As Chris Boggs, the President of SEMPO, told WebProNews, the main goal of the letter was to promote a free market approach to the Internet that would allow search engines to provide the best results with limited or no regulation. The organization wrote the letter in response to its members’ needs and the continuing call for regulation of Google.

Although SEMPO has not received a response from the FTC, it hopes that its message was heard. Boggs told us that it is willing to work with government agencies such as the FTC to help them better understand how search engines operate.

Keep watching WebProNews for the latest news in this developing story.

At SES New York, SEMPO‘s Sara Holoubek summarized the state of search marketing by saying, “Things are looking good for search.” She also said, “Folks should feel confident in their spending.”

In terms of some specifics, Holoubek then stated, “The data suggested that we will have 14 percent growth, and that means that the North American search engine marketing budget will be $16.6 billion in 2010.”

Finally, here’s a rather stunning fact with regards to where most of that money is headed: “97 percent of the respondents are advertising on Google.”

It looks like the search marketing industry – along with Google’s bank account balance – is in great shape, then, regardless of the recent recession. Indeed, a record number of people (about 1,500 individuals in 16 countries) responded to SEMPO’s survey, making the results hard to dismiss.

Jeff serves as the Executive Vice President of iCrossing and the President of SEMPO. In their latest State of the Market Survey, SEMPO found search spending at 13 billion in 2008, and saw that it would increase to 19 billion by 2011.  (WebProNews detailed SEMPO’s latest State of the Market Survey in an interview with Kevin Lee.)

While these numbers show significant growth in spite of the economic crisis, Jeff points out that these statistics do not reflect the extent of how much search has evolved. Search now looks at how users engage with content. In the past, users had to go to search engines to find websites and news. Today, users go to social networks, use various devices to search on, and want to find images, video, blogs, etc.

What does all this mean for marketers? According to Jeff, marketers need to look at their content distribution processes and make sure they are optimized for both search engines and social networks. Marketers also need to break out of their traditional molds and integrate social into their search efforts.

To better understand the search evolution and to further help marketers, SEMPO is working this year on the thought leadership of extending search beyond what it is known as today.

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.

There is also a greater emphasis on paid searches. While demand is still very high for search marketing, the buying game is a different story. You are now seeing a more diversified approach since many companies are sharing the load. Companies are moving to a more specialized form of search marketing. Despite these trends, companies still need to work together in order to be successful.

Todd also told us all about the SEMPO Institute and how you can attend. Learn more about all this and much more from the exclusive WebProNews video shot on location at SES New York 2007.

“Obviously, search is hot ( and everyone’s trying to hire people with skills in search) [but]… there’s not a lot of opportunities for people to get the training. SEMPO definitely recognized the need for that.”

As a member of its board of directors, Hotchkiss reminds us of SEMPO’s (or Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) 2007 initiative, SEMPO Institutes. Announced in November of 2006, Institutes plans to become an entry point into education on search engine marketing. Aside from obvious benefits, there’s another huge caveat for such an organized educational program.

“Certain people think that SEMPO should police the industry: define ‘black hat’ and ‘white hat.’ We were never built to do that, it was never really a mandate… but I think that by training new people coming into the space about… best practices and fundamentals… there’s two ways you can control something, you can police it on the back end or you can prevent it on the front end with education.”

One of the growing trends that Gordon has noticed is the shifting attitude of advertising agencies toward the idea of search engine marketing. The practice is become more widely accepted and embraced by traditional/mainstream marketers by in large.

As the amount of advertising expenditure in the realm of search marketing continues to increase, the need for relevant data and metrical analysis becomes all the more paramount. This is the mission that SEMPO has committed to undertaking by gathering metrics concerning areas such as paid search, bid prices, etc., all as part of the organization’s comprehensive end-of-year surveys.

According to SEMPO’s 2005 State of the Market Survey, advertisers in North America increased their ad spending by 44 percent over 2004, for a total of $5.75 billion. Although search engine optimization was the top tactic funded by marketers, paid placement campaigns comprised the bulk of the total spending.

The survey also found that much of SEM funding came from a shift from other programs and did not represent newly created funding. The survey also revealed that advertisers were approaching pricing limits in terms of click prices.

Gordon says that he plans to report some of the preliminary findings from the 2006 survey at the Search Engine Strategies conference in Chicago, running December 4-7. The complete report of findings will be published in the first quarter of 2007.

SEMPO is currently winding down market research aimed at measuring the attitudes surrounding click fraud by primarily gauging how deeply advertisers are concerned about the practice, and whether they feel that deliberate steps need to be taken in order to address the issue. SEMPO is also launching an institute designed to produce a new generation of search engine marketing professionals, offering courses in the fundamentals of SEM, as well as advanced SEO and SEM offerings. As SEM begins to disperse into specialized realms, it will be important to have adequately educated professionals spearheading the profession.