Posted on Jan.4, 2012 by Alex Andronicos - Senior Designer
The year 2011 was huge for SEO. 77% of North America's population uses a Search Engine on a regular basis. There were 18.2 billion searches performed in the U.S. alone in December of 2011. These search engine optimization stats show that there is a great deal of opportunity for your company to find new customers from the search engines. The real question, then, is "Are any of these searchers finding YOU?"
More customers than ever are using the web to find businesses. The study also found that online searchers are more likely to convert to sales. A 2011 Local Consumer Review Study found that 70% of people have used a major search engine to find a local business in the last 12 months.
Google, the long time frontrunner of the search engine race, maintained a steady lead throughout 2011. Trailing not far behind is Microsoft's Bing. This time last year, Bing only held 11.5% of the market. Now they have surpassed Yahoo and are rapidly moving toward the front. It is likely Bing could be Google's biggest competition in 2012.
As a $16 billion industry, SEO represents a substantial opportunity for small businesses to connect with customers at the moment they are looking for products and services to buy. If any of these search engine stats indicate that SEO is something right your business, 29'Prime can help. CLICK HERE to see a full list of SEO Services and Products we offer. We have a 60 day Front Page Placement guarantee. If we can't get your business listing on Google's Front Page within 60 days, it's Free!
Social media has grown enormously as well. Adult consumers who said they use social media networks such as Facebook has increased 4% in 2011 to a total of 65%. Pew Internet Surveys Find that 50% of all adults use one or more forms of social media.
There are currently over 800 million active Facebook users, with more than 200 million added in 2011 alone. Twitter has received some noticeable media attention and celebrity buzz. 40% of Twitter users do not tweet themselves, but follow brands and/or groups they like. eMarketer predicts there will be 21 million twitter users in the US by the end of 2012. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are now considered to be cornerstones in marketing strategies for businesses. 94% of respondents said Facebook is their number one social media platform, with Twitter in second at 74%, and Youtube at 42%.
Sources Cited
- Comscore
- Social Media Examiner
- AllTwitter
- Mashable
- Search Engine Watch
- PR Weekly
- Facebook Press
- Compete.com