Large firms 'must centralise search marketing control'

10th January 2008

Large companies are struggling to achieve search engine optimisation (SEO) because they are finding it hard to control, it has been claimed.

Commenting on a WebProNews blog, Mike Moran, author of Search Marketing Inc, has highlighted the problems big firms have in obtaining a high search ranking.

Mr Moran said that whereas small websites find it difficult to attract links due to their size, the main issue with larger sites is that there are too many people involved with SEO.

Often, large numbers of people are changing the firm's SEO strategy in different ways and are therefore "flailing about in search marketing hell", he explained.

He said that IBM increased its search traffic to 25 per cent of visitors from under one per cent by centralising search marketing control.

"That requires not just search marketing smarts, but also skills in corporate governance and organisational behaviour," Mr Moran warned.

Dave Feldman, director of client services for search marketing firm iProspect, recently commented on a Search Engine Land blog that many large firms are missing out on SEO by not appropriating enough of the advertising budget to it.