Half of all online marketing dollars are spent on search. The search marketing industry is expanding even though the economy is slowing. Don’t assume that the information is the same as last year.

The fifth annual edition of MarketingSherpa’s Search Marketing Benchmark Guide has been completely re-researched and rewritten to reflect today’s search marketing landscape. Companies can use this data to plan budgets and forecast results.

New Research Highlights

The top 5 insights were provided by nearly 2,000 search marketers.

Find out:

• The impact of analytical tools on search budgeting strategies
• How search advertising affects brand metrics
• Impact of mobile search, geotargeting, and local search on local
  business markets
• Effect of new analytics tools on the industry
• What analytics are critical to follow to improve campaign performance

MarketingSherpa’s Benchmark Guide has relevant data for small, medium and large B-to-B and B-to-C companies.

• Real-life results based on varying budgets and tests
• How the world searches and shops
• Tactical spending changes for 2009
• Trends of online advertising in relation to traditional marketing
• The relationship between SEO and Public Relations
• Ratings of the top search properties
• The real issues of click fraud
• How search ROI stacks up against other marketing
• The true averages of CPC in the major search engines

The 2009 edition is our biggest ever, with 170 charts, 45 tables, 12 heatmaps and analysis that can help you:

• Evaluate your budgets in relation to current economic conditions
• Justify and defend your PPC and SEO budgets
• Determine economics of outsourcing vs. in-house search operations
• Forecast results – including clicks, conversion and costs – more
  accurately
• Discover practical tips on measurement
• Select result-driven SEM tests
• Determine click fraud
• Train new staff more easily

Your new Benchmark Guide includes two Special Reports:

The first report is called Special Report 1. Search advertising has a branding effect.

Many of the biggest advertisers on the planet have been quietly testing the effectiveness of their search ads. The scope of the tests makes them difficult to execute. The report shows the effectiveness of search ads as a branding vehicle.

Special Report 2 was published. It is necessary to heat map Baidu to understand. The Chinese are interested in the search results.

Get a detailed explanation on what works and what doesn’t in China search marketing. Take a closer look at the dramatic differences in Chinese viewing patterns between the US, China, and China, and find out which common rules may be a mistake in China.

Hundreds of questions answered in the Search Marketing Benchmark Guide. Here are just 10:

1. Am I budgeting enough or too much for SEM in relation to the rest of my marketing budget?
2. What is the real impact of landing pages on conversions?
3. What’s the first thing consumers do when they land on a retail site?
4. How can a change in my internal search engine improve my site’s conversion rate?
5. How are merchants policing affiliates and search?
6. Why would I want to bring SEM in-house and why would I want to continue to outsource it?
7. If I want to do business in China or India, is click fraud something I should worry about? Also, is it important to translate my site?
8. What should my conversion rate be for PPC vs. SEO listings?
9. What do mobile internet users search for? What response should I expect from a mobile ad?
10. Is the search marketing salary boom slowing?