We spent a good minute scratching the ol’ noggin over these two charts from SEMPO’s 2010 “State of Search Engine Marketing” report. They show that this year, 47% of surveyed businesses said they handle search in-house. Last year, no one said they handle search in house. A careful read reveals a note stating that “in house” wasn’t an option last year. Since none of the other answers are appropriate for respondents running search in-house, and we don’t have one of those handy “n=” captions tipping us off as to whether in-house search marketers skipped the question or entered a misleading answer last year, we can’t actually compare results year-over-year. So why even publish the 2009 chart?
Focusing on 2010 hardly clarifies the issue. We’re very curious about search provider choices, but this categorization is confusing. How would Razorfish Search’s clients respond? With 96 full-time search people and an average tenure over three years, we undoubtedly qualify as a “paid search specialist” and a “SEO specialist.” Though search is only one of many digital services Razorfish provides, some clients perceive us as a “search agency” because help with search is what they originally came to us for. “Digital Marketing Agency” might seem to be the best fit, unless our client considers that Razorfish is a leader in experience design, site creative and technology — projects that don’t fit neatly under the “Marketing Agency” header. At least we can rule out “PR agency”!
One question for our friend Sara Holoubek of the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization: Did you outsource your search survey to a “survey expert” or a “search expert”?
April 1st, 2010 at 6:34 pm
It’s your friend, Sara Holoubek here. To answer the last question first, the survey was crafted by both survey and search experts.
Definitely take a look at last year’s full report (on the SEMPO.org site) and you will have the answer to your other questions. The slide noted above aimed at understanding the types of agencies that exist. There are plenty of other questions from last year’s survey that address and seek responses to the in house question.
So why don’t the questions match up perfectly year to year? This year’s survey was significantly reconstructed based on respondent feedback. I believe that this was pointed out in the introduction, as many folks are probably looking at year-over-year comparisons. Since you have clearly taken an interest in refining the survey, get in touch the SEMPO research committee – they are always open to new ideas and suggestions, as well as participation to help improve reports!
April 1st, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Thanks, Sara. Your points about the survey revision and the difficulty of year-over-year comparison are well taken.
I suppose getting respondents to categorize their search service provider will always be a problem. I would settle for clarity on how many large companies outsource vs. manage search in house.
Thanks for chiming in! We’ll see you at the next SEMPO event.
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Anytime, Adam. Someone from Razorfish should definitely join the SEMPO research committee, or perhaps the emerging technologies committee.
Also, a heads up that we recently elected a new board (my last day was 3/31), so get to know these folks. They hail from all over the globe and are a fabulous group.
October 7th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
great blog! added to my bkmarks