Search Engine Marketing: Looking Back into 2004

According to DMNews: A survey of search engine advertisers found that the No. 1 objective for their search marketing programs is building brand awareness, rather than generating sales. The rising price of keywords has not affected paid placement spending. Only 23 percent of marketers said they could not tolerate further increases. On average, advertisers said they could handle price increases of 33 percent while still maintaining positive return. Jupiter Research forecasts click prices will rise 31 percent in 2005. What's to happen in 2005...? Seems like a lot of big businesses are missing the boat on organic search or feel it may not be as measurable as paid. What do you think? Missing out on these "free", natural, organic listings?

Microsoft Corp. released its long-awaited desktop search technology yesterday, entering a crowded race to dominate information access on Windows-based PCs.

The new MSN Toolbar Suite includes an updated version of a toolbar plug-in for Internet Explorer, and new toolbars for the MSN Deskbar, Windows Explorer and Outlook. It can be downloaded at beta.toolbar.msn.com. It is expected to be available globally next year.