Online retailers need to do more to take advantage of the benefits offered by organic search engine optimisation (SEO), a new study has suggested.
Retailers are less likely to appear in the top search result positions for critical key terms than non-retail or informational sites - despite SEO being a vital tactic for online stores, the research by Internet Retailer showed.
Online shopping portals were responsible for fewer than half of the top three search spots across a number of keyword categories in the study.
And just two retailers accounted for more than one spot across 60 possible positions.
"Appearing in natural search results is key to a website's success," Internet Retailer said.
"Several studies have shown that consumers' eyes jump over paid results and go direct to natural."
According to figures cited by MediaPost's Online Media Daily blog, about 77 per cent of web users opt for natural search results rather than sponsored listings when conducting a search.
About 67 per cent also choose organic results over paid ones when intending to make an online purchase, the statistics showed.
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