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SAMPLE: UK Search
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SAMPLE: UK
Search Engine
Marketing
Benchmark
Report 2014
Published May 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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or any information storage and retrieval system, without
prior permission in writing from the publisher.
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United States
Telephone:
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Contents
1. Executive Summary and highlights ................................. 5
2. Foreword by Latitude ...................................................... 9
2.1.
2.2.
About Latitude ........................................................................... 10
About Econsultancy .................................................................. 10
3. Methodology and Sample ............................................... 11
3.1.
Respondent profiles ................................................................... 11
4. Findings ......................................................................... 12
4.1.
Digital marketing disciplines and resourcing ........................... 12
4.1.1.
4.1.2.
4.1.3.
4.1.4.
4.1.5.
4.1.6.
4.2.
Types of digital marketing activity ........................................ 12
Agency focus .......................................................................... 14
How companies are resourcing their marketing activities ... 16
Length of agency contracts .................................................... 19
Types of agency used ............................................................. 21
Multilingual and multi-territory search campaigns .............. 22
Budgets ...................................................................................... 26
4.2.1. Flexibility of marketing budgets ............................................ 26
4.2.2. Percentage of overall budget spent on digital marketing
channels ................................................................................. 29
4.2.3. Change in digital marketing budgets.....................................30
4.3.
Paid search budget ..................................................................... 31
4.3.1.
4.3.2.
4.3.3.
4.3.4.
4.3.5.
4.3.6.
4.4.
Annual paid search budget .................................................... 31
Annual change in paid search budgets .................................. 33
Percentage of paid search budget spent on local search ....... 35
Percentage of paid search budget spent on mobile search ... 35
Percentage of paid search spent on management fees .......... 35
Percentage of Google ad spend on Google Display
Network .................................................................................. 36
SEO budget ................................................................................ 37
4.4.1. Annual SEO budgets .............................................................. 37
4.4.2. Annual change in SEO budget ............................................... 39
4.5.
Social media marketing budget .................................................41
4.5.1. Annual social media marketing budget ................................. 41
4.5.2. Annual change in social media budgets ................................ 43
4.5.3. Percentage of social media budget spent on paid
advertising.............................................................................. 45
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 In association with Latitude
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4.6.
Display advertising budget ....................................................... 46
4.6.1. Annual display advertising budget ........................................ 46
4.6.3. Annual change in display advertising budget .......................48
4.6.4. Percentage of display budget spent via real-time bidding .... 50
4.7.
Use of bid management technology........................................... 51
4.7.1. Criteria for selecting bid management technology ............... 52
4.8.
Effectiveness and ROI ............................................................... 54
4.8.1. Impact on brand .................................................................... 54
4.8.2. Effectiveness of ROI tracking ................................................ 56
4.8.3. Factors affecting search marketing ROI ................................ 59
4.9.
Types of search marketing and related activities ......................61
4.9.1. Integrating search and display .............................................. 63
4.9.2. Integration of search engine marketing and content
strategy ................................................................................... 66
4.9.3. Use of social media in search engine optimisation ...............68
4.10. Impact of Google on search marketing ..................................... 69
4.10.1. Enhanced Campaigns ............................................................ 69
4.10.2. Effect of Google+ ................................................................... 71
4.11. Which social media sites are being used? ................................ 72
4.12. Barriers to search, social media and display activity ............... 74
4.12.1. Barriers to paid search ........................................................... 74
4.12.2. Barriers to SEO ...................................................................... 76
4.12.3. Barriers to social media ......................................................... 78
4.12.4. Barriers to display advertising .............................................. 80
5. Appendix: Respondent Profiles ..................................... 81
5.1.
5.2.
5.3.
Business sector ...........................................................................81
Geography.................................................................................. 82
Annual company turnover ........................................................ 83
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 In association with Latitude
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and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsultancy.com Ltd 2014
1.
Executive Summary and highlights
This is the eighth annual UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, published by
Econsultancy in association with Latitude.
The research is focused on search engine optimisation (SEO) and paid search marketing, but also
incorporates social media marketing, display advertising, analytics and conversion rate
optimisation because of the increasing overlap between these disciplines and growing importance
of integrated marketing.
The survey, which was carried out in the spring of 2014, is based on a survey of more than 700
companies and agencies, making this the most authoritative report on the UK SEM marketplace.
