SEO 'central' to web marketing

12th February 2008

Search engine optimisation (SEO) should be the main aspect of any internet strategy, it has been claimed.

Derek Gehl, SEO expert, stated on a Promotion World blog that SEO is one of the most cost-effective but successful techniques in online marketing.

He cites figures from Marketing Sherpa which found that out of the 134 million people in the US who regularly use search engines, 63 per cent only look at the first page of results.

Almost a quarter of US searchers actually only look at the top few results and ignore the rest, it adds.

"It's important to pay close attention to how search engine spiders index or list websites and then use that information to direct the way you want the search engines to index your website," Mr Gehl advised.

Keywords, site maps, fresh content and linking to other sites and social networks were all recommended as good SEO tactics.

Currently, Google is the market leader in search engines, conducting 66 per cent of all US searches during January, according to Hitwise.