How Good is SEO for Lead Generation?

Turns out, not so good, at least according to B2B marketers surveyed by Marketing Sherpa earlier this year.

Respondents were asked to rate the quantity and quality of leads generated for each of several search tactics (click the chart to see it at full size).

It seems respondents' feelings about SEO were mixed. While 71% of the respondents said they use it, only 13% said that it generates a high volume of high quality leads. Almost twice as many said it generates a high volume of low quality leads.

This brings me back to my post yesterday, where I asked about trading off of quality vs. quantity when you're blogging.

I'll bet better content creates better leads. It'd sure be interesting to measure.

9/15/09 PS: HubSpot just published data supporting the premise that SEO generates leads... but not always the leads that convert to sales.

Note: The total percentage of each column reflects those who are using that tactic. For example, 71% of respondents use 'Search engine optimization'. The remaining 29% do not use this tactic.