Search engine optimisation (SEO) will eventually become the dominant channel of online and offline marketing, a recent survey has revealed.
A survey of internet merchants by specialist software company, Practical eCommerce, showed that 95 per cent perceived this method of promotion – through tailored online news and unique content – as very important to their businesses.
Tom Deners, of SEO marketing software company. Wordstream, said, "It will become the most cost-efficient and broadly effective means of marketing - digital or otherwise."
He also predicted that, beyond companies' own websites, social media would play an important part in the future of networking and brand building.
"Every form of marketing helps supplement and amplify every other form of marketing when done properly," he added.
According to the survey, 82.8 per cent of businesses had optimised their websites for search engines such as Google, but 11 per cent of respondents in Practical eCommerce’s poll indicated that their online offering was not set up to use SEO.
Speaking at February's Technology for Marketing & Advertising event in London, industry expert Darren Dutton said businesses are going to start applying "a bit more pressure" to their in-house marketers and SEO Company partners as they look to realise performance targets.
He claimed that search engine marketing services will become increasingly in demand and this will boost the uptake of analytics software and other marketing data technologies.