The research has identified the following key trends:
Increased competition driving paid search budgets
The appetite for paid search among UK companies is seemingly insatiable with 58% of
companies increasing their budgets in this channel over the coming year, up from
55% in 2013 and now at the highest percentage since 2008.
 Paid search now accounts for…
Impact of Enhanced Campaigns concentrated around mobile
In the last year there has been significant coverage of Google’s introduction of Enhanced
Campaigns for AdWords, for example how it does not allow marketers to create mobile-only
campaigns, to the ire of a number of survey respondents.
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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2.
Foreword by Latitude
Latitude have loved being involved in the 2014 SEM Benchmark Report and the team has
enjoyed shaping the questions to draw out invaluable perspective on changes in the digital
landscape and the industry in general. Now in its eight year, the report wouldn’t exist without the
people from both agency and brand-side taking time out of their busy calendars to respond to the
survey. We’d therefore like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in it this
year.
As you’d expect, Latitude continue to be excited by the pace of growth in the search market. The
market is clearly more competitive for paid search – not an unexpected observation – as it’s a
lucrative channel and worthy of increasing investment for many brands. Having a well-informed
approach that is consistently benchmarked against industry and search engine ‘best practices’ will
iron out any wasted spend and consolidate any niggling performance issues. Using many of the
additional tools out there will improve reach and mop up incremental, profitable volume. The
challenge is simply to stay on top of your game.
‘Not provided’ is a bigger issue on natural search, as brands are missing vital data and customer
intelligence to inform those business-critical decisions. However, this is not unique to one brand;
everyone is facing the same challenge, making it a level playing field for all. Creativity,
engagement and killer content will inevitably help the cause, as understanding social influence
becomes the default mind set for all marketers. Still, the growth of digital marketing was in part
due to its measurability so it’s concerning to see how big a challenge this remains. As an industry,
it’s important that we aim to solve this as a priority.
Brands are now more flexible with budgets and moving spend to align with the overall
performance objectives of channels; a positive development in the right direction. And yet, a third
of brands still claim to be restricted with budgets, even when faced with a possibility of positive
ROI. Whether this is the result of overly cautious forecasting, inability to keep up with lack of
confidence or even structural issues, this is one of the key challenges marketing departments will
face time and time again in the future.
That leaves us with one more intriguing finding from the report. Something that is - as we’ve
deliberately done here – disappointingly often left to the last minute and included as an afterthought. Conversion Optimisation and Analytics. It’s gold dust.
The fact many brands still struggle to identify conversion as the quick win in every campaign is
the eighth wonder of the digital world. To truly optimise campaigns across paid search, natural
and every other channel, you need a strategic roadmap of analytics testing and projects to
interrogate the data you do have and make the most from it. Any decent agency will put their own
necks on the line to deliver a performance-based model where the risk all lies with them. Making
the investment in a conversion project after it has worked and has delivered the goods seems like
the proverbial gift horse’s mouth waiting to be stared into. And you’d be right.
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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Those brands who are already focused on conversion are seeing big successes in digital
performance, tracking appropriate channel revenues, KPIs and winning at every turn. The simple
fact is that you can significantly improve any channel performance by improving conversion.
What gets measured, gets done. In an increasingly competitive market, with not provided data
and more flexibility in marketing budgets… the question is simply, why wouldn’t you?
We hope you enjoy the findings of this research and look forward to further evolution in the SEM
industry.
Richard Gregory
Managing Director
www.latitudegroup.com
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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2.1.
About Latitude
Digital marketing is what we do. Since setting up in 2001, Latitude has worked across various
sectors, including retail, gaming, travel and finance with clients such as Fitness First, Snow+Rock,
Haven Holidays, Hilton, Yours Clothing and Citibank, using a mix of digital marketing channels
to solve various marketing challenges for our clients.
However, we’d like to think we’re not just another digital marketing agency. Digital marketing is
not just about the technical stuff. It's also about meeting (and going beyond) our clients'
expectations in unexpected ways.
Our approach to this is simple.
Not only do we produce the digital goods, but we understand that it takes more than results to do
a good job. We know that reporting, deadlines, account management, knowledge sharing,
creativity and interest in your brand/sector/business are all equally important.
We start with our clients’ individual requirements and overall marketing objectives and then
build a strategy around them.
