A considerable amount of web-only retailers believe that search engine marketing helps to get good results compared to other forms of online marketing based on a survey conducted by Internet retailer. They find search marketing as an effective strategy to adopt amid glooming economy. The survey says natural search results are providing better ROI than paid search for a substantial percentage of retailers.
The survey conducted for 211 retailers by ‘Internet Retailer’, found that more and more number of retailers are tending towards natural search results through SEO in the weakened economy. When asked about spending plans in SEO while going through severe recession, 55.3 percent of them responded to increase spending, and 35.9 percent of them to keep about the same. In case of paid search, only 24.2 percent of the retailers said of having plans to increase their expenditure on paid search results.
Although 58.7% respondents in the survey are web-only retailers, overall 91.2% retailers want to increase or keep their spending about the same on SEO. 70.6% manufacturers and 62.8% web retailers are very optimistic and have plans to increase SEO spending. In addition, 60% of store retailers are planning to keep their spending about the same on SEO.
Natural search results are garnering rewards for retailers. According to the survey, 46.3 percent of retailers said that their natural search conversion rate went up when compared to September 2008. Around 44 percent of the retailers said, it was as consistent as earlier. This shows that more retailers are experiencing natural search optimization results are providing better ROI compared paid search.
A majority of the retailers find Google as the reliable search engine for best results in sales on web. Around 89.2 percent of them said that Google search engine produces the best web sales results in their SEM programs. Yahoo is in second place with only 7.4 percent of the retailers declaring it as the search engine providing better results in sales. Other search engines occupy the rest of the market.
Retailers find search marketing to be effective strategy during recession times. They are more interested in investing in slow but consistent natural search results through SEO rather than investing on volatile paid search strategies. Retailers seem to continue opt for search marketing even after the recession due to its scalability and result-oriented performance.
