Also, the recent announcement that Google would be offering multiple canonicalization opportunities by the end of the year, just adds to the media challenges. You may remember that WPN first told  you about the canonical tag from the search engines back in February. Lee says it will be interesting to see the impact of this announcement on professional content producers.

Incidentally, Lee has a new book entitled Search Engine Advertising that includes a $200 Microsoft adCenter coupon for new advertisers.

Kevin says the survey not only gives projections, but it also looks at areas of interest for the search engine marketing industry. SEMPO surveyed advertisers and agencies and found that SEM spending will continue to grow in 2009. The report also predicts long-term growth rising to an estimated $26.1 billion total spending by 2013.

Kevin says the growth is a result of marketers redefining search and looking at factors such as social media and behavioral targeting. SEMPO’s press release also credits the growth to advertiser demand, rising keyword pricing, and cost per click efficiencies.

Specifically, SEMPO’s site lists the following findings:

-    2008 SEM spending totaled $13.4 billion
-    2009 SEM spending is projected to rise to $14.7 billion
-    Long term projections show a total SEM spend of $26.1 billion in 2013
-    Paid placement accounted for 88% of 2008 spending, or $11.9 billion
-    Organic SEO accounted for approximately 11% of 2008 spending, or more than $1.4 billion
-    Additionally, the market for SEM technologies, including leasing, agency solutions and in-house development, accounted for 1.1% of overall 2008 spending, or $141 million.

Overall, the search marketing field is broadening. For the first time, SEM programs are receiving larger budgets.

On a side note, Kevin has a new book entitled The Truth About Pay-Per-Click Advertising. The book is a companion book to Rebecca Lieb’s The Truth About Search Engine Optimization. For more information on Kevin’s book, visit his site.

Budgets for SEM in both organic and paid searches are coming not only from online, but they are also coming from other forms of media. Marketers are dealing with the online media silo as well as the media income that is coming from the least performing media out of the remaining budget. These media forms could be newspapers, television, or radio. All these media forms have lost shares to search and interactive. The sector that has lost the greatest share to online and search advertising has been the print media.

There is a considerable job turnover in the industry and which has put out an increased demand for search marketing experts. Lee has noticed these trends in the three surveys SEMPO has conducted. Another recent trend for marketers, has been to have both paid and SEO in-house. Some experts believe there to be a control issue between agencies and in-house, but Lee disagrees. It’s not a control issue, but rather the company wants a balance between their control and their ability to execute the best practices. In other words, companies are not too concerned with who has the power, but they want their businesses to operate in the most productive manner.

Search is a hot topic, and will continue to grow. It has become material. One of the reasons for this is the money that search is bringing in. Another reason is the media coverage that it has received. As a result of all these developments, more and more people are now paying closer attention to search than they did before.

Gatherings such as PubCon are a prime opportunity to get wind of new trends and practices headed down the SEM pipeline. Our own Mike McDonald had the chance to chat again with Kevin Lee about the ongoing evolution of SEM.

Search marketing is branching out into new spheres at a breakneck pace. The SEM machine is gaining a tremendous amount of momentum as it seeks to make its presence felt in more contextually and culturally relevant ways. Traditional marketing strategies are giving way to integrated, cross-medium platforms that focus not only on building a brand but also on meeting consumers on their own terms.

With ideas so innovative and an audience so ripe, competition in search marketing is growing fiercer than ever. Google, Yahoo, and MSN can no longer be written off as “Internet only” operations, as all three are employing methods to bring their respective advertising models to offline mediums such as print, radio, and television.

With search marketing becoming increasingly focused on delivering contextually based SERPs, could paid listings actually offer a greater aspect of relevancy to users than organic results? These are the questions that SEM professionals and advertising partners alike will have to examine as the industry continues to gravitate toward examining user behavior and contextual relevancy.