News and features

Mon, 8 Dec 2008

Businesses 'turning to SEO in downturn'

Marketing method a "high value tactic" during tough times.

The use of keywords and tags to boost positions in search engines - known as search engine optimisation (SEO) - is set to become the top internet marketing tactic for the next six months as businesses try to widen their audience base during times of economic stress, a new poll has found.

According to the survey of 400 marketers by Online Marketing Blog (OMB), 36 per cent of firms intend to use SEO as their number one marketing tactic. Another 33 per cent will use blogging, followed by pay-per-click advertising (26 per cent) and email marketing (22 per cent).

Social networking on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn was backed by 21 per cent, while video marketing made the top ten with seven per cent of the vote.

Writing on OMB, Lee Odden noted that SEO is a "high impact, high value tactic" for connecting with customers online.

According to the Bellwether survey by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, the internet was the only marketing category to experience budget growth in the third quarter of the year.

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