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Search Marketing Industry Research

We strive to bring you the freshest and most comprehensive library of research relating to the search engine marketing industry, including studies regarding user behavior and market sizing.

Each of the following research studies is highlighted courtesy of its original publisher or author, and all copyrights remains with the original author. Some of the studies below do require a fee; SEMPO has no commercial relationship with any of our contributing publishers.

If you hear about excellent research and reports that you’d like to see us feature, please submit via submit via email Please read our submission guidelines.

Research Company Added
How America Searches: Health and Wellness
Consumers are taking more control over managing their personal health. And, thanks in large part to the Internet, they have access to an increasingly vast store of information – about everything from symptoms and diseases to doctors and medical practices to medication and pharmaceutical companies – as well as tools and resources with which to do so. Consumers rely on the Internet for health-related information, with online resources, particularly general search engines, healthcare portals and a range of social media playing a central role in steering consumers towards care and treatment options. They continue to seek advice from healthcare professionals, but when it comes to making important decisions about their health, such as whether or not to take a prescription medication, consumers also look to online social media to obtain information and share experiences with fellow consumers on topics that directly affect their healthcare choices. The key for every participant in the health value chain is to understand the journey that consumers take in order to seek care.
iCrossing 01-14-08
WebVisible + Nielsen/NetRatings - Measuring a Website’s Ability to Drive Offline Conversion for Local Service Advertisers
Summary: 2006 study which shows consumer behavior as it relates to local search and other forms of online advertising.
WebVisible  
Comment les Quebecois cherchent-ils sur le Web?
The study offers background and information about the French Canadian usage of search engines, realized with a survey of 20 questions and answer of 1300 respondents.
7/17/07
How America Searches: Election ‘08
The 2008 presidential campaign has been widely touted as the first “YouTube election,” but a more apt characterization would be the first “Internet election”. Voters are indeed turning to the Internet to get information about presidential candidates and political issues alike, but they are going well beyond video-sharing sites like YouTube and embracing everything from traditional news sites to candidates’ own websites to Wikipedia-like online resources to social networking sites and blogs.
iCrossing 7/2/07
Search 500 Index: Travel

How visible are Fortune 500 travel companies in natural search? Does leadership in the traditional marketplace translate to leadership in natural search visibility? The purpose of this report is to quantify the natural search visibility of the 13 Fortune 500 travel companies, compare these companies on the basis of natural search visibility, and compare the visibility of all competitors in the given online keyword landscape that comprises the Search 500 Index: Travel.

iCrossing 5/16/07
How America Searches: Mobile
With over 230 million mobile users in the U.S. and the number of mobile Internet users topping 20 million, wireless is beginning to deliver on its long-held promise of becoming the “third screen”. While mobile Internet access is the province of a relatively small, advanced segment of the user population, it is an important trigger of related activities, like mobile search. This report reveals key findings marketers, content owners and their carrier partners should consider when looking to capitalize on the mobile search opportunity and the factors that stand in the way of mobile Internet access and search becoming mainstream activities.
iCrossing 5/16/07
iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study – April 2007
The iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study findings should be of significant importance to search engines and search engine marketers, both in terms of the behavior of the search engine user community today, as well as user trends over the last four years.
iProspect 4/07
iProspect Social Networking User Behavior Study – April 2007
The iProspect Social Networking User Behavior Study findings should be of significant importance to both search engine marketers, and to the social networking sites themselves, as it uncovers a number of opportunities for both constituencies.
iProspect 4/07
iProspect Social Networking User Behavior Study
In January 2007, iProspect partnered with independent research firm JupiterResearch to develop a series of survey questions focused on how the U.S. online population utilizes several of the most popular social networking websites (or social search engines).
iProspect 04/07
iCrossing Search Synergy Report: Natural & Paid Search Symbiosis
Online marketers have long touted the positive synergy between natural and paid search. The fact that search engine visibility is of paramount importance to any marketing strategy is irrefutable. For this report we asked, “Does running a natural search campaign and a paid search campaign together create more value than running them in a non-integrated manner?” We demonstrate the crucial role of natural search ranking in an efficient search engine marketing (and overall online) marketing strategy.
iCrossing 03/07
The State of Search Marketing, 2006 (available to SEMPO members only)
In support of SEMPO’s mission, we have completed the State of Search Engine Marketing survey for 2006. This survey is SEMPO’s third major research project and is part of an ongoing commitment to conducting and providing comprehensive insights into the search engine marketing industry.
SEMPO 02/01/07
Search 500 Index: Automotive
Fortune 500 automotive companies are not reaching their full potential for natural search visibility, and are missing opportunities to leverage natural search to strengthen their brands and drive sales. The purpose of the Search 500 Index: Automotive is to quantify the natural search visibility of the 36 Fortune 500 automotive companies and compare Fortune 500 automotive companies on the basis of natural search visibility.
iCrossing 1/01/07
Hitwise 2006 Holiday Retail Recap Report
The Hitwise US 2006 Holiday Retail Recap Report will review the trends and milestones of online shopping behavior from this past season.
Hitwise 01/01/07
Outsell, Inc. Ad Spending Survey: Online Advertising Penetration to Exceed 90% by 2008
Outsell, Inc., an information industry research and analyst firm, has released results of a national advertising spending. The results, summarized in The Annual Ad Spending Study: Where and Why Advertisers are Moving Online are based on a survey Outsell fielded to 1,200 advertisers in November 2005 who control an estimated $2.4 billion in advertising.
Outsell, Inc. 01/01/07
iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study
In January 2006, iProspect partnered with Jupiter Research to develop a survey on the behavior of search engine users. A survey was fielded with the intention of better understanding how users behave when presented with search engine results after performing a search.
iProspect 04/06

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