Strong Retail Growth Supports Paid Search Spending Increase
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by Theo in News
U.S. paid search spend was flat year-over-year, yet up 10% quarter-over-quarter on a sequential quarterly basis, a solid increase heading into Q4. The most pronounced growth came from multi-channel retailers, who increased paid search spend by 40% in Q3 09 compared with Q3 08, despite flat conversion rates and average order value (“AOV”).
The findings come from a report released by SearchIgnite, a provider of search optimization technology. “This is the second consecutive quarter of sequential growth for paid search spend, indicating marketer’s continued confidence in search marketing as an efficient component of their overall marketing mix ,” said Roger Barnette, President of SearchIgnite. “Multi-channel retailers in particular have continued to rely more heavily on paid search as a key driver of sales in a challenging economic environment.”
According to the report, Microsoft’s Bing showed the most pronounced growth in spend among all engines, up 15% year-over-year. By contrast, spend on Yahoo! was down -24% year-over-year. Despite these spend shifts, there was no movement in search share quarter-over-quarter, with all engines maintaining their respective positions. Year-over-year saw Yahoo! lose share to Google, while Bing showed little growth. “Microsoft is headed in the right direction with Bing and attracting more advertiser dollars. That said, it’s an uphill battle against Google and there’s still a long way to go before Bing garners a significant amount of the search ad revenue pie,” added Mr. Barnette.
If you are interested in more details you may download the white paper at http://www.searchignite.com/.