Report: Most Marketers Seeing SEO Efforts Become ‘More Successful’

Search engine optimization (SEO) continues to be a critical part of marketers’ overall strategies, but new research suggests that they still face numerous challenges in this area.

Search Engine Journal recently published “The State of SEO 2021” report, and statistics indicated that the majority of marketers (46.6%) believe that their results from SEO are becoming “more successful.” Eighteen percent said that they are actually becoming “a lot more successful,” while 22.3% stated that they have been at least the same.

However, this does not mean that marketers have not seen their fair share of challenges, especially amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past year, the majority of marketers (37.6%) cited budget cuts as their top SEO challenge. This was followed by strategy issues (34.8%), lack of resources (32.9%) and pandemic-related issues (27.9%).

The Impact of the Pandemic on Marketers

This is not the first time that the pandemic has been cited for issues among marketers. Previous research indicates that it has also had an impact on everything from key performance indicators (KPIs) to budgets.

The Trade Desk conducted its “Measuring Success in Digital Advertising” report, and data suggested that most marketers (80%) agree that their planning or budget process has been significantly affected by the pandemic. Nearly 50% said that the marketing KPIs they previously had in place are also now being challenged.

The majority of marketers (48%) say that over the past six months, the pandemic has created more pressure. Additionally, 36% stated that they are now under more pressure than ever before.