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Forrester and Shop.org: E-tailers Prefer Paid Search Over Other Marketing Channels

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By User:Nino Barbieri (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia CommonsJuly 16, 2013: Paid Search continues to be the preferred customer acquisition channel among e-commerce merchants, according to findings of the latest annual survey done by Forrester Research and Shop.org.

According to the 2013 survey, approximately 40 percent of etailers’ budgets are currently allocated to paid search media across Google, Yahoo, and the other search engines. Eight in ten of retailers participating in the survey claim they will increase this spend level in 2013. Most (68 percent) of e-tailers surveyed report that paid search contributed more revenue to their bottom lines in 2012 than in 2011. But it appears that this increased revenue may simply be the result of more spending, not more effective campaigns.

The new results represent a remarkable shift away from SEO; two years ago, Forrester and Shop.org reported that SEO was the top priority. Analysts have suggested that the shift to paid search is a result of e-tailers seeking more control over their listings, plus the recent advent of merchant-friendly ad formats such as Google PLA, which has been a tremendous success for Google since its launch as a paid channel in October 2012.

It is also possible that much of the “heavy lifting” involved in SEO projects has been done, with SEO investments being converted to lower-cost retainer models.

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