Search marketing continues to grow and morph, and by all accounts 2008 will bring more of the same.
A major player in the search world is Jeffrey Pruitt, exec VP-search at search agency iCrossing and president of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). BtoB recently asked Pruitt to talk about current and future trends in search marketing and the biggest challenges marketers will face in 2008. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

BtoB: What will be the big trend this year?

Pruitt: The biggest trend is the convergence of display and search advertising. We’ll see a vastly different landscape over the next three to five years. Nonpremium inventory will be served to contextuallike products—like site targeting, content ads, display-type ads and video ads. The key is that this form of advertising will continue to evolve into what I would call search-type dynamics. Nonpremium display content will move to a more auction-based model. In 2008, you’ll see the first pieces of that. You are seeing Google, MSN and Yahoo really starting to push that more.

Social media search is another trend. Imagine getting an e-mail from someone, clicking on their name and receiving their Facebook profile. That is an example of social media search. I’m hearing that Google, MSN and Yahoo are ramping up their social media with these types of applications. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.