Where Can I get a Benchmark Guide for SEM?

MarketingSherpa today released the fourth annual edition of its Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, http://www.sherpastore.com/Search-Marketing-Benchmark-2008.html

The guide reveals the latest findings of MarketingSherpa's extensive survey in June and July 2007 of 2,475 marketers who conduct or supervise search marketing for their own companies.

Among the highlights found in the 273-page guide:

• The search marketing industry is still expanding rapidly – as much as 31% in the United States and 39% globally for 2007. This year-over-year growth will slow in time. Still, search budgets are increasing by double-digit percentages for many marketers, although we're hearing feedback that many of those increases are in anticipation of rising prices, not a desire to extend their search engine marketing (SEM) reach.
• The allure to bring SEM in-house is growing stronger for many marketers, although the number of organizations getting outside help actually increased over the past 12 months. However, it's becoming more common to use outsourced assistance as part, not all, of the overall SEM effort.
• More emphasis on natural search has put pressure on many marketers to improve their own sites, while smaller companies are feeling the pinch in paid search/keyword price inflation. Click fraud is still a concern, but marketers don't seem as worried about it this year. That's probably more a function of media attention (or the lack thereof compared to last year) rather than any real change in the phenomenon itself.

I was also able to get some first hand insight from the Director of Research at MarketingSherpa, Stefan Tornquist. Listen to our conversation below:

[audio:http://www.enquiro.com/analytics/Marketing-Sherpa-Stefan-Tornquist.mp3]