SEO study: Brits prefer natural search to SEO study: Brits prefer natural search to paid-for ad

Friday, 16, Jul 2010 09:20
A new report has revealed that Britons prefer natural search results to paid-for ads – potentially outlining why firms should engage in search engine optimization.

The Search Attitudes survey conducted by YouGov for Tamar found that most consumers see organic listings as more trustworthy when researching products and brands than pay-per-click ads, with older web users the most likely to hold this belief.

It also indicated that almost half of 18 to 24-year-olds make use of real-time search results from social networks like Twitter, while mobile search is also on the rise.

When it comes to making purchases, reviews and images are becoming increasingly popular among consumers requiring more information about products and retailers.

“Consumers have matured in the past four years in their relationship with search and the one constant progression that the Search Attitudes Report series clearly identifies is the growth in awareness of the differences between natural and paid search,” said Tamar search director Neil Jackson.
Google is the most popular search engine in the UK, with the site accounting for about 91 per cent of the market through both google.co.uk and google.com, according to Experian Hitwise.

Bing is second with 3.25 per cent of searches, followed by Yahoo! on 2.83 per cent.