Top 100 online findability: only 8% scored well


Nijmegen, 6 September 2007 - Consumers spend more time online and the online consumer spending increases steadily. Search Engine Mediabureau Checkit has conducted a study about the online findability of the 100 largest advertisers (source: Nielsen Media Research) in search engines. Only 8% scored well.

The top 10 of the best scoring Dutch websites:
  1. KPN (94,67%)
  2. Jamba (94,27%)
  3. Dell Products Europe (91,81%)
  4. T-Mobile Netherlands (89,77%)
  5. Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken (85,10%)
  6. Nationale Postcode Loterij (83,46%)
  7. SNS Bank (82,64%)
  8. Wehkamp (81,01%)
  9. Kia Motors Nederland (79,04%)
  10. Ministerie van Defensie (78,43%)


This study was conducted for the first time in 2006 in cooperation with Tilburg University. The Top 100 online findability 2007 shows that 42% is insufficiently findable (findability score <50, and that only 8% scored well (findability score > 80%). There is a clear improvement in the results in comparison to 2006; last year 68% of the organizations examined in this study were insufficiently findable online.

Variabelen
There are eleven variables which determined the position of the organizations in the Top 100 online findability:
  1. Sitemap
  2. Title
  3. Meta Tag Description
  4. Meta Tag Keywords
  5. Frames
  6. <H1>-Tags
  7. Sufficient content
  8. Flash
  9. Number of indexed website pages
  10. Pagerank
  11. Link popularity

The 11 findability criteria were selected from hundreds of variables which influence the online findability. The goal of this study is to provide an indication of the online findability of these 100 organizations.


The eleven variables tested in this study also show an improvement. In 2007 more websites have placed a sitemap on the homepage, pages more often contain <h1>-tags and the content consists more often of at least 150 words. The number of indexed pages per website and the link popularity have greatly improved in comparison to last year.

Despite these positive results, 42% of the largest Dutch advertisers is still insufficiently findable. There is no doubt that much can be gained with Search Engine Marketing for these organizations. Analyzing and adjusting the technique, contents and link strategy of the websites of these organizations according to the Natural Search model would lead to higher positions in search results, more qualitative visitors and an increase of the number of conversions.

Research set-up
The websites of the 100 largest advertisers (source: Nielsen Media Research) were analyzed according to 11 important findability criteria. For every organization and every branch we have examined and selected four pages on the most important user motives. These pages have been analyzed on their findability for search engines. The final results of the individual organizations on the 11 findability criteria have been ranked from high to low and have been compared to the size of the media budget, which eventually resulted in the Top 100 online findability. The study provides the situation of the websites at a given moment in June 2007. The complete Top 100 online findability can be found on the Checkit website.


An article about the Top 100 online findability appeared in the Dutch Tijdschrift voor de Marketing (September issue 2007).

source: Checkit
Back to Report reports





Checkit B.V. | © 1999-2010 | T (024) 359 37 70 | info@checkit.nl | Sitemap | Clipit