Why the search market's on a strong footing for 2010

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 | By Will Cooper

Most people’s starting points online are still search-based and others, such as social networks including Facebook, are expected to increase their search ad offering in 2010. Therefore, the importance of search in a brand’s marketing arsenal is unlikely to diminish.

What’s most encouraging for me is that search still seems to be the speciality that the vast majority of new and existing agencies appear to be investing in. If the market was looking shaky it’s very unlikely this would be the case. That’s not to say there won’t be challenges for all – brands, agencies and platforms alike – to overcome in 2010.

It will be interesting to see, for example, the next set of data from the IPA on cost-per-click and click-through-rate trends on key brand terms on Google; what’s been released this year has shown both going in an unfavourable direction.

Likewise, we should see the true impact of Google’s decision to pull its agency commission structure next year within nma’s annual Marketing Services Guide, which ranks search agencies on their income. When this year’s rankings were compiled it was too early to see how UK agencies had been affected.

However, as said, unless there’s a major shift in online behaviour, there’ll always be investment in search, with specialists constantly on the lookout for those who’ve yet to take the plunge.

For instance, one story to follow next year will be the IAB’s new bid to attract FMCG advertisers to the space, outlined in nma earlier this week (nma 17 December 2009). They control the biggest ad budgets around, but their online, and especially search, investment has not been massive to date.

Furthermore, Microsoft’s ad campaign for Bing is set to expand massively in the new year, with the market hoping it can become a viable second option.

So, while the bruised advertising market might be looking forward to a calmed, consolidation-focused 12 months, the search industry once again has much to look forward to.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name

I have read and agree to the terms and conditions