Traditional advertising agencies are beginning to embrace the need for search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).

The search engine marketing industry has developed into a billion dollar industry and clients expect their agencies to get them involved. Ad agencies are now chasing the increased revenue generated by search engines.

In the past advertising agencies tended to ignore organic SEO as it was seen as a complicated system with results that were difficult to measure as part of an overall media campaign. This changed when they realized the potential of Pay per Click (PPC). This made sense to the agencies because its results were easily measurable and the results were impressive.

Ad agencies need to track and manage advertising results for their clients and there is a constant need to measure value and ROI. Thus the lack of tools for measuring the effectiveness of an SEO campaign was seen as a major draw back. In the present day this is no longer an issue as there is a large choice of measuring options out there. However ad agencies often make use of the SEO firm's expertise in using these tools and analyzing the results.

To meet their client's demands many ad agencies have had to dive straight into SEO. Their clients have become knowledgeable of what search engines can offer them. In fact they often have a greater knowledge of it than the agencies. So the agencies have had to learn quickly or risk losing some of their client base. They often chose to outsource to the SEO experts who have the skilled staff and the ongoing commitment to dedicate their resources and energies to SEO.

We are now at the point where advertising agencies are beginning to integrate search engine strategies into their traditional advertising media mix. They are often doing this with the help of SEO experts. This enables them to retain their traditional role of campaign management while outsourcing to the SEO firm. This is often a win-win situation for both sides as they each retain their areas of expertise while expanding their combined market share.