By Krishna Rao

Despite a drop of 16% on January levels, the number of trading-related searches made by UK consumers in April totalled 650,000, reveals the latest research from the UK’s leading independent specialist search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) consulting agency, Greenlight. Accounting for 65%, the report, ‘Trading April 2010‘, shows stock trading terms were most searched for. Although MoneyExtra replaced LondonStockExchange at second position in Greenlight’s natural search* league table, Wikipedia remained the most visible website for trading-related terms. This indicates players in the financial trading market are yet to make significant inroads when it comes to capturing online search traffic. The OxIS “Internet in Britain June 2009” survey found 22% of UK consumers utilised the internet to trade stock and investments.

Greenlight used industry data to classify 1,200 of the most popular search terms used by UK consumers when they went online to find contracts for difference (CFDs), spread betting and stock trading companies. It was also used to ascertain the 60 most visible websites, brands and aggregators in natural and paid search**, the respective size of the audience they were reaching as a result of their having that keyword-specific visibility and to compile Greenlight’s social media popularity index (SMPI).

Some key findings show:

• Spread betting and CFDs accounted for 23% (149,000 searches) and 12% (78,000 searches) of all trading-related searches in April, respectively;

• Of the top 10 trading search terms, nine were all stock trading-related, indicating that there is a massive online search market for such products;

• Overall, the most queried term in April, was ‘Share prices’. It was searched for 60,500 times and accounted for 9% of all trading-related searches. ‘Stockbroker’ followed with 27,100 searches;

• Only 13 websites were visible for more than 10% if web-related searches in April, indicating there are massive gains to be made for many players within the trading market;

• CityIndex was the most visible advertiser in paid search, achieving 41% visibility. TDWaterhouse and SaxoBankUK followed with 36% and 31% share of voice, respectively;

• Greenlight’s Social Media Popularity Index (SMPI)*** finds GFTUK was the most followed trading brand in social media, with a combined following of over 1,300 on both Facebook and Twitter;

• iii.com was the most interactive brand, producing a total of 157 ‘tweets’. Its content broadcasted economic, political and stock market reports and included external links to blogs on its website. However, it did not have an official Facebook account, and therefore missed out on potential interaction with social media consumers;

Top 10 of the 60 most visible trading websites in both in natural and paid search, UK

End Notes

*Natural Search - Listings in search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms.

**Paid Search – An Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.

***Greenlight SMPI index - Greenlight’s social media popularity index (SMPI) gauges social media interaction with brands by monitoring Facebook and Twitter accounts of the top 15 brands in its integrated league table, in order to assess how many ‘fans’ and ‘followers’ each has and their cumulative value. Greenlight further analyses the proactivity of brands by the number of ‘posts’ and ‘tweets’ brands produced for consumers to interact with over a given period.

Greenlight's report, 'Trading April 2010', profiles search behaviour in this sector. It assesses which websites are the most visible in natural and paid search results, and hence have the greatest share of consideration when UK-based searches go to Google to search for CFDs, spread betting and stock trading companies. The report also gauges social media interaction and ranks brands based on engagement and proactivity with the consumer on Facebook and Twitter. All rankings and league tables are available from the press office. For further information about this report contact Krishna Rao or Beatriz Bailey (+44 (20) 3326 6232 and +44 (20) 3326 6233; or by email krishna.rao@greenlightsearch.com and beatriz.bailey@greenlightsearch.com).

About Greenlight

Krishna Rao is a press officer at Greenlight, an independent specialist SEO and PPC consulting and technology firm. The company has over 100 blue chip clients including Vodafone UK, Thomas Cook, Interflora, Co-operative Financial Services and ghd, and many awards to its name, focusing on delivering record ROI for its clients and investing in the future of search. In addition, Greenlight publishes widely read industry reports, original research, speaking at most trade events, and delivering a search training programme in conjunction with the IDM. Greenlight was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in London, with offices in New York. http://www.greenlightsearch.com/.