Specialist search engine optimisation is set to grow
Today specialist cheap flight finder Skyscanner.net announced that it has experienced a dramatic increase in web traffic in the past year – and the leap in traffic has also bolstered the company’s profits.
Skyscanner.net has reported another record quarter, with revenues in July through September up a whopping 90 per cent year-on-year – taking its total quarterly revenue to £3.5 million. In the UK alone, the specialists search engine optimisation had almost ten million unique UK visitors in the three-month period, but the firm’s international performance was even stronger and helps to buoy its turnover.
International searchers amounted for 68 per cent of the search engine’s traffic – coming mainly from mainland Europe. Gareth Williams, chief executive officer of Skyscanner.net, said: “Creating a robust international business model has always been a fundamental element of our business strategy.” He added: “We’re also particularly proud of the fact that growing our user base has not been at the expense of existing users – over 50 per cent of our monthly sessions are sourced from repeat users.
“As we move forward we are keen to ensure that continues, by making sure that our development is focused on delivering a brilliant core offering first and foremost.” The positivity at Skyscanner.net is palpable, but in the wider context of search engine optimisation, do the company’s results demark a new battle line in the wider search engine marketplace? It is clear that services that offer very specific results – such as the cheapest flights – are garnering repeat users and for businesses operating in a specific market, such as international travel, it could be hugely beneficial for them to ring-fence some of their search engine marketing budget for promotions on industry-specific sites.
And as internet advertising budgets continue to rise, according to the latest IPA/BDO Bellwether report; firms are more likely than ever before to set aside cash for extremely targeted search engine optimisation campaigns on sites that aren’t Google.
However, that is not to say that firms should remove all their search engine marketing eggs from the Google basket, merely that they should mirror the increasing diversification of online search with an increasingly diverse website optimisation strategy.
Mediarun is a search engine optimisation company in London providing search engine marketing, pay per click advertising and social media services to clients with quality traffic.