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FTSE 100 companies losing the Google race
Internet marketing specialist Direct Traffic Media has exposed a shocking gap in the online strategy of most FTSE 100 companies.Fewer than one in four premier UK firms appear on the first page of Google UK when their primary keywords are entered, according to Direct Traffic Media's new study.
The company conducted a search according to the field in which the FTSE 100 firms describe themselves as industry leaders, and found their web presence to be sorely lacking.
For example, running a Google search on the term "fashion" brought back no mentions of Marks & Spencer in the first 100 results, despite the fact that the high street retailer is a market leader in this field.
In fact, well over half (59 per cent) of the FTSE 100 firms did not feature in the top 100 results, including big brand companies like Rolls-Royce Group, Alliance & Leicester, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury, GlaxoSmithKline, Royal & Sun Alliance and Royal Dutch Shell.
Web users very rarely venture beyond the first few search results, meaning that these firms effectively have no internet presence and are missing out on the single fastest-growing (and soon to be most important) revenue stream in the world of retail.
The survey exposes a woeful lack of effective search engine optimisation (SEO) on the part of leading British companies and goes some way to explaining why the BBC is the only British-based firm to place in the top ten most popular sites among UK users (according to recent Nielsen/NetRatings figures).
Most of the others are neglecting to optimise their websites properly and thereby losing out on millions of potential customers who increasingly choose to make purchases online.
Figures from uSwitch show that online sales in the UK are set to reach no less than £40 billion this year, while customer satisfaction among US shoppers is now better online than in the high street.
Direct Traffic Media's Rian Saunders called the situation "shocking" and urged firms to improve their website SEO so as not to be left behind at a time of rapid change in the retail world.
As FTSE 100 companies with vast advertising budgets, the least you would expect from the likes of Rolls-Royce and M&S is a presence on page 1 of Google, probably near the top. But for the vast majority of online shoppers, these strugglers are nowhere in sight.
It appears that many firms have been caught unawares by rapid changes in the internet marketplace and are failing to take the necessary steps.
Now is a critical time for retail leaders and it is often the larger behemoths that take longer to react to market changes. This means that some of the UK's smaller firms have a rare opportunity to grab some of the market share for themselves.
Mr Saunders predicts that we could soon be seeing some internet-savvy businesses muscling their way onto the FTSE 100 list as the bigger brands stagnate.
A tiny minority of companies clearly have more clued-up marketing departments, however. Associated British Foods, British Airways and Rexam were the only three out of the hundred firms that placed at the top of Google for the relevant searches (for "ingredients and retail group", "global airline" and "consumer packaging", respectively).
Alliance Boots, Barclays Bank, Cadbury Schweppes, Home Retail Group and Standard Life managed to achieve a top three spot, but less than a quarter (24 per cent) placed on Google page 1.
The rest are left without an internet presence worth mentioning - truly staggering considering the number of individuals that could be directed to the company websites, but who are being taken elsewhere instead.
Other names failing to place in the top 100 Google searches include Anglo American, Aviva, BHP Billiton, Capita, Compass Group, Diageo, Enterprise Inns, Friends Provident, International Power, Land Securities, Lonmin, Old Mutual, Pearson, Scottish Power and Severn Trent.
Click here for the full listing of FTSE 100 Ranking results.
Search Marketing news posted on 27 February 2007
