SEO budget: Marketing Budget Share Benchmark
The Marketing Budget Share Benchmark carries 5 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages; the 3 published figures given by survey run from 26.10 to 90.50 percent, read 29 October 2026.
3 of the 12 named sources read in full publish a figure; 9 publish none, read 29 October 2026.
By survey and time
| Breakdown | Median | Range | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| surveyUENI | 39.4% | 39.4 to 39.4% | 1 |
| time2024 | 7.7% | 7.7 to 7.7% | 1 |
| time2026 | 7.8% | 7.8 to 7.8% | 1 |
Every figure, with its source
One row per published figure: the figure as the source's own page publishes it, the page, and the day it was read. A figure that is not on a page we read is not on this one.
| Source | Figure | Breakdown | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026 | 90.5% | UENI | 2026-10-29 |
| UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026 | 39.4% | UENI | 2026-10-29 |
| UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026 | 26.1% | UENI | 2026-10-29 |
| Gartner - CMO Spend 2026 (research summary) | 7.8% | 2026 | 2026-10-29 |
| Gartner - 2024 CMO Spend Survey (press release) | 7.7% | 2024 | 2026-10-29 |
The sentence each figure was read from (5)
- UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026, read 2026-10-29:
Nine in ten, 90.5%, plan to spend under $200 a month.
- UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026, read 2026-10-29:
What is the average small business marketing budget? Among 7,413 businesses answering at signup in UENI’s data (counted 10 August 2026), the most common small business marketing budget is $1 to $50 a month, chosen by 39.4%.
- UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026, read 2026-10-29:
A further 26.1% plan to spend nothing, 24.9% plan $51 to $200, 5.7% plan $201 to $500 and 3.8% plan $500 or more.
- Gartner - CMO Spend 2026 (research summary), read 2026-10-29:
Marketing budgets have been on a plateau since 2022, with today’s average budget at just 7.8% of company revenue — which is 18% lower than the mean budget allocation just four years ago.
- Gartner - 2024 CMO Spend Survey (press release), read 2026-10-29:
Average marketing budgets have fallen to 7.7% of overall company revenue, down from 9.1% in 2023, according to a Gartner, Inc.
Read in full, publishes no figure
9 named sources were read in full on the dates shown and print no usable figure. They are counted, never filled in.
- Gartner - 2025 CMO Spend Survey (press release), read 2026-10-29: every candidate on the page was refused
- Gartner - 2026 CMO Spend Survey (press release), read 2026-10-29: every candidate on the page was refused
- The CMO Survey - 2026 Highlights and Insights Report (PDF), read 2026-09-29: every candidate on the page was refused
- The CMO Survey - 2026 Topline Report (PDF), read 2026-09-29: every candidate on the page was refused
- IPA - Bellwether Report Q2 2026 (UK), read 2026-10-29: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- S&P Global - IPA Bellwether Report 2026 Q2 (release PDF), read 2026-09-29: every candidate on the page was refused
- Clutch - small business marketing spend survey (2017 release), read 2026-10-29: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- Clutch - digital marketing spend survey (2018 release), read 2026-10-29: read in full and no accepted figure on the page
- Clutch - Marketing Budget Planning in 2026, read 2026-10-29: 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).
3 of the 12 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 9 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 1 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere.
The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source in % (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences), so N counts sources, never sentences; 53 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): every published reading of marketing spend laid side by side with its publisher, date, method, sample and population, which no single survey does: Gartner's CMO Spend Survey as a mean share of company revenue among large enterprises (9.1% in 2023, 7.7% in 2024, 7.7% in 2025, 7.8% in 2026), The CMO Survey across firm sizes (9.0% of revenues and 9.6% of company budgets in 2026), the IPA Bellwether's quarterly UK net balance of budget revisions (+6.9% in Q2 2026 after +7.3% in Q1), Clutch's small-business surveys in pounds-and-dollars bands (41% spent under $10,000 on marketing in 2016; 47% under $10,000 on digital in 2017; 60% planning an increase for 2026 and 45% of marketers planning to invest in content marketing and SEO) and UENI's census of 7,413 new small businesses' planned monthly spend (26.1% planning nothing); the spread between the enterprise percentage and the small-business amount, the newest reading of each series, the change between editions, and the share each survey says goes to SEO, set beside this site's own retainer index so a reader can see how many months of a published SEO retainer a given marketing budget buys.
The 7.7% figure publishers quote is a large-enterprise mean (the vast majority of Gartner's respondents report revenue over $1 billion); this dataset is what puts it next to the small-business readings it is usually applied to
53 candidate sentences on these pages were refused by a reviewer; each refusal and its reason is recorded in the review ledger.
Sources (13)
- Gartner - 2025 CMO Spend Survey (press release)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Gartner - 2024 CMO Spend Survey (press release)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Gartner - 2026 CMO Spend Survey (press release)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Gartner - CMO Spend 2026 (research summary)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- The CMO Survey - 2026 Highlights and Insights Report (PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- The CMO Survey - 2026 Topline Report (PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- IPA - Bellwether Report Q2 2026 (UK)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- S&P Global - IPA Bellwether Report 2026 Q2 (release PDF)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Clutch - small business marketing spend survey (2017 release)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Clutch - digital marketing spend survey (2018 release)(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- Clutch - Marketing Budget Planning in 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- UENI - Small Business Marketing Budget 2026(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
- gartner.com(the publisher's own terms; quoted for reporting and comment)
Cite or embed this figure
The Marketing Budget Share Benchmark carries 5 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages; the 3 published figures given by survey run from 26.10 to 90.50 percent, read 29 October 2026.
3 of the 12 named sources read in full publish a figure; 9 publish none, read 29 October 2026.
Marketing Budget Share Benchmark, survey UENI: median 39.40 percent across 1 source, read 29 October 2026.
Marketing Budget Share Benchmark, time 2026: median 7.80 percent across 1 source, read 29 October 2026.
Marketing Budget Share Benchmark, time 2024: median 7.70 percent across 1 source, read 29 October 2026.
Cite as: "costseo.co.uk Marketing Budget Share Benchmark", updated 2026-11-05, https://costseo.co.uk/datasets/marketing-budget-share-benchmark/.
Download the CSV (5 rows, computed 2026-11-05)
Questions this data answers
What share of revenue, and what amount, do businesses budget for marketing, which way are those budgets moving, and how much of them is planned for SEO?
The Marketing Budget Share Benchmark carries 5 published figures read from 3 sources' own pages; the 3 published figures given by survey run from 26.10 to 90.50 percent, read 29 October 2026.
Where do the figures in the Marketing Budget Share Benchmark come from?
Every figure is quoted from its source's own page and dated (last read 29 Oct 2026). 12 named sources were read and 3 publish a figure; the 9 that publish none are recorded as not published, never estimated.