67% of SME websites are not search engine optimized

Many small businesses in the UK are failing to make the most of their online presence, with 67% of SME websites studied having either very basic or no SEO work at all.

This is one of the findings of a study, carried out by the Consultant International Digital Online Manchester Services (Idonms) .

The study looked at 1,000 SME websites and compared them against a range of SEO criteria; including indexing in search engines, and signs of onsite optimization.

Some highlights from the study:

The study found a correlation between the size of business and the levels of search engine optimization. Larger companies tended to have better optimized sites, while over 70% of companies with less than 50 employees had either very basic levels of optimization, or none at all.

Amazingly, 12% of all business websites are not indexed in any search engine, which almost defeats the purpose of having a website in the first place. According to the study, just 3% of all business websites 'could be considered to have advanced levels of SEO'.

According to Idonms, many of the problems are down to businesses not implementing SEO basics. For instance, 35% of websites did not have unique page titles, and 56% lacked unique page descriptions. These are relatively quick SEO wins for small businesses.

Sites with HTML and XML sitemaps on average have more pages indexed in Google, yet 82% of small business websites had no HTML sitemap, and 75% no XML sitemap.

Clearly, there are plenty of small businesses that are yet to see the value of effective SEO, or perhaps lack the knowledge to carry out the basics of site optimization.

These businesses should be looking to correct this as, implemented well, SEO has the potentialto be a very important and cost-effective sales channel.

Whilst not every company will have the resources or know-how to run an effective campaign, simply getting the basics right, such as ensuring that a site can be indexed and contains relevant content, can make a noticeable difference to search results.

Consultant International Digital Online Manchester Serviceshas a guide with which companies can improve their optimization exchanging their traditional marketing with digital marketing for those businesses looking to improve their SEO.