Search Marketing is Experiencing a Massive Change, With 20% of CMOs Decreasing Investments in SEO

Online marketing can take a number of different shapes, and a report that was recently compiled by Gartner revealed that search ads and SEO are about to become less relevant than might have been the case otherwise. 26% of Chief Marketing Officers said that they plan to reduce their investments into paid search, and 20% also stated that they are going to be spending less on SEO in the long run.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the number of CMOs that are planning to boost investments in these sectors is still surpassing the proportion planning a decrease. 46% of CMOs are going against the grain by upping their SEO investments, with 40% saying the same about their budgets for paid search.

Social advertising is starting to become the name of the game. 56% of the CMOs that were surveyed indicated that they will be directing more of their budgets towards this niche, with just 14% planning to reduce these investments with all things having been considered and taken into account. 51% have also mentioned digital video advertising as a major short term focus, and 49% also said that influencer marketing will be a greater priority for them in the near future.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, it seems like the majority of CMOs will be facing budget constraints in the upcoming year. 71% said that they lack the funds necessary to boost investments, which could force them to forego one option in favor of another. CMOs can no longer use broad strokes to cover all of their bases because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making their budgets run dry.

Driving brand awareness through paid search and organic outreach is not going to go out of fashion anytime soon. Brands are simply using fewer options than before, and this might create a level of competition that would lead to other methods of marketing taking precedence over paid search and the like.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World