Most Search Marketers are unsophisticated

According to ClickZ's analysis of a new Jupiter report most search marketers are unsophisticated. The study says there are two kinds of search marketers, Sophisticates and Unsophisticates, and they each have characteristic approaches to their work.

Only 25 percent of search marketers use sophisticated bid strategies and measurement techniques, and those who do are more likely to be old-timers, big spenders and direct marketers.

Sophisticates have bigger budgets, smarter bidding strategies, and buy in many more words than unsophisticates (39 percent will buy more than a thousand words in a campaign, while only 14 percent of Unsophisticates will go that high).

What disturbs me about Jupiter's segmentation is that it's all about bidding for keywords. Looks like search marketers have rapidly descended from the dizzying heights of e-marketing gurudom to the less glamorous role of media buyer.