Big Jump in Demand for SEO in Australia
There has been a dramatic rise in demand for search engine optimisation (SEO) in Australia over the past 2 years as more and more small businesses go online to take advantage of an increasing number of consumers using the Internet to source local services.
Webarena, which offers both website development and SEO, has seen a large increase in demand for SEO services in Perth. For the period of April 2009 to April 2010, 57% of all clients who purchased website packages also opted to include some kind of SEO services compared to the previous 12 months, when only 20% opted to for an SEO service. This represents a massive increase of 185%.
The increased interest in SEO does not seem to be confined to Perth. According to Google search data compiled Australia wide, interest in SEO has more than doubled over the past 2 years, as measured by the number of searches conducted containing the term “SEO”. According to Google Insights, which provides data on search volume trends, the relative index for the search term “SEO” was at a level of 19 in Apr 2008. In April 2010, the index for this term had increased to a level of 50, which represents an increase of 163% over 2 years. (See data below)
In recent years, there has been an explosive increase in small local businesses coming online as an increasing number of consumers are switching to the internet to source local services. What was once searched in the phone book or the local paper is now being searched in Google. Google’s search results are reflecting these local search trends as more and more searches are now returning Google Local (Maps) listings.
Even small business owners with an aversion to computers are now being forced to go online in order to compete; and for some small businesses, the Internet has become the biggest source of new leads. However, as more and more small businesses come online, competition for the top pages is increasing and hence the increased demand for SEO services.
GOOGLE INSIGHTS DATA (Value for "SEO" in Australia)
Apr 2008 = 19
Apr 2009 = 31
Apr 2010 = 50
-Change from Apr 2008 to Apr 2010 is = 31/19 = increase of 163%
-Change from Apr 2009 to Apr 2010 is = 19/31 = 61%
Source: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=SEO&geo=AU&cmpt=q