Site's success due to SEO, not paid search

The Nintendo Wii is so sought after by British consumers that one website which sources the console has increased its market share by 265 per cent during November alone.

Robin Goad, director of research for online marketing firm Hitwise, wrote in his blog that the website wii-consoles.co.uk is now the 58th most visited shopping and classified website in Britain, partly as a result of its search engine optimisation (SEO).

"It's interesting that wii-consoles.co.uk has managed to achieve this growth through effective SEO rather than aggressive paid search, which accounts for just one per cent of its search traffic," he commented.

The site is directing traffic to many of the larger retail websites, such as John Lewis, Amazon and Game, Mr Goad continued.

Earlier this year, Brian Halligan of online marketing firm HubSpot, claimed both paid-for searches and organic SEO offered benefits. He said sites with organic results are clicked on more frequently, particularly by "well-educated crowds".

However, paid-for searches can be implemented more quickly, Mr Halligan concluded.