This might include:
 Coming up with strategies for complex campaigns and for brands that are still in the process
of establishing their online presence – and anywhere in between
 Account management to reflect your department structure and reporting needs – not vice
versa
 Match-making the right digital and sector expertise our end with your team, brand and
campaign needs
...all whilst challenging you to make your marketing seriously good.
W: www.latitudegroup.com
E: [email protected]
T: 08450 212 223
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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2.2.
About Econsultancy
Econsultancy’s mission is to help its customers achieve excellence in digital business, marketing
and ecommerce through research, training and events. Founded in 1999, Econsultancy has offices
in New York, London and Singapore.
Econsultancy is used by over 600,000 professionals every month. Subscribers get access to
research, market data, best practice guides, case studies and elearning.
The subscription is supported by digital transformation services including digital capability
programmes, training courses, skills assessments and audits. We train and develop thousands of
professionals each year as well as running events and networking that bring the Econsultancy
community together around the world.
Subscribe to Econsultancy today to accelerate your journey to digital excellence.
Call us to find out more:
New York: +1 212 971 0630 London: +44 207 269 1450 Singapore: +65 6809 2088
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3.
Methodology and Sample
This is the eighth annual UK Search Engine Marketing report published by Econsultancy, in
association with Latitude. Many of the questions in the survey have been repeated over this time
period, enabling us to compare data and look at trends.
There were 712 respondents to our 2014 research, which took the form of an online survey using
Clicktools in March and April 2014. Respondents included both client-side (in-house marketers),
as well as agencies.
The findings are shown for client-side (i.e. ‘companies’) and supply-side (or ‘agencies’) separately.
Information about the survey, including the link, was emailed to Econsultancy’s user base and
promoted on Twitter and other channels. Latitude also publicised this survey to its own database
of marketers. The incentive for taking part was access to a complimentary copy of this report just
before its publication on the Econsultancy website.
If you have any questions about the research, please email Econsultancy’s Research Director,
Linus Gregoriadis ([email protected]).
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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4.
Findings
4.1.
Digital marketing disciplines and resourcing
4.1.1.
Types of digital marketing activity
Figure 2 shows the digital marketing disciplines being carried out by responding organisations or
their agencies. The most common marketing activity companies are involved in is search engine
optimisation (SEO), being carried out by 91% of client-side respondents.
It should be noted that this survey has been marketed primarily as a search marketing survey, and
therefore is most likely to attract search engine marketers.
Figure 1: Which of the following types of marketing is your organisation or
agency involved in?
4.1.2.
Agency focus
Only 39% of agencies are offering a full range of digital marketing services, significantly down on
last year’s equivalent figure of 52%.
Figure 2: What prevents you from being able to sell a wider range of services to
your clients as part of a more integrated approach?
Respondents: 91
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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4.1.3.
How companies are resourcing their marketing activities
Companies were asked whether they carry out their marketing activities in-house or via an
agency. Figure 7 shows the results of this question for search (paid and natural), social, display
analytics and conversion rate optimisation (CRO).
Figure 3: Do you carry out the following digital marketing activities in-house or
via an agency?
4.1.4.
Length of agency contracts
Respondents were asked about the length of their agency contracts for their marketing activities.
As shown in Figure 11, companies are most likely to have shorter agency contracts for SEO and
paid search.
Companies
Figure 4: How long are your agency contracts in the following areas?
Respondents: 135
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4.1.5.
Types of agency used
In a new question for this year’s survey, companies were asked to state what type of agency they
are using for their various digital marketing activities.
Companies are more likely to use a specialist agency for PPC and SEO than for any other
4.1.6.
Multilingual and multi-territory search campaigns
Among the companies participating in this year’s survey, 14% stated their use of an agency in
running multilingual paid search campaigns and an additional 12% of companies are planning on
doing this.
Trend data shows that these numbers have been flat since 2009. Nearly three quarters (74%) of
companies had no plans to use multilingual services in both 2009 and 2013, with only a negligible
change this year.
4.2.
Budgets
4.2.1.
