SEO ´vital to small businesses´

Small businesses should focus on improving their position on natural search listings by having a good domain name and employing search engine optimisation (SEO), an industry expert has said.

Amy Kean, a spokesperson for the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), explained that high rankings on natural search listings were vitally important to small businesses, especially those looking to compete in niche markets.

Ms Kean explained that consumers "will go straight to a search engine" when looking for businesses, making it "essential to make sure [businesses] are placed high-up the natural search listings and use paid-for search if necessary".

She added: "Search advertising - both paid-for and natural search - when employed effectively, is an excellent way to drive traffic to your site, particularly if you are in a niche market, where keywords are likely to be cheaper and you are competing with fewer organisations on the web in terms of relevant content."

In addition, Ms Kean said that display advertising had been generally ignored by small businesses, but added that it allowed companies to "advertise only to those who are likely to be interested in [their] product or service".