According to Econsultancy’s freshly published “State of Search Marketing Report 2011,” Internet marketers are poised to make 2011 a big year for paid search.
Based on the projections contained in the report, search engine marketing spend will balloon some 16% this year, hitting an estimated $19.3 billion before the close of 2011.
Key findings of the study show that “the rise of the mobile internet is the trend which is regarded as having the most impact on search marketing, with more than three-quarters of companies (79%) deeming it as ‘highly significant’ or ‘significant.'”
Proving the emergent authority of social media platforms, the widespread use of Facebook, Twitter, and its social networking siblings also factored into the projected growth.
The percentage of company respondents who say they use Facebook for marketing now stands at 84%, up from 73% last year.
As a result, an escalating number of companies are outsourcing search and social media. According to the study, just 44% of companies are now carrying out search engine optimization in-house, compared to 51% last year. Only 55% are doing social media marketing in-house, compared to 62% a year ago.
As expected, when it comes to the biggest and baddest names in search engine marketing, Google remains the dominant force in the search universe. The overwhelming majority of companies (95%) that spend any advertising dollars online with search engine marketing, advertise on Google AdWords.
To read more about the findings and projections of “State of Search Marketing Report 2011,” click here.
