Report: Marketers Struggling with Both Paid & Organic Search

Despite the challenges that often come with paid search, new research indicates that marketers are still willing to work with this tactic in order to reap the potential benefits.

Merkle recently published its “Digital Marketing Report” for the second quarter of 2021. Statistics suggested that marketers’ spend on paid search rose 8.7% year-over-year, despite a 19% drop in click growth. Cost-per-click (CPC) increased 35% year-over-year, showing a recovery from the 21% decline in CPC during the first quarter within the pandemic.

On the other end of the spectrum, organic search is not yielding ideal results for marketers. Total year-over-year visits fell 9.7% in the second quarter, coming after four consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth. Mobile traffic, in particular, fell approximately 2%.

The Impact of Budget Restraints on Marketing

As marketers begin to struggle with both paid and organic search, previous research indicates that their lack of budget and resources may be contributing to the issues.

Fortella conducted the “State of B2B Marketing 2021” report, and data suggested that B2B marketers, in particular, are still faced with many obstacles as they look to achieve their primary revenue goals and objectives. The majority (64%) cited a lack of budget and resources as their top issue. This was followed by tracking/measurement (46%), data quality (42%) and talent/team (36%).

Interestingly, sales and marketing alignment (33%) also made the list. This is an area that marketers have tried to improve upon in the past.