SMX Advanced Session Synopsis: What's Next for the Search Engine Marketing Business?

Synopsis of the What's Next for the Search Engine Marketing Business at SMX Advanced. Written in real time format.

What clients are looking for as metrics of success:

-Site Traffic
-Increase Conversions
-ROI

Where is search marketing funding coming from?
-new marketing funds
-allocation from other funds
--such as newspapers, other print, other media

For 2009:
12% will spend less on SEM
29% will spend the same on SEM
50% will spend more on SEM

Advertisers are reporting increased interet in both video and mobile search, but are not willing to spend additional money on these, rather would integrate into existing campaigns.

Social Media:
41% use social media in house

2008 numbers: Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon (obviously 2008 numbers don't reflect Twitter explosion)

Near Term Changes in Search:
-Universal search becomes universal
-In 2008, blended results increased from 17% to 31%

What it means for marketers?
-optimize for more stuff, videos, images, books, etcetera
-stiffer competition for search result real estate
-blended results offer customization: geo-location, time ofday, search history, social affinities

What are social affinities?
-It's harder to optimize based on keywords alone
-Context and intent will count more
-Makes SEO more difficult, and makes reputation management *critical*
-Increasingly, search will be a feedback mechanism

Vertical Search Engines
-YouTube is second largest search engine
-MySpace gets more queries than AOL or Ask.com
-eBay, Craigslist, Amazon combined 980 million, approaching MSN at 1.04 billion
-Users are adapting search behavior to appropriate platforms

Mobile search:
-SMS, click to call, mobile coupons, location based services
-Use of mobile apps, e.g. MizPee, TapIt, AAA discounts

Longer Term Search Trends:

-Real time search
-Multimedia will become more searchable (Flash, video, books, audio, images), and more optimizable
--"Who is this a picture of", or "What song is this a clip of"

Location, location, location.
-Search engines offering geo-targeted results
-Geo-targeting important in PPC
-Mobile search: geo-targeting extremely important
-Retail search, e.g. NearbyNow

Devices become more searchable:
-phones
-gps
-tv
-in store kiosks
-refrigerators

1/3 of all Google searches in Japan are mobile.