Search Marketing is Dead - Oh wait a minute

A commentary on the recent quarterly results announced by Google on January 22, 2009 and its impact to search marketing; written by Sean Jackson, CEO of Ecordia.

With all the doom and gloom the press has been spitting out about the economy and the decrease in advertising spending, it was refreshing to hear the quarterly results call from Google on their earnings for the last quarter of 2008. You know, the quarter that saw the implosion of the financial system, the huge job loss, the sinking of the economy - that quarter.

Well sure enough, Google announced its earnings and life as we know it did not stop. They actually made money - a lot of it. They increased their revenue by 18%. Paid clicks increased by 18%. And keyword pricing deflationary pressures were not a factor.

You can learn more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE50L62A20090122?feedType=nl&feedName=usbusinessafternoon

So What Does This Mean?

First, online is still strong. No surprise there. And second, people still find value in advertising on search engines.While Google met analyst expectations, this is the first tangible sign that when the going gets tough, the tough advertise on search engines.

Certainly they may not be growing as fast as they did in the past, but this is the first tangible sign that search marketing still remains strong and growing.

Put simply, search marketing still has value for advertisers.

More to the point, search engines still maintain a strong presence in reaching large groups of people. Search volume continues to grow and advertisers still find value in getting their message in search engines, even at the expense of other advertising media.

From our perspective at Ecordia, this latest announcement continues to re-affirm our belief that getting your marketing message into Google is crucial - with search optimization an important part of the process.

In our white paper "Growing Your Agency in 2009" we state that for many agencies search marketing will be one of their key growth areas - with search engine optimization being an important part.

If nothing else, Google's financial results reinforce that clients see huge value in this medium and are willing to spend more to be there. As part of any search marketing campaign, search engine optimization plays an important role.

The question for most agencies is this - when and how? This is what we are committed to at Lead Maverick, helping agencies provide search engine optimization as part of their service offerings.

Search marketing will be THE growth opportunity for agencies in 2009. Either you offer it now or you can wait for your client to find an agency that does.