While search-engine-marketing services are as old as Google itself, they're seeing
a resurgence as an agency moneymaker. Some large shops are getting
around 20% revenue growth from search while others are beefing up
their teams.
For example, Interpublic's Huge in 2014 doubled its team to more
than 10 staffers. One of the shop's largest clients increased its
marketing spending on an SEO initiative from 10% of its budget to
30%, said Mr. Sosnowski. Other clients are seeing almost 50% of
their e-commerce revenue driven by optimized search.
In 2015, the agency plans to double or even triple its search
team as voice prompts and new mobile platforms complicate the
landscape.
Profero, which was acquired by IPG last year,
also doubled its search team in 2014. While part of that growth
came from new-client opportunities within the network, "content is
the biggest opportunity for us," said Lavall Chichester,
director-search and content marketing for Lowe Profero.
"The SEO department is growing faster than even the paid-search
department," he added. "[Brands] are switching to publishing models
and the ones working are powered by search."
Search engines surpassed general media as the most-trusted
source for general news and information in 2014, according to PR
giant Edelman's latest Trust Barometer. Search
engines were up 8% on the Trust Barometer compared with the year
before.
It also helps that more clients who control budgets understand
the importance of search. Trip Advisor, although not a Profero
client, is one of those companies that gets search, he said. He
cited a campaign that encouraged consumers to search for "Trip
Advisor and San Francisco," rather than just "San Francisco."
"Doing this creates keyword searches that increase in volume over
time." said Mr.
Chichester.
Much of that online discovery is also now happening on mobile
devices, which is leading to demand for responsive website design.
Brands also want to optimize for local Yelp and Google business
pages, and local search efforts power mobile search, Mr. Chichester
said.
Benefiting are search specialists like iProspect. Paid search, which makes up
60% of its revenue, grew 20% in 2014 while total revenue was up
16%, thanks in large part to new content opportunities. For client
GMC, iProspect identified three un-branded search topics: towing
and trailering, fuel efficiency and vehicle performance. It then
worked with a partner shop to create lifestyle articles and
targeted consumers as they searched these topics. GMC secured the
top ranking for numerous unbranded terms and drove around 14,000
incremental organic site visits per month, the shop said.
Much of that online discovery is also now happening on mobile
devices, which is leading to demand for responsive website design.
Brands want to optimize for local Yelp and Google business pages,
and local search efforts power mobile search, Mr. Chichester
said.
"Depending on the client, we are seeing at least a 50% growth in
client revenue from mobile," said Jeremy Cornfeldt, U.S. president
of iProspect. He referenced Google's 92% growth in mobile ad search
revenue from 2013 to 2014. "It's safe to say that clients are
seeing massive growth in mobile traffic and sales."
At the same time, more shops are automating much of the process
using new proprietary technology, third-party vendors and APIs.
Using new tools, they're also capturing more data.
"The learnings we get from search help us identify new targets,"
said 360i CEO Sarah Hofstetter. "It's not just
search as a mechanism; it's search as a research vehicle."
Correction: An earlier version of this article
indicated that Trip Advisor is a Profero client; it is
not.
