Search Engine Marketing News
Popular brands 'dominating online search'
Thursday, 14 August 2008Generic keywords are falling out of favour among UK online searchers, indicating the need for a new approach to search engine marketing, according to a new report.
Hitwise said that searches such as 'broadband' and 'cheap flights' are now less used by Britons than in 2005, with web users instead opting for brand names as search terms, UTalkMarketing reports.
A study by the firm showed that Facebook was the most popular search term in the UK during May, with Bebo, YouTube and MySpace, as well as retail brands like eBay, Amazon and Argos, also appearing in the top ten.
The report suggested that successful offline campaigns are leading to spikes in branded searches online and warned businesses not to take "a siloed approach" to marketing.
Lynn Brunner, co-author of the report and director of consulting and propositions at Experian, which owns Hitwise, said: "[The study] reveals just how important the internet has become as the 'unifier' of the direct and brand marketing disciplines and that brands need to include search engine optimisation much earlier in the planning process than many do currently."
In June, Hitwise released a separate report showing a 22 per cent increase in paid brand search marketing activity following changes made by Google to its trademarked terms policy.