Just got back from Jupiter’s Search Engine Strategies conference in Manhattan. My take is that the WebMasterWorld conference in Orlando the week before was a “funner” environment — and not just because of the swinger’s convention that happened to be in the hotel at the same time. Nevertheless, the NY show was the best SEO show yet. After four days of conferences, and some great food including Spark’s Steakhouse, here’s the bottom line:

1. “Search” (the capital “S” industry) — refers to using search engines to get leads or sales and refers to both paid (pay-per-click) and unpaid (”organic”) search — is going to be the hottest thing in marketing for at least the next 18-24 months.

2. All the recent and forthcoming changes in the search engines should be collectively called “The Search Marketing Professionals’ Full Employment Plan.”

It used to be that you could optimize a site, get some links, and manage a pay-per-click campaign with one hand tied behind your back. Now, things are starting to get out of hand. One three-year veteran SEO professional told me that two years ago she used to already know 95% of what was said on stage at these conferences and attended to “make sure she was up to date.” Now, the quantity of new stuff to keep on top of is enormous. And even when you think you have it it all figured out, there’s something else. (I have got to get up to speed on foreign language SEO.)

And the software tools designed to make life easier often just raise the bar on what’s possible in terms of analytics, creating more additional work requirements than time savings. But make no mistake — there are some cool tools. Some, like GoToast, are meant to be self service. Sign up, put in your credit card, and get ready to delve as far into ROI data as you care to go. Many software providers, though, only provide their “proprietarily awesome” software to their own SEO clients. Ah ha. Demo software to sell services.

Makes a bit of sense really, since all SEO pitches are pretty hard to differentiate. “We’ll get you up on the search engines” versus “We’ll help you rank high on the search engines.” Ok, got it. What are you actually going to do? Then they all drop off into the same mumbling speech about keyword density, linking strategies, and other mostly black box concepts. Add some cool software to the demo and you’ve got something to sell.

It kind of reminds me of the content management software space. Most web site owners couldn’t care less what content management software they get as long as it works. They usually buy whatever their web design company recommends. The whole point of the software is to not know anything about HTML and still be able to make a web page. With search analytic software, most applications seem to be about the same. Add some code to your web pages and instantly track your clicks to see what search terms are actually converting. Against similar software programs, there’s not much difference.

But as many decent-sized companies are starting to discover, the difference between even a moderately aggressive search campaign (paid and non-paid) and “everything else they’re doing” is likely to be a night and day difference in terms of ROI. Typically, the ROI from all Search activities simply blows away everthing else a company does in terms of results obtained for dollars spent.

One of the best slides (and oh yes, there was plenty of Powerpoint-itis all week. When is it, exactly, that the word will get out that reading your slides to an already literate audience is not the best way to go?) was a Jupiter stat that showed that “large company” participation in Search doubled last year . . . from 12 to 24%. The remaining 76% is part of the SEO Full Employment Plan.

Interestingly, most of the Search utilizers are the smaller businesses. Those that can’t afford the big trade journal ads and large sales forces tend to be leaner and meaner. Companies with 500 sales people across the country are less likely to be aggressively using Search as part of their marketing mix. It’s funny when a company is spending $5 million a month on sales people, but they’re not spending one half of one percent of that to get them more leads — from people who are actually looking for what they’re selling.

Not surprisingly, some analysts say companies should spend 30-40% of their marketing budgets on Search. But the fact that so many are currently spending zero — and the fact that this will inevitably change — is what makes the next 1-2 years so great for the SEO industry.

Finally, I’ll pass along one other tidbit. Part of the problem with big companies and Search is that they just add it as part of their marketing mix like any other advertising spend. But it’s not the same. Advertising, as they say, is where you just know that half of it is a complete waste — but you have no idea which half. Search, then, is the opposite.

You can track and measure exactly what search tems and keyword buys are converting into actual leads and actual sales.

Think of it this way. If the bank’s drive through window was passing out new dollar bills for every ninety cents worth of coins you turned in, how many times would you go through the line? Think you’d find the budget for a few more trips? Search spending is not the same as advertising. If a certain keyword is converting into additional net profit, the rule is simple: do more. The only reason you should stop is when you can’t handle the additional business or you run out of money.

If you are properly tracking, analyzing, (and presenting) your clicks and conversions, your CEO should be able to go find as much money as it takes to get all the clicks you can. After all, particularly for most B2B companies, there are a finite number of prospects actively searching for what you sell this month. How many of them don’t you want to talk to?