Marketers are failing to invest in SEO data despite claiming that it is one of their most important channels, according to a new study from Forrester Consulting and SEMrush.
SEO data can be leveraged by brands for a wide variety of applications, including unearthing relevant keywords and topics for engaging content, but only around half of the marketers in sectors such as retail, tech and finance said that they are actually using it.
This is despite the fact that nine in ten said that SEO was one of their top three marketing channels. It suggests that brands are not doing enough to use data to get a better understanding of their customers or support their needs via educational or entertaining articles and videos. This is a problem as personalisation is a key trend for 2019 and beyond.
Forrester Consulting said that marketers are not “putting their money where their mouth is” and are actively hampering their own marketing efforts by not sharing data with other teams. These sales then make it more difficult for the wider business to build a “comprehensive profile” of customers.
Many of the companies surveyed said that they see the value of SEO data but often lack the resources, tools and defined processes to use it properly.
“Without improvements in communication across silos and open access to data across channels, however, most efforts will be doomed to failure. By taking a more pragmatic approach to data sharing and analysis and not trying to run before it can walk, the marketing industry will reap the rewards of truly effective unified marketing,” SEMrush’s Olga Andrienko said.
