Acquiring the services of search engine optimisation (SEO) specialists is becoming less expensive, new research has concluded. According to a study by Marketing Sherpa, the cost of hiring and retaining staff with experience in this area has fallen between 2007 and 2009, news that may be of interest to companies seeking a search engine optimisation firm.

The news source found that 64 per cent of businesses questioned on the issue rated hiring search engine marketing (SEM) workers as being 'not difficult' in 2009, up from 46 per cent the previous year and 39 per cent in 2007. In contrast, the proportion that found securing the service of such staff to be 'very difficult' was 14 per cent, down from 23 per cent in 2009 and 19 per cent the year previously.

"Locating someone with knowledge of SEM is getting easier as the industry matures," Marketing Sherpa's report noted.

Research published last month by Efficient Frontier revealed that search engine marketing is giving UK travel companies higher returns. The study showed that search impression volumes in the sector climbed by 32 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2009.

Living Streams quote: "Our SEO services have always been affordable my SMEs because we only undertake projects which we believe will yield a positve ROI for clients.  One reason why the average price has come down is that there are far more self-trained 'SEO specialists' in operation prepared to take less for delivering less:  It's easy for these firms to achieve high rankings for a website by targeting uncompetitive terms that are infrequently searched - but that's no use to their customers."