SearchIgnite issues Q1 report evaluating the state of U.S. search marketing
ATLANTA – U.S. paid search spend increased 11% in Q1 2010 from Q1 2009, marking the strongest quarter for paid search since the fourth quarter of 2008. In addition, search marketing was flat quarter-over-quarter (-0.5%), a metric that typically shows declines in Q1 due to decreased marketing spend following the holidays. These findings come from a report released today by SearchIgnite, a leading provider of search optimization and online media attribution solutions managing more than $450 million in PPC spend annually.
Other notable findings in the report include:
Retail and travel sectors driving growth. Retail and travel marketers drove much of the growth in paid search, with spend from these verticals up 26% and 9% year-over-year (YoY) respectively. For retailers, this marked the fifth straight quarter of YoY PPC spend increases since SearchIgnite began tracking this metric
Bing grows YoY, yet dips in Q1 due to reliance on retailers. Spend on Microsoft’s Bing increased 22% YoY as the engine continued to take share from Yahoo!. However, Bing saw the most declines of all engines quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) due to a decline in retail search spend following the holidays, a vertical which continues to be a key driver of growth for the engine.
“We saw some indication that the impact of the recession on the digital economy was waning towards the end of last year,” said Roger Barnette, President of SearchIgnite. “The strong paid search growth in Q1 is another hopeful sign that the worst of the storm is over and that the search market is poised for a solid year ahead.”
This report is the latest in a series of SearchIgnite white papers reviewing trends across the search landscape. These white papers can be downloaded at: http://about.searchignite.com/en/about/research-white-papers.html.
About SearchIgnite
SearchIgnite is the leading provider of search optimization and digital media attribution solutions that help major marketers achieve their search marketing goals quicker and spend their advertising budgets smarter. The company’s media management technology offers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on paid search campaigns in one central dashboard, as well as gather insights into the relationship between media channels including PPC, SEO and display. Some of the world’s leading brands and advertising agencies depend on SearchIgnite to power their search campaigns and improve their online media ROI.
SearchIgnite is part of Innovation Interactive, a digital marketing services company. For more information, please visit http://www.searchignite.com/.