Flexibility of marketing budgets
According to the results displayed in Figure 19, most companies are not taking a rigid approach to
the budgets for their digital marketing channels. Only 13% of companies say their budgets are
rigidly split by channel. For most companies, there is either no separate budget on a channel
basis or there is at least to ability to shift budget across channels based on ROI. It is encouraging
to see the vast majority of companies being able to employ flexibility with marketing budgets,
though worrying for those 13% of companies who are very rigid in their approach.
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4.2.2.
Percentage of overall budget spent on digital marketing
channels
Companies
Table 1: Of your total marketing budget, what percentage is typically spent on the
following channels?
Channel
2014
2013
Paid search
XX%
XX%
SEO
XX%
XX%
Social media
XX%
XX%
Display advertising
XX%
XX%
Respondents (2014): 299
Agencies
Table 2: Of your clients’ total marketing budget, what percentage is typically
spent on the following channels?
Channel
2014
2013
Paid search
XX%
XX%
SEO
XX%
XX%
Social media
XX%
XX%
Display advertising
XX%
XX%
Respondents (2014): 179
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4.2.3.
Change in digital marketing budgets
Of all the digital marketing disciplines listed in this survey, companies will be the most likely to
increase their budget for conversion rate optimisation.
Companies
Figure 5: Do you expect your budgets to increase or decrease in the next 12
months?
Company trends
Table 3: Percentage of companies increasing budgets over the next 12 months
(since 2009)
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4.3.
SEO budget
4.3.1.
Annual SEO budgets
Close to half of responding companies (44%) are spending £10,000 or less per year on SEO.
Companies
Figure 6: How much do you spend on SEO per year?
4.3.2.
Annual change in SEO budget
Of the companies that responded to this question, nearly half (45%) expect their SEO budget to
rise by up to 20%.
Companies
Figure 7: How much do you expect your SEO budget to increase over the next 12
months?
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4.4.
Social media marketing budget
4.4.1.
Annual social media marketing budget
More than three in five companies (62%) are spending no more than £10,000 on their social
media marketing activities this year.
Figure 8: How much do you spend on social media marketing per year?
4.4.2.
Annual change in social media budgets
Based on the results from the chart below, 46% of companies will be expecting a budget increase
of up to 20% for their social media marketing.
Companies
Figure 9: How much do you expect your social media budget to increase over the
next 12 months?
4.4.3.
Percentage of social media budget spent on paid advertising
As shown in Table 8, companies and agencies report near identical percentages of social budget
spent on paid-for advertising on social web properties.
Table 4: What percentage of your social media marketing budget is spent on
paid-for advertising on social channels?
2014
Companies
XX%
Agencies
XX%
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4.5.
Display advertising budget
4.5.1.
Annual display advertising budget
Our research has identified that 67% of respondents are spending over £10,000 a year and 9% are
spending £1 million plus on display advertising.
4.5.2.
Annual change in display advertising budget
Companies
Figure 10: How much do you expect your display advertising budget to increase
over the next 12 months?
4.5.3.
Percentage of display budget spent via real-time bidding
Table 5: What percentage of your display advertising budget is spent via real-time
bidding?
2014
Companies
XX%
Agencies
XX%
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4.6.
Use of bid management technology
Company and agency respondents were asked about the bid management technology they use for
their paid search activities.
Figure 11: What bid management technology do you, your agency or your clients
use primarily for paid search?
4.6.1.
Criteria for selecting bid management technology
It is important to understand what factors influence decisions behind bid management
technology selection. Figure 49 shows the criteria most important to companies and agencies
when it comes to selecting a paid search bid management platform.
Figure 12: What factors are most important to you / your client when selecting a
paid search bid management technology platform?
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4.7.
Effectiveness and ROI
4.7.1.
Impact on brand
Companies were asked which digital marketing channel had the most impact on their brand.
Nearly a third of responding companies (32%) selected SEO as the most important, while 22%
stated that SEO, paid search, social media marketing and display advertising are of equal
importance.
Companies
Figure 13: What is most important in terms of the impact on your brand?
4.7.2.
Effectiveness of ROI tracking
As marketing channels become more integrated, being able to track accurately across different
activities with a consistent measuring system is becoming increasingly important for companies
wanting to understand ROI properly. It is therefore worrying to see that only 36% of companies
have a ‘definitive tracking solution to measure consistently across different digital channels’.
4.7.3.
