Search engine marketing is nearing a crossroads as the industry matures and marketers find it harder and harder to squeeze out high-performance returns.  One only has to look at the latest study from the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), which found that more than half of advertisers (56%) and agencies (62%) say that Google keywords have become more expensive over the last year.

In short, marketers, and the search industry, are looking for ways to wring better value out of search.

Integration, Branding

Craig Macdonald, CMO of search engine optimization company Covario, says integrating search into the rest of a marketing program and using it as a branding tool is where the value can be found now. "Most of our clients are saying they no longer expect to achieve 5%, 10% or 15% returns on their search programs,” he says (via BtoB magazine). "You can't just dump money into search and see great returns anymore."

More and more, he adds, search is being used as a branding tool - deployed after the user is exposed to a marketing channel elsewhere.

Google TV

These trends will amplify after Google rolls out its TV initiative, predicts Vator News.

Consider all the ways in which Google might use its expertise in marrying just-in-time ads generated from its bidding platform with search requests via Google TV, it speculates. Much of the focus will be on content network-type advertising, but text ads from AdWords could also play a role. "Users will also be able to visit a favored Web site via Google TV and instantly turn that into a widget displayed on your TV screen, essentially creating a new TV channel that you can tune-in to any time," it said. "Add to that all the apps from Google's app store that will accompany Google TV, and your TV will now go well beyond what your cable provider makes available."