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Irish firms stuck in search engine limbo
22-02-2007
by Charlie Taylor

Irish companies are failing to take advantage of search engine optimisation and are doomed to languish low down the page in search results rankings.

A new survey, conducted on behalf of digital media services firm Captivate Digital, found more than half (53 percent) of leading Irish firms don't appear in the top five results in search engines based on a simple keyword search in their category.

Companies are increasingly attempting to boost their ratings in search engine result rankings in order to drum up more traffic to their websites. According to Interactive Return, a company which advises firms on strategies for e-marketing and creating online brands, search marketing is a fast-growing medium, with Irish firms shelling out more than EUR30 million each year on the new advertising channel.

However, Captivate Digital's study indicates that despite spending heavily, many Irish organisations are failing to achieve their aim of coming top in search engine results.

"The results show that many leading Irish companies face considerable challenges in raising the profile of their products and services on search engines," said John Dunne, director of Captivate Digital.

"Our survey shows that the importance of having a strong search strategy is critical, otherwise it's a case of out of sight, out of mind."

Given that more than three quarters of internet users rely on search engines to find information and that around 60 percent of all websites receive more than half their traffic from search engines, many Irish companies could be losing out to their rivals -- particularly if they fail to register high up the page with leading search engines such as Google.

"Google dominates the Irish market and is by far the most popular search engine for driving traffic to Irish websites each month with an estimated 81 percent referral rate," added Dunne.

According to Captivate's study, Dell has the most visible website among Irish companies with 72 percent of associated keyword searches returning Dell in the top five results.

Microsoft Ireland proved itself adept at getting noticed online, with 68 percent of searches leading to links to the software giant. Building materials group Grafton also ranked highly in results with 66 percent of associated keywords searches ranking the company in the top five results.

In addition, leading companies in the food and drink sector such as Dawn Meats, Fyffes and Kerry Group performed well in the study. Surprisingly telecommunications company Eircom ranked as one of the worst Irish firms, coming in tied with oil refinery ConocoPhilips and slightly ahead of food giant Glanbia.

O2 Ireland was another firm which needs to do work on its search engine optimisation with just 14 percent of associated keyword searches returning the mobile operator in the top five results.

Captivate predicts online spend in Ireland will grow by 54 percent this year to a total of EUR33 million, representing 3 percent of the total estimated ad-spend. This is still some way behind Britain where online advertising in the first half of 2006 accounted for 10.5 percent or STG917.2 million of the total advertising market.