UK startups need to improve their SEO, according to report

Startups and small businesses in the UK need to improve their SEO to enable consumers to find them online, according to a report from 123 Reg.

The research, which surveyed over 1,000 adults in the UK, found that three out of five respondents believe that online searches favour established stores over smaller brands.  

Popular

The report revealed the cities in which bigger businesses are popular, with Manchester and Birmingham being found to favour larger brands. Only one-fifth of services and shops that were searched for in the two cities were small businesses.

Independent businesses were found to be more popular in Glasgow and Sheffield, with four in ten of this type of business being listed online.

Despite 123 Reg’s research showing that small businesses and startups need to do more to make themselves visible online, further research using Google AdWords Discovery showed that there are some smaller businesses that are beating their competitors when it comes to online searches.

Independent DIY stores, coffee shops and bike shops were found to be outperforming their larger competitors in online searches, whilst smaller bookshops and pharmacies need to do more to improve their search rankings.

Visible

123 Reg Digital Director, Nick Leech, commented that the online high street has become all too similar to the modern British high street; this is largely because the bigger businesses outperform small independents in local SEO. He said that small businesses have a fight on their hands to compete with the larger businesses, but there are easy ways for them to win.

Leech stated: “The key is to be visible wherever people are searching, and for this you need to have a good search engine ranking and ensure you are included in all the relevant local directories.”