SEMPO's annual "State of Search Engine Marketing" survey has been released, and the industry seems to be booming. Reporting on the survey's findings, some of the conclusions that Search Engine Land has not are:

Search engine marketing grew 62% in 2006.

North American advertisers spent $9.4 billion on search engine marketing in 2006

majority of senior executives (52%) consider SEM a high business priority.

Organic search optimization is still the most popular form of SEM

Google's AdWords was the most popular search advertising program in 2006, used by 96% of respondents

Branding was the primary objective for the majority (62%) of search engine advertisers

Spending on search engine advertising should nearly double by 2011, rising from $9.4 Billion to $18.6 Billion

You can read Search Engine Land's Complete Analysis here, or check out the a SEMPO website yourself.