Search marketing growth driven by increase in ecommerce activity

Spending on search marketing in the US is expected to grow by 15 per cent over the course of this year, new research has found.

This is according to a study released by digital marketing firm Efficient Frontier, which shows that the medium has already posted growth of 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2011.

It noted that the highest increases were seen in the retail and finance sectors, at 22 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, DM News reports.

"What's driving up demand is a higher number of impressions and clicks that advertisers are seeing," said Siddharth Shah, director of business analytics at Efficient Frontier.

Mr Shah explained that an increase in the number of consumers taking advantage of ecommerce sites was driving the demand from advertisers.

According to recent data from MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, online sales grew for the fifth consecutive month in March.

Ecommerce sales increased 16.1 per cent last month compared to the same period in 2010, up from February's 13.2 per cent rise in transactions.

Posted by Paul Newman