Factors affecting search marketing ROI
Company and agency respondents were asked what they believed were the most significant
factors affecting ROI on search engine marketing. Analysis of responses from companies revealed
themes pertaining to competition, Google Analytics ‘not provided’ keywords and conversion.
Company respondents
What is the main factor or factors affecting your return on investment from
search engine marketing?
“Low conversion resulting in high CPA.”
“Management scepticism and lack of internal skills.”
Agency respondents also spoke of conversion rates and competition, also specifically mentioning
the impact of mobile and lack of integration with other marketing channels.
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4.8.
Types of search marketing and related activities
Companies were asked about the level of involvement they have with a variety of search channels
and related activities, with the results illustrated in the chart below.
4.8.1.
Integrating search and display
Figure 61 compares the extent to which companies and agency clients are integrating their paid
search and display advertising.
Figure 14: To what extent are you / your clients integrating paid search and
display advertising?
4.8.2.
Integration of search engine marketing and content strategy
Content marketing has been a key area of focus for marketers thus far in 2014, with many
organisations attempting to incorporate it into their stream of activities. Figure 66 shows how
organisations are integrating SEO efforts with their content marketing strategy.
Figure 15: To what extent is your / your clients’ content strategy tied in with your
search engine optimisation activity?
4.8.3.
Use of social media in search engine optimisation
Both companies and agencies are more likely be working in contexts where social media and
search engine optimisation are treated separately.
Marketers have typically struggled to measure the effect of social media marketing. However,
tying together social media and search engine optimisation activities can have a quantifiable
effect on organic search ranking1.
Figure 16: What best describes your / your clients’ use of social media in the
context of your search engine optimisation activity?
1
https://econsultancy.com/blog/64752-us-vs-th3m-shareable-content-beats-traditional-seo
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4.9.
Impact of Google on search marketing
4.9.1.
Enhanced Campaigns
In last year’s survey, Enhanced Campaigns were still in their infancy and so many marketers were
still unsure with regards to their net effect on search engine marketing. However, based on the
results shown in Figure 70, sentiment towards Enhanced Campaigns is far from positive.
Figure 17: What impact has Google’s introduction of Enhanced Campaigns had
on your / your clients’ paid search marketing?
Company respondents
Why do you think Enhanced Campaigns have had a positive/negative impact?
“Enabled us to reduce spend on mobile search campaigns that didn’t work as well.”
“More control over campaigns and more targeted mobile campaigns.”
4.9.2.
Effect of Google+
With Google attempting to integrate their social platform into as many of their products as
possible, it appears as though there is no getting away from Google+. However, despite the
ubiquitous nature of the search giant, it appears most organisations are not taking full advantage
of its social product.
4.10.
Which social media sites are being used?
Figure 72 illustrates on which social platforms companies are engaging in paid advertising
activities. Facebook is being used as a paid-for advertising platform by…
Companies
Figure 18: Which of the following social media sites are you paying to advertise
on as part of your marketing activity?
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
Page 22
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4.11.
Barriers to search, social media and display activity
4.11.1.
Barriers to paid search
Survey respondents were also asked to indicate which barriers they (or their clients) are facing in
terms of paid search, SEO, social media marketing and display advertising.
Figure 19: Which of the following are the biggest problems preventing you / your
clients from being as successful at paid search as you would like?
4.11.2.
Barriers to SEO
Lack of internal resources is a barrier for the largest proportion of companies, in terms of their
SEO activities, according to Figure 77.
Figure 20: Which of the following are the biggest problems preventing you / your
clients from being as successful at SEO as you would like?
4.11.3.
Barriers to social media
For nearly half of the responding companies…
Figure 21: Which of the following are the biggest problems preventing you / your
clients from being as successful at social media as you would like?
4.11.4.
Barriers to display advertising
Measuring success was selected by 46% of companies as a key barrier that is a deterrent to
display advertising success. Two in five companies cited…
Figure 22: Which of the following are the biggest problems preventing you from
being as successful at display advertising as you would like?
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
Page 23
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5.
Appendix: Respondent Profiles
5.1.
Business sector
Figure 23: In which business sector is your organisation?
Respondents: 299
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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5.2.
Geography
Figure 24: In which country/region are you (personally) based?
Respondents: 487
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
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5.3.
Annual company turnover
Figure 25: What is your annual company turnover?
Respondents: 249
UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report 2014 in association with Latitude
Page 26
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