A study has indicated that Advantage members' websites are failing to rank highly in online searches because they are poorly optimised.

Published: 30 Sep 2008

A study has indicated that Advantage members' websites are failing to rank highly in online searches because they are poorly optimised.

An analysis of the websites of 115 Advantage agents found only 12 percent scored well when it came to search engine optimisation.

According to Click with Technology (CWT), which carried out the analysis, the majority of the independent agents' websites did not appear at all in searches with Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Dan Caplin, head of search marketing, Click With Technology said it was important agents ensured their sites create brand awareness. Caplin said, "The majority of sites do not appear at all on Google. We found on the whole some strong brands and really useful content but minor changes and tweaks to look and feel and how the information is presented would have a really big impact on driving business through your websites."

As per the findings, only 35 percent had enough links pointing to their domain to maximise their search engine optimisation and only 49 percent scored well when CWT looked at indexed pages.

Another common problem found was a lack of pricing and promotional offers on home pages – just 29 percent of transactional websites included this information.