UK consumers made 1.4 million car hire-related searches online in April, a slight decrease since March, reveals the latest research from Greenlight, the UKs leading independent specialist search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) consulting firm. According to the report Car Hire April 2010, worldwide destinations accounted for 44% of the total search volume. The report also reveals that whilst the usual car hire companies and aggregators continued to maintain and even increase their visibility online, there were some notable strides made by players that previously had not featured as prominently.
Greenlight used industry data to classify 356 of the most popular global destinations that people in the UK travel to, and profiled which search terms they use to find and book car hire companies. It also analysed natural search rankings on Google to ascertain which websites and brands were positioned on page one for each term in order to produce a ranking of the top 60 most commonly appearing and prominent websites. For paid search, Greenlight monitored the advertisers appearing in the sponsored links for the top 90 of the 3,800 terms analysed.
Some key findings reveal:
????Across generic and destination-based searches for car hire, the term Car hire, totalled 201,000 searches, accounting for 14% of all car hire-related searches in April;
????Overall, European destination-based terms were the most searched for, accounting for nearly a third (31%) of all searches for car hire, with the term Car hire Spain being the most searched for (33,100 times);
????CarRentals, the most visible website in natural search, achieved 59% share of voice, almost a 10% increase since Greenlights last report in January. It achieved this by featuring for 829,905 of all car hire-related enquiries. EasyCar followed with 50% then TravelSupermarket with a 32% share of voice;
????Both Budget and Thrifty saw natural search visibility increase by 13% and ascended into the top 10 of the league table, having previously ranked at positions 11 and 12 respectively;
????CarHire3000 was the most visible advertiser in April achieving 82% share of voice;
????Avis increased its paid search visibility by 44% since January which saw it ascend Greenlights league table from position ten to three;
????SunCar was a new entrant to Greenlights top 60 advertisers in April, achieving 25% share of voice and ranking at position nine;
????Although CarHire3000 was the most visible advertiser, it was Avis who featured the most visible individual ad creative. Avis promoted its industry reputation to incentivise consumers to click, stating: trusted for more than 60 yrs.
????Of the top ten advertisers in paid search, seven were direct providers and three were aggregators
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http://www.greenlightsearch.com/sectorreports/
Notes to Editors:
About Greenlight
Greenlight is an independent specialist SEO and PPC consulting and technology firm, the largest of its kind in Europe and the fastest growing. With over 100 blue-chip clients including Vodafone UK, Thomas Cook, Interflora, Co-operative Financial Services and ghd, and a multitude of awards to its name, Greenlight is a leader in the search marketing space, and is recognised worldwide for its commitment to delivering record ROI for its clients and investing in the future of search.
In addition, Greenlight is considered the premier thought leader in the sector, publishing widely read industry reports, original research, speaking at most trade events, and delivering a highly respected search training programme in conjunction with the IDM. Greenlight was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in London, with offices in New York. http://www.greenlightsearch.com
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