Candidate searches show importance of SEO

Mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has been the subject of the greatest number of search queries, an industry expert has revealed.

Robin Goad, director of Research for Hitwise UK, published his analysis through the company blog, highlighting that the Conservative candidate has been the most frequently searched, followed by Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick.

Initially, he noted, Labour's Ken Livingston had been in second place but he has now been overtaken by Mr Paddick.

Mr Goad noted that the searches are no indication of votes because "voters will be searching for their least favourite as well as their favourite candidate".

However, he suggested that "looking where people end up when searching for a candidate can be informative".

Armed with such knowledge, the candidates may want to turn their attention to online reputation management.

Recently, Ciaran Norris, search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media director at online marketing agency Altogether Digital, commented in an article for E-consultancy that it is vital to use SEO and paid search to quell the visibility of negative comment.

He noted that it is important to work to ensure negative comment does not rank alongside a company's own web presence.