Social networks are becoming more popular than search engines in the UK, according to figures from Experian Hitwise, but are you more likely to gain the quality of traffic that search engines can provide?
There is no debating that sites such as Facebook are in-demand for a range of businesses, but a high proportion of their audience is of a young age restricting which businesses can exploit this marketing space.
The analytics firm said traffic to social networks accounted for 11.9% of all UK internet visits during May, while search engines accounted for 11.3%.
Facebook received more than half of the social network visits in the UK (55%), almost triple the number YouTube had. Twitter was in third.
However, Experian Hitwise said Facebook doesn’t yet dominate the UK social network market to the extent that Google dominates the search market.
Together google.co.uk and google.com accounted for nine in every ten web searches carried out in the UK during May. Google UK was the most visited site, accounting for 9.29% of all visits, while Facebook accounted for 7.04%.
The advantage with Google is that you are ‘found’ via a keyword(s) that the user has typed with interest. Therefore you are already of interest to the user compared with social networks sties, where the likelihood is that users want to interact with friends and colleagues.
Robin Goad, Experian Hitwise’s research director, said, “Although social networks and search engines perform different functions, they both act as gateways to the wider internet. This data illustrates the key role that social media now plays in so much online behaviour.
“The majority of online marketing spend is currently diverted towards search, and this is likely to remain the case in the short to medium term,” he added. “Search remains the primary source of traffic for most websites, particularly in sectors that account for the majority of online transactions, such as retail, finance and travel.”
Where do your online marketing efforts go? Does your business concentrate more on SEO rather than social media campaigns?
