Title: Advertisers' perceptions of search engine marketing

Authors: Heikki Karjaluoto, Hannele Leinonen

Addresses: School of Business and Economics, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40014, Finland. ' School of Business and Economics, University of Jyvaskyla, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40014, Finland

Abstract: The objective of this study is to examine advertisers| perceptions of search engine marketing. The theoretical part of the study investigates the two aspects of search engine marketing, namely advertising and optimisation. With the use of a qualitative case study conducted with leading search engine marketers and experts in Finland, the paper suggests that search engine marketing is still in its infancy among Finnish companies. Whereas small-sized dot-com companies operating in the Business-to-Business (B2B) sector have been most active in search engine marketing, traditional brick-and-mortars are just starting to set plans for search engine marketing. Finally, the study discusses the implications and provides future research directions.

Keywords: search engine marketing; search engine advertising; optimisation; online advertising; internet marketing; internet advertising; advertiser perceptions; Finland.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2009.021952

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2009 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.95 - 112

Published online: 11 Dec 2008 *

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