Organic Optimization Slows in 2006

A while back Marketing Sherpa estimated that SEO would break the billion-dollar ceiling in 2006. However, the Search Marketing Benchmark Guide for 2007 proved those previous estimates wrong by reporting a puny 6.7% SEO growth rate despite paid advertising's year-over-year increase of 124%. It has never been a debate over whether to do SEO optimization or not, but rather a matter of outsourcing or keeping it in-house. Based on the industry growth rate, it looks like many companies are willing to take it on themselves. Maybe that's why our SEO clients are seeing much higher success rates than in previous years. Just kidding! 

The facts

• SEO provides the best ROI for both product sales and lead generation.
• Organically placed websites have a higher click-through and conversion rate then banner ads and email marketing campaigns.

It seems odd that with those positives, companies are still focusing most of their dollars and time on paid advertising including paid search advertising, email marketing, direct mail, and banner advertising. Based on Marketing Sherpa's ROI statistics from 3,053 client-side marketers over the past 12 months, search engine optimization ROI has provided the highest return per dollar spent.

So, while paid search continues to increase year after year, why do organic optimization budgets remain stagnant? It's been my experience from attending SEO conferences, groups and speaking with jaded customers, that many self-proclaimed search engine optimization gurus can't explain organic optimization, flat out lie to clients, use black-hat techniques, and offer no real metrics to prove their organic success. So, what is the solution?

The solution

Maybe, we as an industry should openly condemn or Google bomb those who seek to tarnish legitimate SEO companies. Or perhaps we should be ethical and work to inform our clients about organic SEO and that in 2005 marketers who outsourced SEO saw a 110% lift in overall traffic within six months, whereas marketers who handled SEO in-house saw a 73% lift. Then we would be able to sit back and watch those clients reap the benefits of dominating their competition.

FYI- LevelTen has built its company from one man and a vision to a multi-million dollar company solely using organic optimization as a means for generating leads. How is that for organic success?