Search Marketing is still in its infancy both from a technological and market perspective.   Currently search marketing comprises roughly only about 7% of the overall global advertising spend.   In 2009 this translated to $26 Billion US in search advertising.   It is expected that by 2015 the search market will grow to $55 Billion or 11% of the global advertising market.

The spectacular growth in search marketing can be attributed to the fact that return on investment (ROI) can be precisely measured.

The search marketing, PPC or Paid Placement leader is Google.   Since its start just 12 years ago, Google has gone on to dominate this market.  Today it owns the search market space.  Its global market share is 74%.  Its US market share is 83%.

Global PPC Spend by Country

The US is still by far the largest search market in the world, comprising of 42.4% of worldwide search spend.  With the UK far behind in second place at 11.6% and Japan in third place at a distant 8.6%.

Source: Credit Suisse Google Report