Conducting thorough research is the first important step in an
effective search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign, it has been
claimed.

The SEOMoz blog advised firms to begin with generic
research because it is possible, particularly for smaller sites, that
they will not be able to compete for "high-level, hyper-competitive
keywords".

Despite this, it said firms might still be able to appear in a Wikipedia entry, blog or review on the subject.

The
online publication noted that companies might want to purchase ad space
from pages that rank highly on the search engine results.

It added that niche research is also important because it is often the first chance a website will get to rank.

However,
the blog said that to achieve this firms need to ensure that they do
not ignore keywords that are only indirectly relevant.

"Put
yourself in a customer's shoes … find the achievable keywords one step
above your direct acquisition channel and get to work on some great
content that can earn a spot in the top five to ten listings," it
claimed.

This comes after a study by business publication BRW
found that only 42 per cent of the fastest growing start-up companies
include a targeted SEO structure on their online portals.