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Indian firms use search engines to catch audience
By siliconindia
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Monday, 15 September 2008, 19:56 IST
New Delhi: As many people turn to Internet search engines to do things like planning a trip, buying merchandise or even finding a suitable loan, many companies prefer this media to carry out many activities from thematic brand advertising to selling goods and services directly to consumers.
With regular Internet users already reaching a sizable 40 million this year, everyone from start-ups to well-established players across sectors - ICICI Bank, HDFC, Taj Hotels and Godrej - are making sure that they adopt search engine optimization-led marketing (SEM) to net the online Indian. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a technique that provides better reach and greater visibility to companies by sponsoring links on search engines, paying search engines to include websites in the search index or by altering a website code.
"Most companies today are aware of the significance of ranking high on search engines. While this is an imperative for web-based businesses, others are also realising that they cannot afford to do without it. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) players use the technique for specific projects like we are doing one for Coca-Cola India's CSR project for 'clean water'," says Anjali Hegde, Co-founder of Interactive Avenues, which does site optimization for the likes of Coca-Cola and ICICI. "With Indian online industry headed towards Rs 2,000 crore, takers of SEO have increased in the past 4-5 years," he adds.
A report in The Economic Times says that SEM industry is likely to double in size to $225 million by 2009-10 . While financial sectors marketers like ICICI, HSBC and HDFC use SEM to maximize their geographical reach, technology-oriented companies like HCL, Sony India, Wipro have been successful in using SEM in making masses part of product innovation on the web. Major hotels like Taj and Jaypee counted on SEM to tap global consumers. NGOs and social organizations like UNDP, UNAIDS and CRY used site optimization to garner donations for various projects.
A recent report by Internet research firm JuxtConsult said that Indian market saw19 percent increase in the regular Internet users this year over 2007, and boasts of an active 8 million online buyers. While mobile and computer products were the most searched last year, books, clothes and CDs/DVDs are the most bought products.
On the travel front, 80 percent of regular users have bought train tickets whereas 52 percent has bought air tickets in the last six months. Since most Internet users now avail search services and buy online, SEO is becoming an active advertising model for result-oriented projects in India.
