Newspaper's audience grows 'due to SEO'

The Independent's recent growth in online viewing figures has been ascribed to its organic search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics.

Robin Goad, research director of Hitwise UK, made his claims in a post for the company blog, suggesting that search marketing is partly behind the doubling of viewing figures over the last 12 months.

Traffic directed to the site through Google News has increased tenfold over the last year and accounts for one in every 25 hits the website receives, he continued.

Despite an increase in the amount of paid search traffic the site receives, organic SEO has contributed the most to the figures, Mr Goad stated.

He explained that the number of distinct search terms directing traffic to the newspaper online has risen from fewer than 1,000 in November to more than 10,000 now.

"A good sign that the Independent is picking up more relevant hits as a result of improved search traffic is the decline in 'leakage' to its competitors," Mr Goad added.

Recently, Ofcom suggested that the internet is an increasingly important news-delivery resource alongside more traditional platforms such as television, radio and print.