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Lake Leelanau, Michigan - (Cheap Web Hosting Directory) - October 12, 2005 - According to a new study conducted by search engine optimization company, Oneupweb, eighty-three percent of Internet Retailer Magazine’s top 100 sites are not fully using search engine optimization and marketing, missing profitable opportunities and risking loss of market share.

The study is entitled, ”There’s Still Money on the Table: Internet Retailer Study 2005” and can be downloaded at: www.oneupweb.com.

Oneupweb CEO Lisa Wehr discussed the results, ”While the study shows that more sites are using search engine optimization overall, sites aren’t using sophisticated techniques combined with well-developed content. And that’s the crucial strategy that brings better positions on the search engine results pages, more visibility, higher conversion rates and stronger market share.”

Oneupweb studied each site’s meta tags, site architecture, keywords, content and other tactics that could affect the sites’ ability to be spidered by search engines and position well on the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Of Internet Retailer Magazine’s top 100 sites, Oneupweb found:

•    17% well optimized (in 04, 12%)
•    25% moderately optimized (in 04, 23%)
•    35% nominally optimized (in 04, 29%)
•    23% not optimized at all (in 04, 36%)

It has long been established that there is a strong correlation between website optimization and search engine positioning, traffic and sales conversions. Accordingly, Oneupweb found 89 percent of the well-optimized sites positioned on the first three pages of results for searches of their respective keywords - 52 percent appeared on the first page of results. In comparison, Oneupweb found that only four percent of sites not optimized appeared in the first through third SERPs.

”Search engine success is not a big mystery,” said Megan Dwyer, Research Manager at Oneupweb. ”As you get higher in the results pages, your visitors increase and you make more profits. The most effective method to drive this kind of success is search engine optimization and marketing. It is surprising that ten years into the Internet boom, there are still so many companies that aren’t focusing marketing dollars where they’ll see the greatest return on their investment.”

Oneupweb also examined the level at which these same companies were using paid search (or ‘’sponsored links”), finding that moderately-optimized sites had the highest rate of paid search marketing (68 percent) and that about 53 percent of the well-optimized sites are using paid search.

Finally, Oneupweb examined which of the companies had implemented an analytics tool to track and measure their website traffic and online campaigns. While Oneupweb found evidence of marketing analytics at every level (and at especially high rates with well-optimized sites), it was surprising to find that sites with nominal optimization or no optimization were using analytics at 28 percent and 21 percent respectively.

”This study teaches us one important lesson: There’s still tons of opportunity for companies to realize substantial online gains by implementing search engine optimization and marketing,” said Wehr. ”The search spark has matured into a steady flame and it’s only a matter of time until it’s a wildfire.”

For further information, please visit: www.oneupweb.com.

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