by SEO maturity phase

69%
43%

49%
43%

43%
31%

43%
35%

29%
33%

Improving brand/product awareness or 37% Trial
32% Transition
reputation 24% Strategic
34%
24%

Integrating search marketing analytics into a 17%
30%
single dashboard 28%

Integrating search marketing data with CRM and 23%
25%
other marketing systems 31%

17%
12%

11%
6%


A telling difference exists between Trial and Strategic organizations with respect to their most frustrating
SEO challenges. Although website traffic is considered a top concern for all organizations, Trial
organizations struggled with this the most. The absence of formalized SEO procedures and guidelines is a
likely explanation.

Strategic organizations contend with many of the same challenges as the organizations in other phases, but
to a lesser degree. The integration of search marketing data was the one challenge that Strategic
organizations faced to a greater degree. Search user behavior can be a powerful indicator of interest and
intent (or lack thereof.) The better handle these organizations get on a prospect’s or customer’s online
behavior, the better they can generate and cultivate leads.

11


Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by primary channel

56%
42%

62%
39%

41%
44%

44%
39%

33%
46%

Improving brand/product awareness or 31% B2B
34% B2C
reputation 29% B2B/B2C
18%
51%

25%

17%

19%
22%

9%
10%


Generating more leads stands out as a top challenge for B2B marketers. Given their longer sales cycles –
and the multiple steps through research, consideration and purchase – it is understandable that marketers
are looking to bring more leads into the funnel.

Increasing online sales revenue and integrating social media were key challenges hampering the SEO
effectiveness for B2B/B2C organizations. Similarly, nearly 40 percent of B2C organization also faced
challenges with these areas. Their top challenges, however, dealt with driving more traffic to their websites,
and devising a strategy to do so.

12


Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by organization size

58%
37%

48%
34%

41%
44%

35%
49%

37%
32%

Improving brand/product awareness or 34%
30%
reputation 24%

35%
17%

25%

29%

18%
20%
Small < 100
10%
Improving public relations 9% Medium 100 - 1,000
15% Large > 1,000


Search engine optimization boosts the abilities of small- and medium-sized organizations to contend with
larger players in the marketplace. Good indicators of effectiveness are traffic and leads. As such, these
areas posed the most significant challenges.

Achieving measurable ROI was the biggest challenge for large organizations. Data integration – more
specifically the ability to track, measure and use data – is fundamental for accurately establishing ROI. Large
organizations, with their disparate and complex systems, also found search data integration to be a
challenge. Whether they were trying to integrate search marketing analytics into a single dashboard for
reporting purposes, or were working on integrating search marketing data into a marketing CRM solution,
these types of initiatives proved daunting.

13


Chart: Most frustrating SEO challenges, by industry

46%
52%
50%
62%
50%
43%
50%
60%
50%
Developing an effective and 38%
38%
methodical strategy 41%
44%
29%
Achieving or increasing measurable 29%
34%
ROI 47%
47%
29%
43%
31%
36%
58%
Improving brand/product 24%
31%
awareness or reputation 38%
20%
8%
52%
31%
31%
29% Education or Healthcare
Integrating search marketing 33%
28% Media or Publishing
analytics into a single dashboard 25% Retail or E-commerce
20%
Prof or Financial Svcs
Integrating search marketing data 17% Software/SaaS
29%
with CRM and other marketing 25%
systems 25%
29%
17%
10%
25%
13%
25%
14%
3%
13%


Reputation is critical for all types of organizations, but it is especially important to organizations that offer a
knowledge product. Educational and healthcare institutions acquire patients and recruit students based in
large part on their reputation. As such, using SEO to improve their awareness and reputation is the most
pressing challenge faced by 58 percent of organizations in these industries.

14


OBJECTIVES FOR SEO PROGRAMS IN NEXT 12 MONTHS
Chart: Increasing Web traffic and lead generation top the list for SEO objectives

Q. Which are the MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES with respect to your organization's search engine
optimization (SEO) programs in the next 12 months?



Improving brand/product awareness or reputation 55%





Integrating search marketing data with CRM and
20%
other marketing systems


Integrating search marketing analytics into a single
14%
dashboard



Increasing Web traffic and leads from SEO campaigns are the top objectives for all organizations surveyed.
These objectives mirror the top two challenges faced by organizations over the past 12 months.

The lack of an effective strategy was the third-most frustrating challenge faced by organizations. Despite
the clear need for a strategy, organizations relegated the development of one down to the seventh spot,
choosing instead to focus on more “measurable” objectives – even if having a strategy would help
organizations deliver measurably better results.

The impact of operating without a methodical SEO process and strategy is discussed throughout this
benchmark report.

15


Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by SEO maturity phase

70%
61%
57%
63%
57%
46%
38%
57%
41%
54%
38% Trial
Integrating with social media 34% Transition
32% Strategic
19%
26%

19%
22%
13%

Integrating search marketing analytics into a single 5%
19%
dashboard 17%
11%
6%


Strategic phase organizations, like organizations in other SEO maturity phases, want to increase traffic and
leads. But they are not stopping there. More than half of Strategic organizations also want their SEO
programs to produce online sales revenue and a measurable, growing ROI. In other words, traffic and leads
provide a good start, but are ultimately worthless if they do not result in revenue.

Nearly one-third of Transition organizations expressed intent to develop an effective and methodical SEO
strategy. Unfortunately, this objective is still rated quite low when compared to the others, suggesting that
this objective will be downgraded in terms of importance over the coming year.

Trial organizations are directing their attention to social media integration. Social media supports SEO
through content generation and link building. As such, integrating with social media augments an
organization’s ability to increase Web traffic, leads and online revenue, all top objectives for Trial
organizations.

16


Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by primary channel

70%
69%

76%
45%

62%
57%

48%
48%

24%
21%

32%
52%

27% B2B
Developing an effective and methodical strategy 25% B2C
31% B2B/B2C
14%

24%
21%

14%
dashboard 19%

10%
7%


Increasing lead generation is the most important SEO objective for B2B organizations. Given the longer
sales cycles – including funnel steps to generate, qualify, score, nurture and hand-off leads – marketers
know that they have to maintain an adequate inflow of leads to keep the funnel full.

Interestingly, this objective is more important for them than simply increasing website traffic. Web traffic
does not necessarily produce good quality leads, and B2B marketers may be making this distinction when
they choose to focus on lead generation rather than just more traffic.

17


Chart: Most important SEO objectives, by organization size

75%
60%

63%
57%

57%
45%

42%
41%

52%
31%

34%
47%

23%
35%

Integrating search marketing data with CRM and 22% Small < 100
18% Medium 100 - 1,000
other marketing systems 19% Large > 1,000
22%
14%

10%
dashboard 22%

12%
3%


Nearly half of large organizations will put attention on social media integration in the next 12 months.
Larger organizations typically lag in this initiative, given the difficulty of devising corporate guidelines and
standards of procedure for social media activities.

Achieving and increasing measurable ROI is a critical objective for “We view SEO as necessary, but it is
70 percent of mid-sized organizations. Many marketers shared frustrating in that we are unable to
how they want to improve the ROI on search, but struggle with measure ROI as precisely as we
quantifying the opportunities. would like.” – Marketer insight

18

2012 Search Marketing - SEO Edition

2012 Search Marketing - SEO Edition

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2012 Search Marketing - SEO Edition