SEO 'upped Telegraph visitor numbers in March'

30th April 2008

Search engine optimisation (SEO) was a factor in the Telegraph's March online traffic boost, an editor with the website said.

Edward Roussel, online editor with the Telegraph Media Group, told the Guardian that the 38.7 per cent rise in unique user numbers could be attributed partly to SEO.

Unique user figures are "hugely dependent on the quality of your search engine optimisation (SEO) and the extent by which your site is picked up by aggregators and portals", Mr Roussel said.

The number of users accessing the site increased by 38.7 per cent last month, taking the number of visitors received by the Telegraph's internet incarnation to 17 million - a five million hike.

Other factors to which the growth was attributed by the Guardian included news provision, a field in which production increased and stories grew stronger, buoyed by events like the Budget and the credit crunch.

The newspaper also switched its internal measurement tools - also Mr Roussel claimed this would not have affected unique visitor numbers as both strategies used the same methodology.