SEO spending 'to reach £330m'

3rd September 2008

UK spending on search engine optimisation (SEO) will reach £330 million this year, up 32 per cent compared with 2007.

This is according to E-consultancy's latest Search Engine Marketing Buyer's Guide, which showed that overall spending on search campaigns will rise by 24 per cent to £2.75 billion in 2008.

About £2.24 billion will be spent on paid search, representing an increase of 23 per cent over last year, E-consultancy said.

These growth figures are lower than those recorded in recent times but still indicate that the search engine marketing sector has a positive outlook for the near future, E-consultancy's Chris Lake commented.

He stated: "Consumer internet usage is flattening out, but the sector is certainly more robust than other media channels that have a less measurable return on investment and should continue to grow for years to come."

More than six in ten UK companies intend to increase their SEO budgets this year, according to a separate published by E-consultancy earlier in 2008.