By Krishna Rao

UK-based consumers conducted 447,000 searches online for trading-related platforms and services in January 2011, and the most queried term across Contracts for Difference (CFDs), spread betting and stock trading was ‘share prices’. It accounted for 17% (74,000) of all searches. This is according to the latest quarterly research ‘Trading January 2011’, by leading search and social marketing firm, Greenlight.

Greenlight’s report provides an analysis of the most popular terms used by UK consumers when they conducted a search on Google for trading-related platforms and services. It reveals the most visible players online across natural search, paid search and social media for each of the trading sub-sectors covered, thus revealing who had the greatest share of consideration.

Key findings reveal:

• Stock trading-related terms were the most popular, with over 329,000 searches. Such keywords, which included ‘share prices’, ‘LSE shares’ ‘shares’ and ‘stock market’, accounted for almost three-quarters (74%) of the overall search volume, which according to Greenlight indicates the significance for multi-channel trading brands, in targeting stock trading in order to achieve an online presence in the Google search results.

• Contrasting with Greenlight’s October 2010 findings, when the top 10 keywords represented just 23% of the overall market, in January, the top 11 terms accounted for 48% of the total search volume. According to Greenlight, this shows a great number of consumers used very similar sets of terms to find trading-related sites.

• In natural search, the majority of the most visible sites were informational as opposed to trading brands. London Stock Exchange replaced Wikipedia as the most visible website for trading keywords, achieving 43% visibility, a 25% increase since October. Live Charts also saw its visibility increase by 13% and it moved up from position 10 to third place. By contrast, Independent Investor lost 14% visibility and dropped to position 14, having featured in second position in the previous quarter.

• City Index was the most visible advertiser, achieving 35% share of voice in paid search. However this was an 18% decrease. IG Index saw its visibility increase by 8% and it moved up from ninth position to fourth place in Greenlight’s league table. GFTUK did not feature in Greenlight’s top 60 advertisers in January, having ranked in second place in October, when it achieved a 48% share of voice.

• Saxo Bank remained the most followed trading brand in social media with a collective of over 18,000 people. ETXCapital meanwhile, displayed 490 tweets in January, making it the most interactive trading brand in January. Google estimates there will be 30.9 million social network users by 2015, thus such channels will become increasingly important for trading brands in targeting consumers in the future.

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

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’s report, ‘Trading January 2011’, profiles search behaviour in this sector. It assesses which brands and trading-related informational sites are the most visible in natural and paid search results, and hence have the greatest share of consideration when UK-based searchers go to Google to look for CFDs, spread betting and stock trading companies. For social media, Greenlight’s social media popularity index (SMPI), highlights and ranks the 15 most followed and proactive brands in social media.

About the author

Krishna Rao is PR at Greenlight, a leading independent specialist search and social marketing firm. With over 100 blue-chip clients including Santander, New Look, Thomas Cook, Sky and ghd, Greenlight is a leader in the search marketing space, publishing widely read industry reports, original research, speaking at trade events, and delivering a highly respected digital marketing training programme via the Greenlight Academy. Founded in 2001, Greenlight is headquartered in London, with offices in New York.

www.greenlightsearch.com