Recent findings have revealed that many of the biggest high-street fashion chains are losing out to smaller firms in the reach of their search engine optimisation (SEO) success.

At Pressroom, we understand how critical digital marketing and SEO is to businesses today, which is why we invest in  the best people and resources in the arena. However, it appears that not everyone in the world of business is paying as much as attention as they need to.

A case in point can be seen with Swedish giant H&M, which is losing out on a large scale to pure play competitors. With a huge marketing budget, the chain, which operates over 3,300 outlets across more than 50 locations, saw its SEO capture drop significantly in some areas.

Keyword analysis of ‘bikini’, for example, showed that from 2013-2014 H&M lost about 65% of its SEO share. Conversely, pure-play operator Misguided ramped its reach up by a huge 1,200%.

Increasingly, firms are relying on organic search results, with net savvy users choosing to not click on ads and sponsored results. The result is that retail companies are investing more heavily in their digital marketing efforts, with adaptability the key to success and, critically, ongoing growth.

This means constantly adjusting, refreshing and auditing targeted keywords. How often this is done will vary according to the type of business, the season, current affairs, trends, and a host of other factors. As a result, it is increasingly standard for keywords and core search terms to be varied to meet specific needs.

Companies stagnating with a defined set of vague keywords for weeks, months or even years will be found wanting. Many companies left on the back foot in adapting their online strategies, some of which are major players in their field, are still reporting that they have to play catch-up to more innovative enterprises.

Steven Morris