Are big businesses missing out on SEO?

Many of the world's largest and most successful businesses are "clueless" when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO), a new study has found.

According to research compiled by Conductor for its report Natural Search Trends of the Fortune 500, such firms are failing when it comes to organic search techniques, despite spending millions on pay per click.

Commenting on the findings, Search Engine Land's Matt McGee said only 15 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have a mid to strong presence when it comes to ranking for their most advertised keywords.

Meanwhile, over half (53 per cent) do not show up in the top 100 results for their most marketed keywords, while despite spending millions everyday on keywords, only 25 per cent of these terms are apparent in the top 50 natural search results.

Mr McGee said the final result is in fact an improvement on last year, "when Fortune 500 companies only ranked in the top 50 for 17 per cent of their primary paid keywords".

Rob Ousbey, writing for the SEOmoz blog, recently suggested running a free giveaway or competition in order to boost SEO.

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