SEO Marketing Benchmark Summary Report
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SEO Marketing
Benchmark Summary Report
The most challenging obstacles to Search Engine Optimization success
in the year ahead and how marketers plan to overcome them.
Ascend2 Research
Client Connection Conducted
Research™ in Partnership
conducted by Ascend2with Leading Partner]
and [Research Marketing Solution Providers.
SEO Marketing Benchmark Summary Report
Ascend2 Research Conducted in Partnership with Leading Marketing Solution Providers.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
You may adapt, copy, distribute and transmit this work. However, you must attribute the work as produced by Ascend2 and its Research
Partners but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
2
Table of Contents
If you’re not on page one of search results, you don’t exist 4
Most important SEO objectives in the year ahead 5
SEO success defined by objectives achieved 6
Most challenging obstacles to SEO success 7
Most effective SEO tactics used 8
Changes in SEO effectiveness during the past year 9
Most difficult SEO tactics to execute 10
Resources used to execute SEO programs 11
SEO tactical effectiveness versus degree of difficulty 12
Most useful SEO metrics tracked 13
Research methodology and survey demographics 15
About Ascend2 17
3
If you’re not on page one of search results, you don’t exist
Today, most purchase decisions begin with an online search. And if you don't appear on page one
of the search results, you don't exist. That's why the C-suite is paying so much attention to their
organization’s natural search rankings.
But what will be the most challenging obstacles to Search Engine Optimization success in the year
ahead and how will marketers overcome them?
To find out, Ascend2 and our Research Partners fielded the SEO Marketing Survey and completed
interviews with 442 marketing and sales decision-makers and practitioners from around the
world. We thank these busy professionals for sharing their valuable insights with you.
The charts in this edition of our study, titled the SEO Marketing Benchmark Summary Report,
represent the average of all market segments responding to the survey. Specific market segments
are reported on exclusively by our Research Partners.
This research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy
planning and presentation materials. Clip the charts and write about them in your blog or post
them on social media. Please share this research credited as published.
Sergio Balegno
Chief Strategy Officer
4
Improving natural search rankings that will increase
website traffic and generate leads are the top objectives
for search engine optimization in the year ahead.
5
SEO success is defined by the ability to achieve
important marketing objectives. Only 14% of companies
rate their SEO efforts “very successful” at achieving this.
6
Time is money and SEO is a time-intensive task requiring
a specific skill-set. For many organizations, budget and
skill limitations are the top obstacles to overcome.
7Search engines love quality content, and creating it is
the most effective SEO tactic. Researching and managing
the keywords used in SEO content is also very effective.
8SEO has become more effective for nearly half (49%) of
all organizations during the past year. It has become less
effective for only 11% of organizations surveyed.
9Mobile and local search optimization are not very
difficult to execute, but are also not very widely used.
10More than half (56%) of organizations outsource all or
part of their SEO programs, gaining access to expertise
required to execute difficult tactics more effectively.
11Creating quality content is not only the most effective
SEO tactic, it is also the most difficult tactic to execute.
Link building is very difficult but not very effective.
12Tracking the impact keywords have on search rankings
and the conversion rate of call-to-action offers are the
most useful metrics used to analyze SEO performance.
13Notes
14Research methodology
Ascend2 Research Surveys are conducted online from a panel of more than 50,000
US and international marketing and sales decision-makers and practitioners
representing a range of contact roles, company types, sizes and geographic regions.
The questionnaire used is standardized to incorporate these methodologies across all
studies while maintaining our proven 3-Minute Survey format. Survey findings are
examined in a quantitative context by experienced analysts and reported objectively.
15Survey demographics
16About Ascend2
Research-Based Demand Generation for Marketing Solution Providers
Marketing agencies, marketing data and marketing software providers partner with
Ascend2 to reliably generate new business opportunities. Our integrated research,
content creation and demand generation process is transparent – putting the spotlight
on your brand and the interests of your audience.
Learn more at www.Ascend2.com
17Ascend2 generates demand and produces customizable
research reports exclusively for our Research Partners.
White label research reports contain 12-18 pages of
research that features your brand and the interests of
your target market. To become a partner, all you do is:
1. Choose the topics of interest to your target market:
• Content Marketing • Website Optimization
• Email Marketing • Inbound Marketing
• Video Marketing • Paid Search (PPC)
• Organic Search (SEO) • Lead Generation
• Mobile Marketing • Social Media
• Brand Marketing • Marketing Database
2. Choose an exclusive research segment for each marketing topic:
• Benchmarks for Success [A comparison of Very Successful and Not Successful segments]
• Benchmarks by Channel [A comparison by or targeting of B2B and/or B2C segments]
• Benchmarks by Company Size [A comparison by or targeting of SMB and/or Large Enterprises]
• Agency Benchmarks [The Agency perspective based on a wide-range of client experience]
• Benchmarks by Resources [A comparison of Outsourced and In-house campaign segments]
• Benchmarks for Europe [The European perspective on marketing practices and performance]
• Benchmarks by Revenue Attainment [A comparison of performance by Revenue Targets Attained]
• Benchmarks for other research segments may be available and specific to individual Topics
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