29% spike in energy comparison searches on the web

The agency's "Energy Sector Report - Issue 3", which profiled consumer search behaviour in this sector, found there were a total of 223,900 energy-related searches made on Google UK in October.

The report gathered 462 energy-related terms queried online and collected search volumes for the associated keywords to uncover the most popular consumer searches.

In October, 'energy comparison' was the most popular term. Search volumes totalled 14,800, a 49% rise on July's 9,900, when it was the fifth most queried term.

'Compare energy prices' followed with 12,100 searches. In the previous quarter it was the fourth most queried term.

In fact, comparison was a feature in three of the top ten search phrases for energy in October. Combined, search volumes for 'energy comparison', 'compare energy prices' and 'compare gas and electric' increased from 28,600 in July to 36,800 in October.

Other popular searches included 'energy', 'gas', 'energy suppliers' and 'electricity prices'.

'Cheapest gas and electric', which did not feature in July's top 10 energy searches, made an entrance in October.

Greenlight ranked the most visible websites to consumer queries both in the organic and paid listings.
uswitch.com was the visible site to energy-related searches in October.

In the organic listings* it was visible to over 158,000 searches, giving it a 71% share of visibility.

In the paid listings,** it achieved an 86% share of voice (compared to 91% the previous quarter), appearing for 328 of the 462 keywords analysed, at an average ad position of 1.

Interestingly, just one of the ten most visible sites in the organic listings was an energy provider compared to six in the paid listings, indicative of their reliance on paid search to attain prominence online.

Notes:

*Natural /organic Search - Listings in search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms.
**Paid Media - an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.