Tories top SEO poll
- Added:
- Oct 26, 2009
The Labour Party is failing to reach voters via search engines on key polital issues compared to their rivals, according to new research.
Search marketing agency Tamar looked at fifteen specific policy areas of interest to voters and examined how effectively the political parties have optimised content on their own websites for Google.
The Conservative Party tops the Political Search Index with Conservatives.com appearing in an average position of 1.5 in Google’s natural search results.
This compares to the Labour Party website which achieved an average position of 29, equivalent to the bottom of the third page of Google’s results.
Remarkably, for a number of key policy areas including Defence, Environment and Pensions, no content from Labour.org.uk appears in the first five pages of Google results.
Typically fewer than 5% of internet users look beyond the first page of Google.
Tamar Political Search Index – Oct 2009
|
Google Rank |
|||||
|
Policy Issue |
Con |
Lib Dem |
Green |
SNP |
Lab |
|
Economic |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|
Tax |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
>50 |
|
Health |
1 |
5 |
1 |
9 |
1 |
|
Education |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Defence |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
>50 |
|
Transport |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
>50 |
|
Pensions |
1 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
>50 |
|
Afghanistan |
1 |
1 |
26 |
50 |
24 |
|
Immigration |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Foreign |
3 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
>50 |
|
Countryside |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
|
Crime |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
|
Welfare |
2 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
>50 |
|
Europe |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
Environment |
2 |
1 |
5 |
10 |
>50 |
|
Average Google Rank |
1.5 |
1.9 |
3.1 |
6.8 |
25.9 |
Neil Jackson, search director at Tamar commented, “As the general election approaches, Google will be the first point of call for voters looking online to compare the policy positions of rival political parties. Our first Political Search Index shows a big discrepancy between those parties which have clearly ‘get it’ and those who have failed to invest in search engine optimisation when building and maintaining their official websites.”
Jackson continued, “All political parties are investing heavily in creating their own social networking platforms and using new communication channels like Twitter. However, some like the Labour Party need to go back to basics and ensure that their site can deliver the answers to the most likely queries from voters, on the first page of Google.”
Source: www.tamar.com
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