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It’s an interesting thought and one that, according to Kevin Ryan of Motivity Marketing, is not too far out in left field. He did not mince words when he told WebProNews, "Search is going to be considered a public utility."

If you look at various definitions of the term "public utility," you can see that they often explain it as a monopoly on the services it provides. Since Google is clearly the leader in search, with comScore’s most recent report showing that the search company occupies 63.7 percent of the market, is it a monopoly?

Although many rumors have indicated as much, no one has ever challenged the idea until last week. The New York Times reports that France did, in fact, call the search giant a monopoly in regards to advertising in online searches.

Not only is Google a leader in search and advertising, but it is also quickly gaining ground in the mobile industry. It has and is continuing to receive its fair share of antitrust concerns from both the U.S. and abroad in all these areas.

Incidentally, Ryan also points out in the above video that Google obtained a license to buy and sell electricity earlier this year.

Based upon this information, the idea of search as a public utility doesn’t really seem too far off after all.

"It’s going to get really, really interesting really fast," said Ryan.

How do you see this playing out?

New data reveals that the largest search marketers would spend even more if they could, according to a recent study by JupiterResearch, commissioned by search management firm Marin Software.

The data found that the majority (92%) of large search marketers would increase their pay-per-click (PPC) spend an average of 22 percent if major technology and management barriers were resolved.

"While paid search market growth remains strong, our research shows that the industry has matured to a point where new technologies and approaches are needed to support and evolve large search marketing programs," said Kevin Ryan, search industry marketing expert and CEO of Motivity Marketing.

"Next-generation search management applications are now hitting the market and quickly gaining in popularity, which should facilitate increased spending at the company level and drive additional growth in the search industry as a whole."

Eighty-five percent of marketers said the complexity of paid search management is growing and 44 percent said that running a well-managed, large-scale search marketing campaign is more difficult than running an election campaign for office.

The majority (78%) of marketers believe managing large keyword lists is cumbersome and more than half (59%) say they don’t have the staff to manage paid search campaigns. Sixty-nine percent said existing applications are not robust enough for their needs.

Even with those challenges, search marketing is still a top priority for marketers. The good news is 79 percent are spending more on paid search management every year, and 67 percent of advertisers reported that increasing the use of PPC campaigns is a top strategy going forward.

"Search marketing has become a strategic imperative for many companies, but the lack of technology and infrastructure to support search marketing poses a serious problem for advertisers looking to grow their PPC spend. This represents a potential Achilles heel for search industry growth," said Marc Barach, chief marketing officer of Marin Software.

"The next wave of paid search growth will rely on large advertisers using professional second-generation applications to manage the complexity of their PPC programs, so they can cost-effectively grow their program spend without requiring added resources."
 

The goal of the SES Awards is to inspire innovation and new ideas. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20, 2008, at the San Jose Conference Center.

The winners will be selected based on innovation in methodology and execution, achieving success goals, excellence in tactical execution, and overall approach and category relevance. Winners will be recognized at the event, in the SES Magazine and on SearchEngineWatch.com.

"The new Search Engine Strategy Awards offer an excellent opportunity to recognize the best among our peers and to continually raise the bar on accomplishments in this challenging, ever-changing marketing practice," said Kevin Ryan, Vice President, Global Content Director, Search Engine Strategies and SearchEngineWatch.com.

Awards will be given in the following 15 categories:
 

Best Search Engine Ad Platform

Search Engine with the Most Relevant Search Results

Most Innovative New Search Engine

Technology Platform Search Marketers Can’t Live Without

Best SEM Technology Platform for SMBs

Most Innovative Use of Search Engine Optimization

Most Innovative Paid Search Campaign

Best Social Media Marketing Campaign

Best Business-to-Business Search Marketing Campaign

Best Multi-National Search Marketing Campaign

Best Use of Local Search

Best Integration of Search and Other Media

Most Effective Use of Web Analytics

Best Web Analytics Platform

Most Advertiser-Friendly Search Engine

Editor’s Choice