64% of Clients Fail To Implement Their SEO Firm's Recommendations Finds iProspect & JupiterResearch Study

64% of Clients Fail To Implement Their SEO Firm's Recommendations Finds iProspect & JupiterResearch Study

Watertown, MA (PRWEB) September 27, 2005 -- According to a new study published today by iProspect (http://www.iprospect.com), the Original® Search Engine Marketing Firm, 64% of organizations that outsource their natural search engine optimization to an SEO firm encounter obstacles within their organization that prohibit them from implementing their vendor's recommended changes to their websites. Lack of human resources and lack of budget are amongst the most frequent obstacles encountered.

The iProspect Natural SEO Outsourcing Study (http://www.iprospect.com/ecampaign/pr3_0905/searchenginemarketingwhitepapers.htm) also revealed that 48% of organizations that outsource their natural search engine optimization to an SEO firm believe they underestimate the resources required for implementation.

High-level findings include:

*    2 out of 3 marketers who outsource their search engine optimization encounter obstacles that prevent them from implementing their vendor's SEO recommendations.

*    1 out of 3 marketers lack adequate internal human resources to implement their vendor's SEO recommendations, while 1 out of 6 lacks an adequate outsourcing budget to do so.

*    1 out of 2 marketers underestimate the resources required to implement their vendor's SEO recommendations.

"These responses tell a troubling story," said iProspect President, Robert Murray. "Companies who are unable to implement their vendor's recommendations or who cannot muster the organizational commitment to act on their SEO firm's recommendations are, in effect, committing to fail." Murray continued, "The site changes an SEO firm recommends are not tremendously difficult to implement, and the resulting visibility, traffic and conversions are often significant. The message is clear: Marketers must build solid organizational commitment not just in the marketing group, but in the IT group, to the search engine marketing campaign before engaging an SEO firm. This ensures that they have the implementation resources to execute on their SEO firm's recommendations so they can generate the results their organizations seek."

According to Dr. Naga Krothapalli, iProspect's Director of Algorithmic Search, "There are myriad reasons why this could be happening, from road blocks in the IT department to changes in priorities within the organization," but he notes, "ultimately, it comes down to one of three factors: budget, human resources, or organizational commitment. In most large organizations, IT projects, including site improvements, are ongoing. It's just a matter of which ones are given priority."

Krothapalli elaborated, "Companies engage SEO firms for their expert guidance and recommendations to remedy rankings shortfalls. However, internal obstacles regularly delay or derail site changes related to search engine optimization, handcuffing what would otherwise be a successful SEO campaign. It's akin to going to the doctor when you're sick and then failing to fill the prescription. If a website cannot be found in search engines, it is not going to get better on its own. If the site doesn't change, the rankings won't either."

About the Survey and Methodology

JupiterResearch surveyed search engine marketers and agencies. Respondents were targeted by familiarity with their company's search engine marketing efforts and screened for involvement with marketing their company's products or those of clients. A total of 636 qualified search engine marketers and 224 qualified search engine marketing agencies completed the survey. Respondents received an email invitation to participate in the survey, with an attached URL linked to the Web-based survey form. As an incentive, respondents were entered into a sweepstakes for the chance to win a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate.

In this survey effort, JupiterResearch worked with its sister company JupiterWeb on the technical tasks of sample building and survey fielding. JupiterWeb properties include more than 150 Web sites and over 150 email newsletters that are viewed by 20 million unique users and generate over 275 million page views monthly, thus enabling JupiterResearch to survey hard-to-reach audiences.

Proper attribution requires that the study is clearly identified as the "iProspect Natural SEO Outsourcing Study." Copies of the study can be obtained at http://www.iprospect.com/ecampaign/pr3_0905/searchenginemarketingwhitepapers.htm

About iProspect

iProspect® (http://www.iprospect.com) is the Original® Search Engine Marketing Firm. The company helps many of the world's most successful brands maximize their online marketing ROI through natural search engine optimization (http://www.iprospect.com/services/search-engine-optimization-service.htm), paid inclusion management (http://www.iprospect.com/services/paid-inclusion-management-service.htm) as a Yahoo! Search Submit Certified Ambassador, pay per click advertising management (http://www.iprospect.com/services/pay-per-click-management-service.htm) via their own patent-pending bid management agent called iSEBA?, and Web analytics (http://www.iprospect.com/services/web-analytics-service.htm) through their own SEM-configured version of WebTrends?. Located in Watertown, Massachusetts, the company can be contacted at 1-800-522-1152, or by visiting www.iprospect.com.

Questions regarding this release should be directed to iProspect Media Relations Manager, Colleen Reed, at 1-800-522-1152 x1203 or creed@iprospect.com.

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Press Contact: Colleen Reed
Company Name: IPROSPECT
Email: creed@iprospect.com
Phone: 617-923-7000
Website: www.iprospect.com

[ Comments on this press release: Perhaps the recommendations were not realistic, bad advice, or beyond the budget of the client. In my experience, effective search engine optimization has to be neither complex nor expensive to produce good results. I would REALLY like to see the details behind what this survey seems to indicate, including did the companies implement part of the recommendations and see an increase in their search engine traffic or not? The whitepaper makes it sound like companies either implemented all or none of the recommendations. Was there no middle ground? Did that include cases where the company just rejected the proposal of the SEO company and went with someone else?

If you read the whitepaper, my take on the results is that the search engine optimization provider failed to properly educate the client or understand the client's needs and available resources. This is not really about a problem with the client but the company or companies providing the services, in my opinion. Nice spin, wrong direction... -(hris ]