10 statistics that demonstrate the value of SEO

Posted by Iain on Thu (17/05/07) at 4:04pm to Web Project Management, Web Design, Search Engine Optimisation, Web Analytics

These statistics source from a compilation of SERPS behaviour studies for which I’ve listed source information at the end of the article. If you disagree with a figure, or have additional figures or sources, please do post them to the discussion.

1. 42% of search users click the top-ranking link. 8% click the second-ranking link, and the click-through rate (CTR) continues to drop thereof.
2. When these two top-ranking links are artificially switched, the click-through ratio of 42-8% drops to 34-12%, demonstrating the importance of engaging copy in addition to rank position.
3. 62% of search users click a link on the first page of search results
4. 23% of searches progress to the second page. Presumably the difference between 62% ans 23% stems from searchers trying either another keyword or another engine, or giving up.
5. 80% f unsuccessful searches are followed with keyword refinement.
6. 41% of searches unsuccessful after the first page choose to refine thir keyword search phrase or their chosen search engine.
7. 77% of search users choose organic over paid listing when searching, 67% choose organic search when purchasing.
8. When the searcher is purchasing, organic click-through generates 25% higher conversion rates than equivalent Pay-Per-Click (PP) click-through.
9. 40% of SEO campaigns aware of their ROI achieve returns in excess of 500%, while only 22% of PPC campaigns were able to achieve this value.
10. Daily use of search engines rose from 33% in 2002 to 59% in 2005. The average day in 2005 reported 60 million people using a search engine. As of March 2007, Google accounts for 64% of US searches and 77% of UK searches

The validity of these statistics depend on various experimental factors (i.e. large, representative samples of searchers/searches), and on accurate statistical analysis.

For more in depth analysis, the sources for this article were:

• comScore / Pew Internet
• Nielson
• Webxico
• iProspect
• SEOResearcher

Please post addition figures or sources, or your view, in the comments.

UK Google Market Share - March 2007

Posted by Iain on Thu (12/04/07) at 9:42am to Web Project Management, Search Engine Optimisation

The latest figures on Google’s market share compared to its primary search competitors Yahoo, MSN, and Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves) have been published by Hitwise. As always, the numbers are astounding, revealing that Google holds a 77% market share, meaning overthree quarters of UK internet searches are made through Google. Yahoo is now holding 8%, and while MSN and Ask are both at 5% and falling.

Comparing the UK to the US figures, for which Google has just broken 66.6% or two thirds market share, it’s clear that UK internet searchers even more than US searchers turn first to Google.

A collective 23% is not to be sniffed at, but clearly firms services the UK market and requiring SEO services should look first to SEO specialists with strong results in google.co.uk.

[tags]seo, uk, search engine market, google, yahoo, msn[/tags]

Improve Website Performance - 10 Fundamentals

Posted by Iain on Wed (11/04/07) at 5:25pm to Web Project Management, Web Design

1. Are you using Google Analytics (or require and use an alternative)?

   You can’t gauge success unless you measure performance. Google Analytics is a free and very effective tool for just this. For businesses that depends on local custom, it will qualify the proportion of your visitors that reside nearby and are therefore of value. eCommerce sites can drive sales by adjusting their site layout or structure based on the analysis of search terms used within their site when people can’t find information. The available measures are extensive.

2. Is every page of your site connected to every other via a site map?

   Page Rank is a measure of how valuable or important Google considers a web page to be. It is based largely on the number, page rank, and relevancy of web pages that link to that page. The pages of a site can also inherit Page Rank from other pages of their website, but the more links to reach those pages, the less page rank is inherited.A site map thus maximises this inheritance by ensuring every page is just one page from every other.

More >>

10 Direct Routes to Reduced Website Costs and Risks: That’s what web standards are about!?

Posted by Iain on Mon (19/03/07) at 11:18am to Web Project Management, Web Design

“Web Standards” is like another of these modern-day web buzzwords, like “Web 2.0″ and “The Blogosphere”. But buzzwords become popular for a reason - let me give this one a simple definition, and explain the business benefits of web standards, namely reduced website costs and risks.

Web standards are, quite simply, a set of coding guidelines developed by a consortium of experts to reduce the risks involved in producing a website. The simple principle is that if everybody codes in the same way, the standard way, then everybody is compatible. More >>

SEO: Evidence for the importance of Organic Search Engine Optimisation

Posted by Iain on Wed (14/03/07) at 1:16pm to Web Project Management, Search Engine Optimisation

This is a great image from an eye-tracking experiment that clearly demonstrates the importance of organic SEO. Check it out.