Mick Jagger sang, "I can't get no satisfaction," and that's apparently how many SEM professionals feel about their efforts these days. A recent report from [x+1] found that even though organizations are still investing as much if not more in SEM during this down economy, they have been somewhat unhappy with performance.

Among the areas of disappointment: not enough lift in conversion rates, an inability to optimize sites for 30-100 keywords and redirect searchers to dynamically created landing pages, and the inability to improve the performance of landing pages in response to keyword searches.

The [x+1] report, Search Engine Marketing in 2009, provides recommendations for improving SEM performance, such as:

• Segment audiences based on a range of publicly available demographic and IP data.
• Optimize websites and landing pages using traffic-generating keywords.
• Create dynamic landing pages—which are assembled in real time based on online visitor data—and optimize them.
• Use other keys to optimization: Use hosted page content and templates; apply rules-based ad-targeting that utilizes dozens of audience attributes; install an integrated system for display ads and Web pages that allows for common data, reporting and analytics; and create a shared creative assets library.

The Po!nt: Don't settle for less. By following key optimization strategies like these, marketers can enhance their SEM operations and realize the ROI promise of search.

Source: x+1. Get the full report here.

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