"Without investment in SEO, online businesses will struggle to generate the traffic it needs to survive" according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) in the UK.

According to David Thorp, CIM director of research and information, "Although there will always be those who accidentally stumble across your web site, if you are looking to attract new customers you need to invest in search engine optimisation to drive customers to your web site"

Naturally this is something that most of us have realised for some time - but its great to get some of the industry pundits to start to discuss SEO and Search Marketing in general to help raise the profile with small to medium sized businesses in the UK.   Although Pay Per Click has seen its popularity sky rocket here in the UK over the past few years, SEO is now seeing a surge of interest due to the rising cost of clicks and the higher conversion rates that the organic listings can provide (more than 25% higher according to many sources). 

Its too bad that so many companies are claiming to offer SEO services without any real expertise.  This, unfortunately, will result in many companies having poor experiences with Organic Search and will possibly drive them away from this essential part of the marketing mix.