Savvy internet marketers are always looking for proof in numbers, trying to measure the business impact of trackable online marketing programs. One hot topic at the forefront of internet search is the investment tradeoff between Search Engine Optimization (SEO = techniques used to improve organic search ranking) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM = paid search programs, such as Google AdWords).

To date, SEM and SEO have been separate disciplines.  For example, an expert in SEO inherently understands how backlinks influence organic search ranking, while SEM gurus understand which factors control the mysterious Google AdWords Quality Score.  While all of these little blue hyperlinks sit only inches apart from one another on the screen, generating results from SEM and SEO has often meant hiring or contracting a variety of folks.

If you subscribe to the wisdom of crowds, you're probably wondering how other companies are investing their search budget...what is the relative investment in SEO vs. SEM?  At the end of last year, SEMPO reported that, of the $5.75 billion spent on internet search in North America, 83% was spent on SEM, and 11% of that spend was invested in SEO. 

Only 11% on SEO, doesn't that seem low?
Mid-year 2006 studies have indicated that the relative investment in SEO has fallen even further, while the overall search industry continues to grow at a blistering pace,

Why are marketers spending less on SEO? 
Here's a simple theory:  For new and intermediate search marketers, the return on SEO investments seem elusive, while the return on SEM investments are more immediate and clear.  If I dump $1000 into the Google AdWords machine, I can generate 700 clicks and 50 qualified leads within 30 days...and I can show my boss that we rank #1 for keywords in our primary category.  It's hard to say that about SEO.

Stay tuned, our next post will detail an integrated approach to SEM and SEO tracking with Salesforce for Google AdWords.