SEO Budget Increases Comparatively Paid Search Budget

Latest report shows that SEO budgets will increase in the next five years, while paid search budgets will decline relative to the overall marketing budgets for companies.

The growth for SEO campaigns will increase from 17.7% in 2009 to 20.3% in 2013. At the same time, growth for paid search campaigns will decline from 15.9% in 2009 to 11.3% in 2013. Growth for both SEO and paid search both will decline between 2008 and 2009, due to the economy.

Here is a chart with those percentage breakdowns:


Search marketing will continue to grow over the years, reaching $23.4 billion by 2013, up from 12.2 billion in 2008. SEO spend will grow from 1.5 billion in 2008 to 3.85 billion in 2013, while paid search will grow from 7.7 billion in 2008 to 14.7 billion in 2013. By 2013, SEO will account for more than contextual ads, which will be earning just 3.6 billion, compared to SEO at 3.85 billion.

Chart with the dollar breakdowns: