US web searches almost reached the 137 billion mark in 2008, according to new figures.
Statistics from comScore's Digital Year In Review report for 2008 reveal that 21 per cent more online queries were made by US web users last year compared with 2007.
"Search query growth was driven largely by an increase in searches per searcher, which rose 16 per cent from the previous year, while [the] number of unique searchers grew six per cent," the report said.
Google continued to dominate the US search landscape in 2008, accounting for almost 85 billion searches and about 90 per cent of total market growth during the 12-month period.
The report also suggested that display ads started to decline in performance last year, while online video viewing soared.
In the UK, Google saw 32.9 million unique visitors during December 2008, making it the most popular website overall, according to separate figures released by comScore earlier this week.... read full details »
Marketers should ensure they integrate search engine optimisation (SEO) into any website redesign project, it has been urged.
According to Search Insider's Rob Garner, it is vital to keep SEO in the loop when it comes to web design as sites tend to be revamped every two years or so.
Ways in which marketers can ensure redesigned sites are SEO-friendly include setting up a plan to deal with URL redirects, looking at analytics and log files to see which bits of the old site are worth keeping and checking that rich media content is indexable by search engines.
Mr Garner also warned against removing web content that has previously helped the company to see high rankings in search engine results.
"One mistake I see frequently is when content is removed from a site, with no replacement content to support the valuable rankings and visibility it has previously created," he said.
BusinessWeek reported in 2006 that one Australia-based small firm, Sew What?, managed to enhance sales by 45 per cent through a web redesign project that involved SEO.... read full details »
Online marketers are set to focus more on acquiring new customers this year, according to a new study.
Datran Media's survey suggested that almost two-thirds of internet marketers view customer acquisition as their most important goal in 2009.
Other priorities cited by respondents included increasing brand awareness and favourability and enhancing customer retention.
Email was viewed as the best marketing platform for the majority of firms, with search engine marketing and display ads also being seen as particularly strong.
When it came to investment priorities, nearly 60 per cent said they would increase spending on email marketing this year, while 54.4 per cent stated that they would do so for search marketing and 43.9 per cent said the same for social media.
A recent MarketingSherpa study indicated that business-to-consumer marketers view email, search engine optimisation and pay-per-click advertising as the platforms offering the highest returns on investment for their organisations.... read full details »
Journalists would do well to use search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques when publishing stories online, according to one expert.
Monica Wright, an online marketing specialist, wrote on Search Engine Journal that journalists should concentrate on filling meta title and description tags with the right content and creating engaging headlines that are likely to draw traffic from search results pages.
It is also a good idea to refer to Google's own guidelines on how news pages can qualify for inclusion in Google News results, particularly as these contain information on URL structure, Ms Wright explained.
"Above all - good writing still prevails. Quality, relevant, in-depth content will not only attract the bots, but will capture new audience as well," she stated.
A number of newspapers in the UK are getting journalists to apply SEO to their own online news stories.
The Times Online's Anne Spackman told a conference last year that training is offered by the newspaper to writers on how to make their stories search engine-friendly.... read full details »
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