2024 Salary and Career survey: How much search marketers make

Search marketers earn between $85,000 to nearly $200,000 in annual compensation (salary and bonuses), on average, according to a new Search Engine Land survey. 

Why we care. Although the last year has been challenging for a variety of reasons (Google, the economy, the rise of generative AI, etc.) it continues to be a good time to be a search marketer. Having this data is helpful for benchmarking your current compensation and understanding how your career could progress. 

Average salary range. Executive management (C-level, SVP, VP) positions earn the most, on average – $198,182 in annual compensation. This number was higher last year – $220,000.

Meanwhile, on average, salaries increased year-on-year for all the other groups in our survey:

• Directors and senior directors earn $156,221 (an increase from $122,760 a year ago).
• Managers earn $99,933 (an increase from $87,688 last year).
• Staff earn $85,572 (an increase from $60,866 in 2023). 

• Executives make 2.32 times more than their staff, according to our survey. This is a decline from last year, when executives made 3.62 times more than their staff.

Median salaries vary greatly. Several factors can contribute to the great variance in median salaries (e.g., company size, years of experience). This was also true last year. Because salary averages can be misleading, let’s dig deeper into the numbers:

• Executive management positions range from $50,000 to $310,000.
• Director and senior director-level salaries range from $28,000 to $329,685.
• Manager-level salaries range from $14,000 to $270,000.

• Median compensation plateaus at companies with more than 1,000 employees, according to our survey.

• 52% of search marketers work at companies with more than 500 employees

Compensation increases with seniority. Years of experience continue to translate into higher compensation.

The first jump in salary comes around year six or seven (~$87,000 to ~$100,000), and the second salary jump comes when you reach year 10 (~$114,000 to ~$130,000), according to our survey:

Graduate degree impact on compensation. Overall, 38% of respondents had a graduate degree. But the median salaries of those with graduate degrees in business were 25% higher, according to our survey.

• A graduate degree was not a factor in compensation, according to our 2023 Salary & Career survey.

Meanwhile, more than 90% of search marketers have an undergraduate degree.

Methodology. Our survey results are based on responses from 291 individuals in North America (79%) and Western Europe (21%). Due to the limited number of respondents, other regions were excluded. We used the “median” results for salaries to filter out values that might skew the results. 

The 2024 Search Engine Land Salary and Career Survey was conducted between December and February. Invitations to take the survey were amplified on and by Search Engine Land. The survey included more than 20 questions related to career roles, salary, technology, job satisfaction and challenges/frustrations. Respondents were also asked to reveal their age and gender.