# PPC and SEO: Search Channel Benchmark

> The median published figure in the Search Channel Benchmark is 149,720 USD across 4 figures from 2 sources' own pages (range 78,760 to 166,790 USD), read 12 October 2026.

Retainvia · https://retainvia.com/datasets/search-channel-benchmark/ · computed 2026-10-18

**Median published figure:** 149,720 USD (range 78,760 to 166,790 USD; 4 sources with a figure; 2 of 6 sources read publish one).

2 of the 6 named sources read in full publish a figure; 4 publish none, read 12 October 2026.

The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 149,720 USD across 4).

## By occupation

| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| occupation advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers | 165,780 USD | 165,780 to 165,780 USD | 1 |
| occupation advertising-and-promotions-managers | 133,660 USD | 133,660 to 133,660 USD | 1 |
| occupation marketing-managers | 166,790 USD | 166,790 to 166,790 USD | 1 |
| occupation market-research-analysts | 78,760 USD | 78,760 to 78,760 USD | 1 |

## Every figure, with its source

One row per source: the figure the source's own page publishes, the page, and the day it was read.

| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm) | 166,790 USD | marketing-managers | 2026-10-12 |
| [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm) | 165,780 USD | advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers | 2026-10-12 |
| [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm) | 133,660 USD | advertising-and-promotions-managers | 2026-10-12 |
| [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Market Research Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Burea](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm) | 78,760 USD | market-research-analysts | 2026-10-12 |

## The sentence each figure was read from (4)

- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm), read 2026-10-12: "The median annual wage for marketing managers was $166,790 in May 2025."
- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm), read 2026-10-12: "2025 Median Pay $165,780 per year"
- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm), read 2026-10-12: "The median annual wage for advertising and promotions managers was $133,660 in May 2025."
- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Market Research Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Burea](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm), read 2026-10-12: "2025 Median Pay $78,760 per year"

## Read in full, publishes no figure

- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: OES Home : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_541800.htm), read 2026-10-12: every candidate on the page was refused
- [IAB: IAB \| Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2025](https://www.iab.com/insights/internet-advertising-revenue-report-full-year-2025/), read 2026-09-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [US Census Bureau: Service Annual Survey (SAS)](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sas.html), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- [US Census Bureau: County Business Patterns](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html), read 2026-10-12: read in full and no accepted figure on the page

## Methodology

Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 2 of the 6 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 4 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in USD (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 4 figures, never sentences; 22 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): the channel picture assembled from releases rather than from an agency's opinion: search's share of US digital ad revenue and its growth from the IAB/PwC report, advertising-services revenue from the Census Service Annual Survey, and the loaded cost of the in-house alternative from BLS occupational pay - set beside the paid-management fee band from our own pricing index. The comparison nobody publishes is the crossover: at what monthly spend the percent-of-spend management fee exceeds the salary cost of the role it replaces.

## Sources

- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers : Occupational Outlook](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: OES Home : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_541800.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Market Research Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Burea](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/market-research-analysts.htm) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [IAB: IAB \| Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2025](https://www.iab.com/insights/internet-advertising-revenue-report-full-year-2025/) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Census Bureau: Service Annual Survey (SAS)](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/sas.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- [US Census Bureau: County Business Patterns](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html) (the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)

## Cite or embed

- The median published figure in the Search Channel Benchmark is 149,720 USD across 4 figures from 2 sources' own pages (range 78,760 to 166,790 USD), read 12 October 2026.
- 2 of the 6 named sources read in full publish a figure; 4 publish none, read 12 October 2026.
- Search Channel Benchmark, occupation advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers: median 165,780 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Search Channel Benchmark, occupation advertising-and-promotions-managers: median 133,660 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Search Channel Benchmark, occupation marketing-managers: median 166,790 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- Search Channel Benchmark, occupation market-research-analysts: median 78,760 USD across 1 source, read 12 October 2026.
- The median is unchanged since 26 September 2026 (was 149,720 USD across 4).

Cite as: "Retainvia Search Channel Benchmark", updated 2026-10-18, https://retainvia.com/datasets/search-channel-benchmark/.

CSV: https://retainvia.com/datasets/search-channel-benchmark.csv
JSON: https://retainvia.com/datasets/search-channel-benchmark.json
Embed (plain HTML, static link back): see https://retainvia.com/datasets/search-channel-benchmark/#median