Gartner 2025 CMO Survey: Search Advertising & SEO Dominate Spend

A new landmark report from Gartner reveals a pivotal trend for 2025: CMOs are overwhelmingly backing search marketing, with both paid search and SEO commanding dominant shares of digital budgets. As marketing leaders navigate an economic climate defined as the "era of less," they are strategically investing in the proven performance of search. The 2025 Gartner CMO Spend Survey shows that as budgets tighten, the combined force of paid and organic search is a priority.

For professionals across the search landscape, this report provides clear evidence of the industry's central role in business growth. As every dollar of spend comes under scrutiny, channels with transparent, demonstrable ROI are winning the budget wars. This article breaks down the essential findings from the survey and what they mean for the future of search marketing.

Marketing Budgets in 2025: A Strategic Balancing Act

In 2025, marketing budgets reflect a clear prioritization of efficiency and performance. Paid media takes the largest portion of the overall budget, accounting for 30.6%. This is followed by martech (marketing technology) at 22.4%, labor at 21.9%, and agencies at 20.7%.

These allocations show a strategic focus on direct advertising channels and the technology required to optimize them. Marketing budgets as a percentage of total company revenue vary by industry, from 6.7% in manufacturing to 9.3% in media. This context shows that while search is a universal priority, the financial landscape differs across sectors.

Digital Dominance: A 61% Share of the Marketing Budget

The strategic shift to digital continues to accelerate, with digital channels now accounting for a commanding 61% of the total marketing budget in 2025. This significant majority highlights the non-negotiable importance of a sophisticated digital footprint for modern brands. The detailed breakdown of this digital spend provides a clear roadmap to the channels that have earned the confidence and investment of today's marketing leaders. The data points directly to a search-first approach in budget allocation.

Search Advertising: Leading the Budget Pack

Paid search advertising captures the single largest share of the digital channel budget at 13.9%. This leading position underscores the deep trust CMOs have in paid search to deliver highly measurable and reliable results. In a climate that demands accountability, search advertising provides the data-driven attribution that leaders need to prove ROI.

SEO: A High-Priority Investment in Organic Growth

SEO commands a substantial 8.0% of the digital budget, making it a top-tier investment and the leading channel in the owned/earned media category. This significant allocation demonstrates a strong, strategic commitment to building a long-term, organic presence. It solidifies SEO's position not as an afterthought, but as a core pillar of the marketing mix.

Social and Display Advertising Hold Key Roles

While search channels lead, social advertising and digital display advertising remain essential components of the digital strategy. Social media accounts for 12.2% of digital spend, while display advertising follows at 12.5%. These channels are crucial for achieving top-of-funnel awareness and reaching audiences at scale.

The Performance Matrix: Where High Spend Meets High Impact

The most revealing data in the report comes from a chart plotting channel spend against channel impact. This matrix provides strong evidence of perceived value search marketing's value, moving beyond budget numbers to show what CMOs perceive as most effective. The results offer a powerful affirmation for the entire search ecosystem.

Both paid search and SEO are positioned as high-impact channels. Search advertising is explicitly located in the high-spend, high-impact quadrant, cementing its status as a top-performing investment. SEO also sits firmly on the high-impact side of the matrix, confirming its value delivery even with a more efficient spend.

Navigating Budget Cuts: What It Means for Your Team

The survey also sheds light on the difficult decisions CMOs are making to optimize their resources. A striking 39% of CMOs are planning to reduce spending on both agencies and labor, signaling a drive toward greater efficiency. This environment requires teams and partners to be indispensable.

For agencies, the primary cost-saving measure cited by CMOs is eliminating underperforming relationships and renegotiating contracts. For in-house teams, leaders are focused on simplifying overlapping roles and centralizing key functions. Technology is also facing cuts, with 12% of CMOs planning to simplify their martech stack and better utilize existing tools.

Conclusion

The Gartner 2025 CMO Spend Survey provides a clear and decisive message: search marketing, in all its forms, is a dominant force in modern digital strategy. With paid search leading budget allocation and both paid and organic search confirmed as high-impact channels, the search ecosystem is the central pillar of performance marketing. The combined investment in Search Advertising and SEO demonstrates a definitive search-first approach from today's top marketing leaders.

To see the full data for your industry, download the complete 2025 Gartner CMO Spend Survey here: 2025 Marketing Budget Data Snapshots.